Rampage return to ice battles this weekend, as 2018-19 CIHL schedule gets underway

The ice is fresh and the players raring to go as the CIHL prepares to launch the 2018-19 season, with the Prince Rupert Rampage and Kitimat Ice Demons getting the spotlight, with the two Northwest teams the only ones in action as part of  Week One play.


The Rhinos start the season on the road to Kitimat tomorrow, with a Saturday night match up with the Ice Demons at Tamitik, the season opener set for a 7PM puck drop.

Saturday night marks the first of fourteen games for the CIHL teams in 2018-19, with the five member clubs on the road for seven and hosting visitors for seven as the five member clubs look towards playoff positioning and the chance to contest for the Coy Cup.

Rampage fans who subscribe to CityWest Cable can follow the hometown squad on the road this year, with tomorrow nights game the first of six Rampage games to be aired on CityWest's HD 310 and SD 10 channels.

More background on the CityWest schedule can be reviewed here.

Next week the Rampage return to the road, helping Terrace to open up their season with a Friday night showdown at the Terrace Ice Arena.

The home opener for Prince Rupert comes one night later, with the Rampage hosting Kitimat on Saturday October 6. 

The Rhinos home ice debut is scheduled for a 7 PM start.

The full Rampage schedule for 2918-19 and our look ahead to this season can be reviewed here.

You can follow the Rampage through the year with our Results page, which features the game sheet results from each match up, when available.

For more items of interest about the Rampage and the CIHL see our archive page here.


To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

Rampage look to add to month of woe for visiting Smithers on Saturday night

Fresh off a hard earned Overtime victory in Kitimat last weekend, the Prince Rupert Rampage will be looking to put another mark in the W column on Saturday night.

The task won't be an easy one however, as a rather frustrated Smithers Steelheads offence will be in town, the Interior squad looking to add to their own points totals and reverse a bit of a losing skid of the last few weeks.

Late October and most of November has not been kind to the Steelheads, as Smithers has gone without a victory for over a month now.

Smithers last recorded a win on October 20th when they defeated the Kitimat Ice Demons at home. Since that game, Smithers has lost road games in Lac La Hache, Quesnel and Kitimat, with one additional loss on home ice last week against the Terrace River Kings.

It's safe to assume that they'll be arriving in Rupert in a particularly nasty mood and will be anxious to correct some of their troubles over the last month.

For the Rampage, the first home game of November provides the team with a chance to start to make up some ground on their CIHL West competition.

Heading into the weekend, the Rampage have a 2 and 7 record, three points behind the Terrace River Kings in fourth place, but with the River Kings holding a two game advantage in the Games Played
category.

Prince Rupert will need to shut down the Smithers offensive unit, a group which has accounted for 38 Goals in their nine games so far this season. The Rampage currently have the third worst Goals Against listings in the CIHL with 50 pucks finding the scoring mark so far this year.

Key to the Rampage charge on Saturday will be more offensive output from a squad that seem to have finally hit a bit of a stride last weekend, with Kory Movald picking up a hat trick in the 6-5 Rampage victory over Kitimat.

Prince Rupert fans will be hoping to see a similar output when action starts at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre.  Puck drop is set for 8 PM on Saturday.

Updates and summaries from past games can be found on our Results/Schedule page.  While you can review our past items of interest on the Rampage and the CIHL from our Archive page.

Rampage embark on Interior road trip

With two bonus points in their pockets courtesy of the CIHL, the Prince Rupert Rampage head out on their longest road trip of the season, with a two game trek into the Central Interior over the weekend.

The Rampage take to the CIHL's version of the long march with a game Saturday night in Williams Lake, followed by a Sunday afternoon match in Quesnel.

Prince Rupert was awarded a victory on Wednesday by the league, after the league determined that Kitimat had used a suspended player, Jordan Goncalves, on their trip to Rupert of Saturday night. The game listed in the box score as an away forfeit.

The reversal of the result, gives the Rampage a valuable two point bump in the standings, as they head into the always challenging environment of the Highway 97 corridor arenas. As tough a road trip as the CIHL has to offer.

One aspect of their game for Prince Rupert to work on this weekend, will be to reverse some of their third period troubles of the early season. The final frame has been one which at times has featured a noticeable momentum shift, usually to the benefit of the opposing squad.

The Rampage will be looking for someone to take up the charge when it comes to scoring, so far in the 2013 season three players have accounted for more than half of all the eighteen goals scored by Prince Rupert.

Craig Munro and Kendal Stace-Smith each have scored three goals and added two assists to claim two of the top three scoring spots in the lineup, Jared Meers rounds out the trio at the top, with 2 goals and three assists.

Defensively the Rampage will have their hands full as well, they currently at 27 goals against, have given up the most in that category in the West division.

The weekend will clearly provide a challenge for the defensive units, so far in 2013 Williams Lake has scored a league leading 48 goals, while Quesnel is second with 35 Goals in their 8 games.

