The AC Avalanche are neck in neck with a number of teams as they battle for a spot in the Sutter Cup.

Head Coach, Kenton Levesque, says the team has their work cut out for them. 

"Since the beginning of 2017 we have won one game, tied one, and lost two, so not an ideal start; obviously we would like to win every game, but we're not getting any puck luck lately for whatever reason."

Levesque says the team needs to get hot in order to make it into Sutter Cup.

"We have our work cut out for us, but we've kind of been doing things the hard way all year long so I am thinking that is just the way we are going to be able to do it this year."

There are 12 games left says Levesque, and although there is time, it is a tight race.

"We are only four points out of a play off spot. The league is so tight that I think there's six points total separating us where we are right now which is eleventh and where the Rangers are right now which is fourth. It is really tight and there's going to be lots of changes so I just hope we make the climb here right away."

Levesque adds when the boys stick to the strategies, they come out on top.

"We've always said just keep playing the same way we've been playing since the start of the year. If we trust in the system, and have trust in the coaching staff we are fine and we usually win games; we've even went on a 3 or 4 game winning streak when doing the stuff we've asked. I think just to be more consistent will help us going forward."

This past weekend (January 14/15) took a few players out of the game due to injuries, but nothing coaching staff isn't expected. Levesque adds it's a great opportunity to see first hand who the up and comers are.

"We have players from the Bantam AAA team that we can pull up, and we've pulled up Ty Bauer a couple times this year so far. I think they only play one game this weekend so we're going to get some of their players to come up and help us out which is a great experience for their players. It also lets our coaching staff see them prior to next year try outs before they're on our team, so it's just a great opportunity for the young kids."

On Saturday the Avalanche face off against the SEAC Tigers and on Tuesday battle the CBHA Rangers.

To see the full schedule go here.