The Pembina Valley Hawks will look to move above the .500 mark when they play a pair of road games this weekend.

The defending Manitoba Female AAA Midget Hockey League champions will meet the Central Plains Capitals in Portage on Saturday and then face the Eastman Selects on Sunday in Mitchell.

The Hawks hit a rough patch in late October as they lost five league games in row before beating the Interlake Lightning 6-1 & 4-0 last weekend.

"It's definitely nice to get back into the win column," said Pembina Valley head coach Dana Bell. "We've had some struggles this year. Our biggest thing is we have to play 60 full minutes of hockey. You're going to keep meeting tougher teams in the league and that's why we need to be better prepared and come out and work at it. We have a lot of talent, they work hard and we need to put it together now."

Pembina Valley has five wins, five losses and an overtime loss and occupy sixth place in the MFMHL.

But the Hawks are only five points back of the first place Westman Wildcats.

"You can't take anyone lightly," said coach Bell. "We've got to stick to our game plan to get back up to the top of the standings for sure."

Pembina Valley played four games in Faribault, Minnesota earlier this month.

The Hawks lost 4-0 to Shattuck-St. Mary's U19; fell 5-3 to the Thunder Bay Queens; defeated Minnesota Revolution 3-1 and lost 4-0 to Shattuck-St.Mary's U16.

Coach Bell says he saw a lot of good things from his hockey team despited their 1-3 record in Minnesota.

"We've got a team that doesn't quit and that's a good thing. We were playing Thunder Bay and we were down 3-0 and normally you hang you head and move on but we battled back and tied that game up. I like that - it's character. The biggest thing is we have to work as a team and that's what it comes down to. If we put team first, we're early into the season yet. There's a long haul ahead of us and I think we can comeback and do what we need to do."

photos courtesy Ray Peters