The 2013-14 CIHL Regular season comes to an end this weekend as the Prince Rupert Rampage host the Smithers Steelheads with a two game home stand. An opportunity to claim four valuable points in the CIHL West and lift themselves out of the division basement and a better placement for their playoff ambitions.
The first of two goes Saturday night at 8 at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre, the back end of the double header and the final regular season game set for Sunday afternoon at 1.
When the weekend play is over, the Rampage could possibly jump as high as third place in the CIHL West Standings, dependant on results between Houston and Kitimat, who have their own back to back series coming up this weekend.
To make the climb out of the basement the Rampage will need to put on a burst of offence, they currently have the lowest Goals For record in the league at 57, while defensively they have surrendered the second most number of goals on the year at 83.
For goals in the net, the Rampage will be looking to leading scorer Kory Movald to add to his output, Movald has fifteen points on the year atop the Rampage listings with 9 goals and six assists through 13 games played.
Four other Rampage forwards follow Movald in the scoring stats, all with 11 points over the course of the season.
The year has been one of streaks for Prince Rupert, in the early going the Prince Rupert squad suffered a string of losses out of the gate that provided for some challenges as the team began to get its feet.
However, an impressive winning streak towards the middle of the schedule served notice that the Rampage weren't going to run up the white flag on the year.
Should they secure weekend wins, Prince Rupert would be heading into the playoffs with a renewed sense of confidence and momentum.
While there perhaps are a few disappointments at lost opportunities through the regular season, one constant for the Rampage in 2013 was the popularity of the team at home.
With total attendance this year thus far of 3,990 and an average game night attendance of 570, the Rampage trail only Kitimat in the CIHL when it comes to fan support.
Those numbers will no doubt climb over the weekend, with the combination of the final games of the regular season and a planned tribute to the late Kyle Flaten.
The Rampage announced this week that Saturday night's game would be dedicated to their former team mate. You can learn more about their plans for that tribute from their Facebook page or their twitter feed.
A review of the Rampage season game by game can be found from our Results page, while a larger overview of the Rampage campaign in 2013-14 as well as notes on other teams of the CIHL can be found here.
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