There appears to be no looking back for the North Peace Hockey League’s Lakeland Eagles as they head down the home stretch of the regular season. Lakeland, stuck in a tight neck-and-neck divisional race with High Prairie Regals for top spot in the east, rattled off a pair of much-needed victories in the past week over the Valleyview Jets to keep pace with their rivals to the south. They came in the form of a one-sided 17-9 thumping on the road Jan. 19 followed by a 9-2 win at home on the evening of Jan. 24. Lakeland jumped out to an early 2-1 lead against the Jets Jan. 19 on goals from Jay Anderson and Mark Lindsay heading into the middle frame where Valleyview bounced back by outscoring the opposition 5-5 to knot things up at 6-6 heading into the final period. Scoring for Lakeland was Dustin Kersey, Tallman, Kelly Cunningham and J. Anderson with his second of the night. The Eagles erased any doubt of which team was superior in the third period by rattling off seven straight even-strength goals to put the win on ice. That included Tallman’s third goal of the game and two more from J. Anderson, who would up four goals when all was said and done. Other contributions came from Matt Hunter, Al Anderson and Kersey – his second of the game. Last Thursday’s game at H.W. Fish Arena resulted in a similar low-scoring first period with both teams exchanging goals for a short-lived 1-1 tie. Lakeland opened the floodgates in the second frame with five straight goals and would add three more in the final stanza of a game which saw them outshoot the opposition by a dominating count of 73-25. Goals came from Travis Cunningham (2), Tallman, J. Anderson, Jeff Taylor (2), Hunter and Brendan Hutchinson (2). The Eagles hosted High Prairie last Friday. Both teams will lock horns once again on Jan. 31 in McLennan – a game that could determine division bragging rights heading into the post-season.