Rampage head for Houston, looking to build on last week's road success

With a character building win in a tough building last week in Terrace under their belts, the Prince Rupert Rampage hit the road again this weekend, with two games set for their CIHL agenda on Saturday and Sunday.

The dreaded double header weekend will find the Rampage in tough against the always hard to play at home Houston Luckies.

A team that sports a 2 and 1 record, along with one OT loss to show for its four games so far. A pace that has them three points ahead of the Rampage in the CIHL West division standings.

To control the Luckies, Prince Rupert will have to knuckle down in their own end of the rink, as Houston would appear to be a team that can turn on the offensive play.

Four games into the 2013-14 season, Houston has collected some 44 points in the offensive zone, with 17 goals and 27 assists, an impressive display that will provide the Rampage with all they can handle in a hostile environment.

As the Rampage prepare for their two games in less than 24 hours in Houston, the Luckies stats thus far, offer advance warning, that a heavy workload may be ahead for the Prince Rupert goaltenders.

By comparison to those Houston numbers, there's a bit of a power shortage on the Rampage side of the scoring ledger.

In three games so far, the Rampage have 18 points tallied on the offensive attack (8 goals, 10 assists), with half of those total points off the sticks of three players, Jared Davis, Jared Meers and Kendal Mossini.

Still, last weekend's victory in Terrace provides the Rampage with something to build on, they answered all of the challenges posed by the River Kings last Saturday night, which should serve them well when the take to the ice in Houston.

The weekend series wraps up the first of the road games for Prince Rupert of the 2013-14 season.

The Rampage return to the friendly confines of the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre next Saturday night, when the Kitimat Ice Demons return for their second visit of the season.

Depending on how this weekend works out, the Rampage could be nipping at the heels of the Ice Demons and Smithers Steelheads in the West standings, or looking at them from a bit of distance.

With a record of 1 win and 2 losses heading into the weekend, the Rampage will be hoping to climb above .500 per cent by the time they return to the North coast on Sunday night.

That's a fate within their control, as they head out on the road for Saturday looking to add W's in the column.

Our schedule, results and standings page can be found here.

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