Rampage drop two on tough Cariboo trek

The lengthy time traversing the highways of Northern British Columbia appear to have taken their toll on Prince Rupert's CIHL squad, as the Rampage came up on the short end of the score sheet in two games over the last weekend of November.

Saturday the Rampage were in Williams Lake for the closest of the two games on the eastbound road trip, a lively evening of hockey that found the Rampage battling back in the third period only to see the Stampeders pull away late in the final frame.

From a 3-1 deficit after period one, the Rampage found their balance and made a game of it by the time the puck dropped on period number three, eventually however the home side prevailed on the night topping the visitors from Prince Rupert by a score of 6-4.

The Rampage opened their night with a goal from Tyler Halliday at 4:14 of the first period, with assists going to Brayden Horcoff and Tyler Ostrom.

Josh Cook found the net in the second period with a goal at 5:13 of the middle frame, with another assist going to Tyler Ostrom while Kory Movald picked up his first point on the night.

The Rampage push back came at full force in the third period as they rattled off two goals to tie the game up by mid period and serving notice that the Stamps would have to battle to the end to grab the two points on the night.

Kory Movald picked up goal number three with an assist by Jared Meers at 5:34, while Josh Cook grabbed the court Rampage goal of the night at 14:20 with assists going to Movald and the third of three on the night for Tyler Ostrom.

However, the Stampeders regained their momentum shortly after rattling off two goals in just over a minute to secure the 6-4 score.

The first period provided for the most physical part of the game, with a string of minor penalties sending an equal amount of Rhinos and Stamps off to the penalty box.

By the end of the game both teams had served 18 minutes of penalty time on nine infractions each.

Jarrod Hildebrandt took the loss in the Rampage nets, facing 36 shots on the evening, Prince Rupert had 30 scoring opportunities on the Stampeders Justin Foote on the evening.

You can review the full summary here.

The Rampage made the annual trek into the eastern reaches of the
CIHL over the weekend with games in Williams Lake and Quesnel

The Saturday evening match up seemed to take a lot of the steam out of the Prince Rupert squad for the next day however, as the Quesnel Kangaroos appear to have had little difficulty when the two teams met up on Sunday afternoon.

The Kangaroos got off to a 6-0 lead by the mid point of the second period before the Rampage found their mark, but the jump that Quesnel had on the Rupert squad was more than enough to secure the victory, with the Cariboo team providing a solid home ice win of 10-4 for the faithful.

Both Rampage goals in the second period came off the stick of Ben Towner,  with Tyler Halliday and Josh Cook getting the assists on the first goal at 10:13, while Jamie Schenkeveld and Cook assisted on the second marker at 18:10.

The Kangaroos added on to their total in the third making it a 9-2 score before Jared Meers answered for the Rampage at 13:20 of the final period, with Devin Palmer and Greg Sheppard picking up the assists.

The fourth and final Rampage goal of the day went to Josh Cook at 17:52 of the third, with Kory Movald claiming the helper on the play.

The third period provided for the bulk of the nastiness, with the Kangaroos for some reason providing a  less than friendly farewell for their departing guests, a string of Majors for fighting and a number of stick fouls making up the bulk of the parade to the penalty box of the third.

By games end the Rampage had been assessed 15 minutes on 6 penalty calls, while the more belligerent Kangaroos found themselves serving 32 minutes on 14 infractions on the day.

Jordan Vanderwiel was tasked to face down the Kangaroo offensive push, in the nets for all 40 shots on the afternoon, Shane Mainprize was in the Quesnel net for the day and turned aside all but four of the 34 shots that were directed his way on Sunday.

You can review the full summary here.

Despite the twin losses on the road, the Rampage remain in the thick of the CIHL West division battle, one point behind the Terrace River Kings.  The Rampage can reverse that placement in the standings on Friday when they travel to Terrace for an 8 PM puck drop.

For those that have missed the chance to gather with fellow Rampage supporters at the Jim, the team has its next home game coming up on December 12th when the Kitimat Ice Demons come to town.

You can track the Rampage schedule and record from our results page here, for more background on both the Rhinos and the rest of the CIHL see our archive page here.