Below are a few reviews of recent games featuring both the Stampeders and Kangaroos,  providing us with an idea as to what the Rampage are up against over the next 48 hours.

Nov 3-- Stamps put together perfect weekend, recapture first in division
Oct 28-- Kangaroos edge Stamps to take over first in division

The Rampage return to the Northwest on Sunday to rest up for another trek on the road. Next weekend they take to the road again on October 16th when they travel to Kitimat.

The next home date for Prince Rupert is October 23rd, when the Smithers Steelheads will be in town.

You can review more of our Rampage items from our archive page.

Update: Late Friday it was announced that the Kitimat Ice Demons would be appealing the CIHL penalty, taking their case to BC Hockey.

Rough road trip for the Rampage

A weekend trip to Houston may have offered the Prince Rupert Rampage some colourful fall scenery, but when it came to points in the CIHL Standings, the home town Luckies claimed all that were up for grabs.

The Rampage, playing with a short bench owing to injuries and penalties could not overcome an impressive offensive output from the Luckies, dropping both games of their weekend double header to Houston.

Saturday, the Rampage were on the wrong end of a 6-4 score, an entertaining and hard hitting match up viewed by 543, that saw three Rampage scorers make their mark in the losing effort.

Rampage goal scorers on Saturday night were Justin Fotnaine with a first period marker assisted by Jeff Stromdahl and Brad Deshane.

Jared Meers picked up a goal in the second with helping hand from Craig Munro.

While Munro tallied two goals for himself in the third, the first came from assists from Jared Meers and Marcus Atchison, while the second one was a penalty shot marker,  rounding out the Rampage offence on the night.

Keano Wilson faced 31 shots on the night making, 26 saves in the Rampage nets. Prince Rupert directed 40 shots in the direction of the Luckies David Little, who made 36 saves over the sixty minutes.

The second period proved to be a fairly wild affair with two of the Rampage receiving Game Misconducts. The first, at the five minute mark when Jared Davis and the Luckies Brandon West were involved in an altercation, resulting in Game Misconducts. Then at the twenty minute mark, Jared Andresson was assessed a Game Misconduct, for a fight with Houston's Blair Dinelle.

The Rampage bench would get a little shorter in the third when Brad Deshane was assessed a Game Misconduct on a Head Contact call.

Even with the misconducts however, the Rampage spent less time in the penalty box than the Luckies.

By the games end, Houston had been assessed 42 minutes of penalties on 20 infractions, compared to the 13 infractions given to the Rampage for a total of 26 minutes.

With a 1 PM puck drop the next day rest and recuperation time would be short for the Rampage, providing for a short turn around heading into the final game of their October road schedule.

Sunday, the Rampage  got a quick jump on the Luckies with Justin Fontaine scoring the opening goal on a set up from Jordan Weir at the 7 minute mark of the first.

That goal held the lead for Prince Rupert into the first minute of the second period when the Luckies tied the game up. The tie however would be a short lived thing, as the Rampage with the man advantage, grabbed the lead back two minutes later on a goal from Kendal Stace-Smith, with Justin Fontaine and Marcus Atchison gaining assists on the power play marker.

The second period however was not to be for the Rampage, as Houston scored four quick goals in a seven minute span to take a 5-2 lead towards the end of the period.

Prince Rupert shaved one goal off that late in period, with a goal from Brad Deshane, his marker coming with an assist going to Kendal Stace-Smith.

The Rampage came out of the dressing room in the third looking to launch a third period comeback,  and got a little bit closer to the Luckies at the 3 minute mark with another power play goal, this one from Brock Ward with a helper from Marcus Atchison.

With a bit of momentum on their side and down just one goal, the Rampage pushed hard, but the Luckies would surrender no more ice and no more goals.

Adding two more of their own on the night, the final one an empty netter to claim the 7-4 victory and the final two points of the four available from the weekend.

Colby Hagman  was in the nets for the Rampage in the afternoon game, the Prince Rupert goaltender making 36 saves on 43 shots, while the Luckies Colton Wardrop turned aside 43 of the 47 Rampage shots that came his way.

The Sunday match didn't get particularly physical until the third period when the Luckies turned up a bit of the nasty,  overall Houston picked up 41 minutes in penalties on 12 infractions, while the Rampage spent less time in the penalty box on Sunday, receiving 15 minutes of penalties on 7 infractions.

Sunday's game attracted a significantly smaller crowd, with only 183 in attendance to bid farewell to the Rampage in the back end of the double header.

The Summary for the Saturday game can be found here, while Sunday's official review can be found here.

With the loss, the Rampage record now sits at 1 and 4, leaving them tied with Terrace for last place in the West division and making for a bit of a gap to close between the Rampage and the upper reaches of the CIHL west.

The Rampage will attempt to get back on the winning side of the ledger with a Saturday night matchup with Kitimat. Puck drop at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre is at 8 PM.

