Rough weekend for Rampage as they drop two at home

The Cariboo teams came to the North Coast and by the end of the weekend they had conquered, as both the Williams Lake Stampeders and Quesnel Kangaroos snatched points in the win column from their time at the Jim.

Saturday night, the Rampage and Stampeders had to take things to a shoot out to declare the Stampeders the eventual 5-4 winner, providing for a thrilling night of hockey for the 574 in attendance at the Civic Centre.

The visitors got the night underway with an early goal after but 2 and half minutes of play, a marker answered by Prince Rupert's Tyler Bates five minutes later.  From there the Rampage carried some momentum towards the end of the first, picking up their second goal of the period at 13:34 as Jordan Weir found space behind the Stampeders goal tender.

The Rampage expanded on their lead in the second period, when Kory Movold gave Prince Rupert a 3-1 lead at 8:52 of the middle frame.  The Stampeders cut into that lead however a little over three minutes later, making the score 3-2 with the third period to come.

Things looked good for a Rampage victory early on in that final period, Jared Meers took advantage of a power play opportunity to once again provide a two goal bulge for Prince Rupert at 2:44.

However, the comeback by Williams Lake was about to be launched, as the visitors quickly went to the attack, gaining two goals in just under six minutes to bring the game to a draw.

The two teams battled it out from end to end for the final twelve minutes leading to Overtime, with the added five minutes resolving nothing.

The win went the way of Williams Lake in the shoot out, as the Stampeders picked up two goals, one more than the Rampage, as only Jordan Weir found the mark in the wrap up to the game.

The nature of the offensive play can be found in the shots on goal table for Saturday night, with Devin Gerrits facing 36 shots on the night, while the Rampage directed 42 shots at the Williams Lake net.

Prince Rupert was by far the more physical of teams on the evening, with 26 minutes of penalty time assessed on 9 infractions, a major contribution as it turned out to the Williams Lake attack, as the Stampeders score three of their five goals on the power play.

The road team was clearly the more disciplined on the night, with the referees finding fault only five times with their play, sitting Stampeder players out for but ten minutes on the night.

The full statistical account of Saturday night's game can be found here.

After the high tempo drama of Saturday night, Sunday again provided some thrills, but no need for extra time or extra shots, as the Kangaroos claimed their victory in regular time with a 5-2 decision over the home side.

The Kangaroos were quick to the offence in the Sunday afternoon match up, scoring two quick goals in the first fifteen minutes before, Tyler Bates could respond for the Rampage.

A physical and fast second period resulted in much back and forth play, but no goals, leaving it to the third period for some frantic action.

In the third frame, the Rampage got back on even terms with Quesnel with Tyler Bates' second marker of the day, an unassisted power play goal at the 2 minute mark.

However, despite many chances to come, the Rampage would be shut down on the afternoon, with Quesnel scoring three goals in the third, the final one an empty net effort to secure the win.

The win for the Kangaroos coming through some stellar work of their goaltender Ryan Manderson, who faced 35 Rampage shots on the day, with only two finding twine behind him.

Jarrod Hildebrandt faced down the Quesnel attack, with 23 shots directed his way through his 59 and half minutes of time on the ice.

The Kangaroos clearly were the more physical team on afternoon, at times bordering on dirty it would seem, rattling off 36 minutes in penalty time on 14 infractions.

While the Rampage were more disciplined on that front from their work of Saturday night, as Prince Rupert players spent limited time in the penalty box, assessed for 10 minutes on five infractions.

You can review the full summary of score makers and trouble makers here.

378 fans took in the afternoon at the Jim, to bring the double header weekend to a close.

Prince Rupert now has some time to dedicate to those aspects of their game that need a bit of work, as they don't see action next until November 1st.

A Saturday night at the Jim, when they will host the Kitimat Ice Demons.

That will mark the last home game for the team before they launch a fairly lengthy and challenging period of time on the road, taking them into the Cariboo to look for a little revenge of the weekend past.

You can find more items of interest on the Rampage and the CIHL from our archive page.

Results of weekly action and links to other CIHL features can be found here.