Rampage top Smithers in Regular Season Finale at the Jim, prepare for Semi Final Series with Hazelton

The Prince Rupert Rampage found their offensive push on Saturday night, putting on a scoring clinic for the over 950 faithful Rhino Supporters in the stands at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre.

The Rampage who had struggled the previous weekend in Smithers reversed their fortunes with the Steelheads in Saturday night's rematch, scoring five times on the way to the 5-3 warp to regular season schedule.

It was a big night for Tyler Halliday who score a natural hat trick on the evening, with three consecutive goals the first two in the first frame, the third and final marker in the Second.

Halliday put the Rampage on the board midway through period one with a power play goal at 9:49 assisted by Jared Meers and Justin Brand.

Nine minutes later he had goal number two at 18:36 assisted again by Justin Brand.

Smithers gained a goal back to open the middle period, but Halliday pounced again on a power play opportunity at 11:14 Hunter Johnson and Justin Brand providing the helpers to give the Rampage a 3-1 lead.

Smithers drew closer two minutes later, but Kory Movold gave the Rampage a two goal advantage once again  at 17:19 of period two, with Jared Meers and Tyler Ostrom getting the assists.

The Steelheads came out fast in the Third Period and narrowed the game to a 4-3 score at 9:18, making for some furious action in the final ten minutes of the game.

Hunter Johnson quelled that uprising at 16:00 of the third, his shorthanded marker putting the game away for the Rampage, Johnson's helpers on the goal were Jacob Santurbano and Braden McAmmond.

Brayden Ferduson had the win in the nets for the Rampage, turning said 17 of the 20 shote he faced on the night.

The game was a physical affair as both teams were assessed numerous penalties for some post whistle activity, Smithers serving  43 minutes on 13 infractions , while the Rampage served 28 minutes on 10 penalty calls.

The full boxscore from Saturday can be reviewed here. 

With the victory, the Rampage find themselves in Third place in the CIHL West, with Terrace and Williams Lake claiming the top spots East and West after the final whistle of the 2023-  2024 campaign.

When it comes to the Scoring race, Hazelton's Tanner Wort ran away with the title  a furry of  four goals against Kitimat on Friday putting the exclamation mark on a remarkable season. His final game of the regular season  putting even more distance between he and his nearest competitor, his own team mate Ethan Browne.

Judd Repole from the Rampage landed in fourth spot on the season when the final accounting was done on Sunday night.

Rampage fans will get a look at that potent one-two punch from Hazelnut on Saturday night when they host the Wolverines in Game One of their Best of Three Semifinal. 

The two teams are quite familiar with each other by now, the split their two regular season matchups with Prince Rupert taking a home win at the season opener of September 30th; the Rhino's dropping a hard fought December contest in Hazelton on December 9th.

There is also some past history of note for the Rampage side for their showdown with Hazelton, one year ago the Wolverine swept the Prince Rupert side out of the CIHL playoffs.

The Rampage will head down the 2024 playoff path Saturday with a puck drop of 7 PM at the Jim. 

The hockey game making for a very busy night for the city's Recreation Centre with the All Native Basketball Tournament also tipping off  in Prince Rupert.

That will make for parking challenges for both sets of fans, sand a need to consider other options and scout out some nearby spots close to the Jim.

The final two games of the Series will take place in Hazelton on February 17 and 18 if necessary.

For Smithers, the path forward takes them to Quesnel for their own Three game semi final series.

We'll preview Saturday's Rampage opener later this week.

You can follow the Rampage plans for the semi finals and review the spectacular success  and community support for the Rampage fight Cancer campaign through their social media page here.

More notes on the CIHL can be reviewed through our archive page.