The Friday night contest found the Rhinos trailing for much of the night launching a frantic climb back into the game in the third, with the Rampage racking up five goals in the final frame to finally overtake the Ice Demons with an 11-7 victory at the Tamitik Arena.
The first two periods provided some evidence of the rust of a one month break in action, the team finally gaining their skating legs by the third, when they overwhelmed the Ice Demon squad which had been looking to claim their first win of the season heading into period three.
Saturday, the Rampage were back in the friendly confines of the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre and the multitudes came out to the McBride Street rink to cheer on the home side for the first time since mid-December.
The Northwest rival River Kings rolled into town and brought a fast paced and physical game to the rink on the way to a 3-2 victory, with the River Kings setting the pace in the first period with the opening goal within the first two minutes of play.
For the remainder of the fifty eight minutes the two teams engaged in a back and forth affair that kept locals on the edge of their seats for the bulk of the sixty minutes.
Scoring on the night for the Rampage were Mike Coolin who evened things up in the first with an assist from Marcus Atchison,
Judd Repole picked up the only other goal on the night with a third period marker for the home side, with Cole Atchison claiming the helper.
Much of the night was viewed from the penalty box for players from both teams with the River Kings assessed 14 minutes of time on seven infractions, while Rampage skaters took up residence in the penalty box for 26 minutes based on 9 infractions.
Keano Wilson was tagged with the loss turning aside 33 of the 34 shots he faced, while Patrick Leal earned the win for Terrace making 21 saves on 23 shots faced.
The full boxscore can be found here.
With the weekend split, the stage is now set for the final weekend of the Regular season as the Quesnel Kangaroos and Williams Lake Stampeders make their Northwest tour to bring he curtain down on the pre playoff festivities.
The Stampeders are the first of the duo to make the trip to the Jim, with a Saturday puck drop set for 7PM.
Sunday the Kangaroos hop into town, the wrap up to the regular season an afternoon affair which will start at 1PM.
Playoff positions are on the line with the weekend play with Rampage currently marking third place in the five team circuit, with the Rupert record of 8-4-1 good for 17 points three behind the two Cariboo teams.
A sweep would move them up significantly towards the top, though would also require some help from Terrace who also face the two teams over the three nights ahead would also be of benefit to the Rupert side.
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| Still some room to move for the Prince Rupert Ramapge as the CIHL Regular Season comes to an end |
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A wider look at our Rampage coverage as well as other notes from the CIHL can be found here.
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