The Eastman Selects have been almost perfect in 2017.

The Selects, who hold down sixth place in the Manitoba "AAA" Midget Hockey League, have just one loss in the new year.

That was back on January 8th when the Central Plains Capitals shaded Eastman 3-2 in a shootout at the Sun-Gro Centre in Beausejour.

The Selects (23-13-0-2-1) are just two points back of the fifth place Pembina Valley Hawks and three behind the Brandon Wheat Kings and Winnipeg Thrashers who are tied for third spot.

"It's so tight," said Eastman head coach Dennis Senebald. "You have a couple of losses or a couple of wins, you can move a couple of spots either way. We have a lot to work on in practice this week. Winning nine in a row and 12 of our last 13 - you wouldn't find too many coaches unhappy with that."

It's been an amazing five week stretch for the Selects who will host the Telus Cup West Regional "AAA" Championship at the T.G. Smith Centre in Steinbach this April.

Eastman has five games remaining before the second season begins and will play a pair of tough road games this weekend - Friday in Shoal Lake against the second place Yellowhead Chiefs and Saturday in Dauphin against the Parkland Rangers.

"Yellowhead has a lot of returning players to their roster and they are one of the top teams in the league this year," said Senebald. "They're a very well coached team as well. We're going to have to come off the bus ready to play Friday night and then it doesn't get any easier for us Saturday when we play Parkland. They're battling for the final playoff spot with a couple of other teams. They just lost by one goal to the Winnipeg Wild Sunday so we're expecting a tough one there too."