Rampage find Overtime to their liking for second week in a row

A little extra work at the rink, is proving to be a rewarding experience for the Prince Rupert Rampage, as the CIHL squad picked up their second win in a row, a home ice, 5-4 overtime victory over the Smithers Steelheads.

Saturday's game saw the Rampage take an early lead, on goals from Jordan Aubree, with an assist from Jordan Weir in the first and Craig Munro grabbing an early period marker in the second, the second goal of the game coming with a helping hand from Kory Movald.

That 2-0 lead held until the midway point of the second period, when the Steelheads stormed back into the game, picking up three goals in less than seven minutes, taking a 3-2 lead into the third period.

The final period however provided for some push back from the Rampage, with Craig Munro picking up his second of the game on a power play goal near the seven minute mark, with assists coming from Kory Movald and Brock Ward.

That was followed seven minutes later by a Brad Deshane goal, with another helper from Movald to give the Rampage the 4-3 lead.

A short lived lead as things turned out, as the Steelheads rushed it down to the Rampage end and within thirty seconds had once again picked up a key goal, deadlocking the game at 4.

Some entertaining back and forth carried the two teams to the end of regulation, sending the match into an overtime nail biter for the 650 in attendance at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre.

The extra frame didn't last long however, the Rampage in a furious flurry of action scored on a power play opportunity, with Brock Ward scoring the winning goal, with an assist going to Brad Deshane.

Keano Wilson picked up the win in the Rampage net turning aside 33 of the 37 shots he faced on the night. The skate to the penalty box was a fairly even match up, with both the Steelheads and Rampage serving 14 minutes of penalty time on seven infractions each.

You can review the full boxscore from Saturday night here.

With the win, the Rampage record improves to 3 and 7, bringing Prince Rupert a little bit closer to those above them in the CIHL standings.

The two game winning streak has given the Rampage playoff ambitions a bit of a boost, as they have started the climb that could lead them out of the Western basement.

At the moment, Prince Rupert is one point one off the fourth place pace of the Terrace River Kings, six away from third place Houston.

The loss was the fifth in a row for the struggling Steelheads, who finally ended that losing streak the next day with a 5-2 victory over Kitimat. That result helped to move the Steelheads into second in the CIHL West.

Prince Rupert will stay on home ice for next weekend, with the Houston Luckies in town on Saturday night to try and stop the Rampage winning streak at two. Puck drop on Saturday is 8 PM.

And don't forget, Sunday, is the annual Skate with the Rampage, that charity event is set for 3-4:30 PM at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre, with admission a donation to the Salvation Army Food Bank.

The latest scores and standings can be found from our Rampage Results page, for more on the Rampage and the CIHL check our archive of CIHL news for the 2013-14 season.