With the weekend a light one for CIHL action (the only other game features Terrace hosting the Tomahawks on Sunday) the Rampage will be working hard on the night to leap frog over Smithers to secure the top spot in the division by the time the CIHL head office posts the weekend results on Monday.
Lac La Hache may be arriving on the North Coast in a bit of a snarly mood however hosting a 0 and 4 record to this point of the season, with the team suffering the highest Goals Against level in the league at 46.
For the Rampage, the start of the 2015-16 season has seen a quick coming together of the lineup, with Tyler Ostrom leading the team in scoring after the first month of play, making for the perfect set up guy with 7 assists and one goal after six games.
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| Tyler Ostrom is setting the scoring pace early on for the Rampage with 8 points heading into November |
The depth of the team is also much more noticeable this season than from past, with six scorers nipping at Ostrom's skates for the Rampage scoring lead.
Defensively though there is a bit of work to be done, with the Rhinos having surrendered 27 goals against in the half dozen contests of the early season.
Heading to the North Coast and into noisy cauldron that the Jim has become on game night though may be dates that visiting squads probably are circling on the calendars this year.
Like anyone, visitors probably enjoy the idea of a packed house and highly charge atmosphere, however coming to Rupert this year does come with a notice that the night won't be an easy one.
When it comes to physical play, the Rampage have clearly drawn a line on the ice, leading the CIHL in penalty minutes at 204, though reducing some of the time in the penalty box could go a long way to also reducing the Goals Against issues.
The early success for the team has also provided for a surge at the box office, with the Rampage having attracted 2400 fans in their first four games, an average of 600 per game, totals that place the team atop the CIHL when it comes to attendance across the seven outposts of the circuit.
Those numbers would seem destined to go up once again this weekend, as the home side make their first appearance on home ice since their disappointing loss to Terrace, something that they will be looking to avenge when the puck drops at 7 PM on Saturday night.
You can follow up on the past results from Rampage games from our Schedule/Results archive here.
For more background on news from around the CIHL see our Rampage archive page.
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