Rampage return to the Road for final regular season showdown with River Kings

They've had five days to work out the muscle cramps from their marathon road trip into the Cariboo last weekend which delivered a split for the Prince Rupert Rampage. But the road warriors of the North Coast will be hopping back on the bus tomorrow, taking to Highway 16 and a showdown with their Northwest rivals in Terrace.

The Rampage and River Kings have met three times so far in the 2016-17 season, Prince Rupert claiming the initial victory back on October 8th, when they took two points out of the Terrace Ice Arena by a score of 4-2.

Since then however, the River Kings have found success right in the home domain of the Rampage, with two victories that made the normally noisy madhouse on McBride a rather quiet place for post game reflection.

Terrace have outscored the Rampage by margins of 6 to 3 on October 15 and an 5 to 4, in an OT thriller on November 19th.  The advantage on the scoreboard providing for Terrace's one point lead in the very tight upper tier of the CIHL standings, each point now pivotal as we head into the first week of action for December.

The two teams have show some similar traits so far in the year, nearly equal in the Goals For department, with the Rampage led by the scoring touch of Josh Cook who vaulted into the top ten of CIHL scoring leaders after last weekend.

Heading into Saturday night, Cook has 3 goals and 10 assists, results from the scoreboard that have him in a three way tie for the eight spot.

Josh Cook has cracked the top ten of CIHL Scorers
(photo Prince Rupert Rampage)

As for the defensive stats, the Rampage need to be a little more disciplined in their own end if they hope to reduce the Goals Against stats that so far have them surrendering 44 markers after nine games of play.

Physical play is always a key element of any Terrace/Rupert matchup and that's reflected by the Penalties in minutes that have been assessed through to the end of November, with the Rampage a slightly more penalized team at 235 minutes than the River Kings who still have cracked the 220 minute mark.  That's a trend that suggests that Saturday night could make for a long night for the linesmen tasked with keeping the peace.

In a unique twist to the CIHL schedule, tomorrow night is the last that the two teams will see of each other until any potential match up that may come around playoff time. That should add just a little bit more incentive to an already high energy rivalry with the two points up for grabs something of significant interest for the Rampage.

As the final two months of the regular season get under way this weekend, total points will play an important aspect for home ice advantage during the post season. Making a statement on Saturday in Terrace could push the Rampage into the playoff stretch with prospects of a home ice advantage key to their ambitions for a shot at the Coy Cup.

Puck drop in Terrace is 7 PM for those that may heading up the Skeena over the weekend.

More items on the Rampage and the CIHL can be found on our archive page here.

Rampage take to the highway for first road game this weekend

The Prince Rupert Rampage won't have to travel very far to launch their first road trip of the 2015-16, with a short jaunt down Highway 16 part of the itinerary for week two of the new CIHL season.

The Rampage who are coming off a shoot out split over the weekend with their Cariboo cousins, will resume their always feisty rivalry with the Terrace River Kings on Saturday night.

The Rampage will be looking to have Tyler Ostrom and Jared Meers keep their hot scoring touch on fire, so far in these early days of the season, the pair of Rhinos are leading the team in scoring at three points each, with Ostrom netting a goal and two assists, while Meers has three helpers to this point.

Offensive depth though is looking to be much more of a key for the Rampage two games into the season with 13 players having picked up their first point or points of the season.

And while the offensive play is heating up, the need to shut down the opposition in their own end is something that will need to be worked on a bit more as the team finds its legs in the first month of play.

In their first two games, the Rampage have surrendered 8 goals against, with goaltenders Jarrod Hildebrand and Devin Garrets having faced shot goals of 47 and 52 respectively.

Saturday's puck drop is scheduled for 8 PM at the Terrace Ice Arena, you can get a sense of how the early season has gone for River Kings from this item in the Terrace Standard.

The Rampage will be back on the road next weekend as well, with a Friday night contest in Kitimat.

You can follow the Rampage Results through the season from our archive page here, while news items for both the Rampage and the CIHL can be found on our CIHL News page.