If hockey is a religion to the Northland Dodge Northern Capitals, Sunday has been their day of rest.
They looked rather lethargic against the Greater Vancouver Comets in the second half of their game Sunday at CN Centre and lost 6-2 to the B.C. Female Triple-A Midget Hockey League frontrunners.
So far this season in three weekends of league play, all the Capitals have to show for their Sunday efforts is a single point they earned Oct. 4 in Cranbrook in a 2-2 tie with the Kootenay Wildcats, which preceded Sunday losses in Vernon and Surrey
"I'm not sure why but we come out flat on Sundays, like we're tired, we lose the momentum and get down on ourselves," said Capitals defenceman Victoria Byer, 17, who tied Sunday's game 1-1 in the first period after Comet forward Mya Taylor had opened the scoring.
"We battled hard the first period and we kind of let off the gas a little bit and they took it to us and we fell short. They definitely took advantage of our misplays and we tried to come back and battle through it but we couldn't get the puck luck we wanted."
The Comets won two of their three games in Prince George to improve their first-place record to 6-2-1.
The Capitals were unable to contain Comet centre Elexa Pakozdy, who had a goal and three assists Sunday. Kaya Brossard fired two goals, while Jenna Veliji and Danika Pasqua also scored for the visitors.
Brossard took advantage of a gift clearing attempt into the slot and buried it into the net behind Kelsey Roberts to give the Comets a 3-2 lead 10:21 into the second period, and they scored two more before the break. Vancouver outshot the Capitals 36-23 in the game.
"They can't just plan on showing up and expect to win, we had sort of that mentality last year but the league is way better than it was last year and a system isn't going to win us games," said Capitals head coach Mario Desjardins. "We seemed to struggle all weekend (with bad giveaways). The Comets do put on a lot of pressure and there's not a lot of time and space out there. Maybe it's our defence not used to not having that time and space like they did before. We need to know what we're going to do with the puck before we even get it and that's going to be the challenge throughout the year."
Inspired by the raising of their provincial championship banner from last season, the Capitals posted their first home-ice win of the season Saturday at Kin 1, defeating the Comets 3-0 on goals from Desjardins, Marissa Nichol and Sydney Jordan. Kelsey Roberts was stellar in net, making 22 saves for the shutout.
Pakozdy scored the 2-1 winner Friday at Kin 1 with 44 seconds left. Byer, for the Capitals, and Tiffany Chiu, for the Comets, were the other goalscorers.
The Northern Capitals captured the league title last year when they were known as the Cougars. The Comets were the West Coast Avalanche last season before the league-wide initiative to take over management of the six teams. The Comets and Capitals are the early-season favourites to win the league.
"I think there's a lot of parity in the league but if I had to make an early prediction I'd say it would be us and the Capitals who will be battling at the end of the day," said Comets head coach Mark Taylor.
The Capitals (4-3-2) won't play again until Nov. 13 when they host the Fraser Valley Rush in the first of a three-game set at Kin. 1.
