GROSSE POINTE — Coming down the home stretch of the regular season, the Alpena Flyers need to play their best hockey right now in order to move up in the Midwest division standings. This weekend did not help after the Flyers dropped a pair of games on the road against the Motor City Hawks.

Alpena lost Friday’s game by a score of 5-3.

The Flyers fell behind two goals early thanks to Motor City’s Trevor Pode who netted the first two goals on the game to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

Pode scored his first goal less than five minutes into the game and his second of the period just over ten minutes in.

Alpena took advantage of a power play opportunity late and cut the lead to one heading into the second period as Mike Thompson scored on assists from Dean Schmanski and Nic Baranyai with under a minute to play in the period.

After being penalized late in the first, Motor City came out and took advantage of a power play opportunity of its own as Kyle Berryman scored just 58 seconds into the period to help the Hawks get their two goal lead back.

Four minutes late, Motor City extended its lead to three as they again cashed in on another power play opportunity as this time it was Daniel Ealy who found the back of the net to give the Hawks a 4-1 lead in the early stages of the second.

In a game filled with power play opportunities, both teams made the most of its man advantage chances as Alpena got right back in the game scoring two goals to close out the second period. The first power play goal came off the stick of Rhett Limback on assists from Thompson and Schmanski.

Finley O’Shea cut the Motor City lead to one when he lit the lamp on a power play goal of his own on assists from Thompson as the Flyers went into the third period with momentum after cutting the lead to 4-3 after two periods.

Motor City did a good job slowing down the Flyers in the final period, holding them scoreless and added a goal of their own midway through the period as Pode recorded his third goal to pick up a hat trick and propel the Hawks to a 5-3 victory.

Alpena goaltender Matthew Brunton did all he could to keep the Flyers in the game as he stopped 37 of the 42 shots he faced in the game, but it just wasn’t enough.

Both teams returned to the ice Saturday and again it was Motor City coming away with a two goal victory, winning by a score of 3-1.

The Flyers scored their lone goal of the game late in the opening period when Conner Allen scored on assists from Thompson and Schmanski.

Motor City answered back with a goal late in the first to tie it up and added a goal each period to skate away with its second two goal win in as many nights.

Alpena falls to 20-17 overall on the year and is currently in fifth place in the division, sitting just six points behind Motor City for third place in the standings.

The Flyers will be back in action on Tuesday in a makeup game from earlier in the year as they play host to Kalkaska.