Rampage wrap season on a losing note; look to playoffs for redemption

The Terrace River Kings remain at the top of the CIHL pack
after a road trip victory in Prince Rupert 

The top team in the CIHL came into town Saturday and continued on its pace of domination of the 2021-22 with the Terrace River Kings claiming a 2-1 victory over the Rampage, adding to a near perfect season with only an OT tie in January with the Rampage to make for the blemish.

Saturday the River Kings were out of the gate midway through the first period, quickly jumping to a 2-0 lead, holding that score into the first intermissions.

Physical play marked much of period number two with a pair of misconducts to the River Kings Tanner Braid and Jared Carter for the Rampage the focal point at the very start of the second frame.

More penalties on slashing, hooking and cross checking to name a few marked the play through the period, the twenty minutes of nasty interrupted at the sixteen minute mark by the only goal for the home side on the night, with Cole Morris picking up an unassisted power play marker.

Things settled down a bit in period three and the offence was finished for the night as well, with no further scoring making the 2-1 margin the final score for the night.  

The ink on the penalty register was used much more than that of the scoring one, with the River Kings assessed 26 minutes of penalty time on 9 infractions, while the Rampage served 18 minutes on five infractions. 

Tyran Hunter took the win for the visitors, Kieran Sharpe was tagged with the loss in the Rhino's net.

The final regular home season game brought 520 out to the attendance limited Cicic Centre on Saturday.

Much as the result stinger the Rampage, they weren't hurting as much as Brody Hemrich who took a puck to the face in period two and then took a trip to the hospital for repairs.

As the Rampage regular season came to an end, Hunter Johnson was still clinging to the top of the Scoring  Leadership, though he may soon relinquish that spot with the River Kings still to play two more games before the regular schedule gets a wrap.

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Terrace scorers along with those from Quesnel and Williams Lake can add to their totals next weekend with the River Kings to play against both the Kangaroos and Stampeders to bring the CIHL regular season to a conclusion.

The CIHL playoffs get underway the third week of February.

Keep up with the Rampage room from their Facebook page.

More notes on the CIHL can be reviewed here.