Rampage ramping up for Saturday showdown with Kitimat

Saturday night the Prince Rupert Rampage will be looking to even up their record in the early weeks of the CIHL season, as the Kitimat Ice Demons make the first of their three appearances this year at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre.

The arrival of the Northwest rival always makes for a fast paced and physical game and the Ice Demons, fresh off a 7-2 victory on Sunday over Quesnel, will be anxious to keep their hold on the top spot in the West division and keep their early season momentum going.

To stop them, the Rampage will have to correct some of the troubles that stalked them last Saturday night at the Civic Centre, when the third period saw them surrender the lead, as the Quesnel Kangaroos stormed back to claim a 6-4 victory.

That need to shut down the competition in that final frame will prove to be a large challenge, especially against a Kitimat team that scored quite handily last weekend.

Particular attention to the Kitimat side might be directed towards Josh Slanina  who was a one man scoring machine for the Ice Demons in their victory, accounting for three goals and an assist last week.

He and Derek Delisser lead the Ice Demons scoring after two games with 7 points each, indicative of the high powered scoring machine that has been assembled in the Aluminum City.

So far in this early mark of the CIHL season and after only one game, the Rampage have provided for a more evenly distributed listing on the scoring leaders sheet.

The Saturday night game, which has a puck drop of 8 PM will be the last home game of October for the Rampage. They take to the road for two weekends, with a game in Terrace on the 19th, and two in Houston on October 26 and 27.

The Rampage return to the Jim on November 2nd, when Kitimat once again will be the competition.

You can review our Rampage Scoreboard and Results page here, the larger review of Rampage and CIHL developments can be found here.

Challenge Cup puck drop set for Friday night

Hockey fans in Prince Rupert can get their early season hockey fix this weekend as the 2013 Challenge Cup gets ready to drop the puck on the CIHL season.

The Northwest pre-season tournament features the Kitimat Ice Demons, Terrace River Kings and Smithers Steelheads travelling to Prince Rupert to take on the Rampage.

The tournament play gets underway on Friday night with two games at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre, the host Rampage take on the River Kings at 6:30, while the Steelheads and Ice Demons face off at 9:30.

Saturday's games take place at 5 and 8 PM, the teams to be determined after Friday nights play.

Tickets are 10 dollars a game for adults and 5 per game for youth.

The Challenge Cup offers up an opportunity for the four northwest teams to break from their training camps with two days of hard pushing hockey. A weekend that will provide the coaching staff to work on line combinations and the players to gain some valuable real game experience, all in preparation for the CIHL regular season ahead.

The CIHL season gets underway on October 5th when the Rampage play host to the Quesnel Kangaroos.

You can follow along with more information on the Challenge Cup from the facebook page created for the tournament. More info on the Rampage can be found on their twitter feed.

You can access more information on the CIHL and the Rampage from our archives.

Updates:

Saturday, September 21-- Terrace vs Kitimat (5 PM)
Saturday, September 21-- Smithers vs Prince Rupert (8 PM)

Friday, September 20-- Terrace River Kings 1 vs Prince Rupert Rampage 5
Friday, September 20-- Smithers Steelheads 6 vs Kitimat Ice Demons 4

Prince Rupert Rampage to feature new look for 2013-14 season

When the Prince Rupert Rampage take to the ice in September, they'll be featuring a new look and it won't be just some new names on a few sweaters.

Actually, it's the sweaters themselves that will make news as training camp opens for the Rampage, as the Central Interior Hockey League team will feature a new look on their hockey jersey's for 2013-14.

The Rampage announced their new look on twitter this week.

With training camp but a little over a month away, the Rampage will be looking to improve on a 2012-13 season that provided for a number of challenges, the most obvious one being their lack of ice time owing to the troubles with the Civic Centre's ice making machinery of last year.

That resulted in the team embarking on a draining extensive road trip to start the CIHL season, a schedule that clearly had an impact on their place in the CIHL standings last year.

With a full pre season of available ice at home, 2013-14 could provide for a more rewarding result for the local squad.

And while the Rampage will sport a new look on the ice, the CIHL will also be making a few modifications to the 2013-14 season.

The Omineca ice have advised the CIHL that they intend to fold their operations, the lack of available players in the region the main reason behind their decision.

However, the return of the Hazelton Wolverines will fill that open spot on the CIHL schedule for the upcoming season, which will feature an 18 game schedule with three divisions.

The Rampage once again will compete in the CIHL west, with rival Terrace River Kings and and Kitimat Ice Demons the main obstacles towards a Coy Cup berth in 2013-14.

A new feature for the fans with the season to come will be the introduction of a five minute 4 on 4 overtime period before proceeding to a shoot out, with the hope that the 4-4 provides just a bit more excitement for CIHL games that end in a regulation time tie.

PG Citizen-- Senior Hockey Team Folding
Terrace Standard-- Changes coming to CIHL