Rampage season comes to an end, as River Kings comeback to claim playoff series

Home ice proved to be a key factor for the Terrace River Kings, who turned on the offence over the weekend to claim victory in their CIHL West Division playoff series with the Prince Rupert Rampage.

Prince Rupert headed into the weekend holding a 1-0 lead in the series, an advantage gained through a hard fought victory last weekend at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre. Saturday and Sunday however provided a very different story as the River Kings, who were division leaders in the West for the last few months of the season showcased their skills, with a total of 13 goals over less than 24 hours.

Saturday the River Kings evened the series up with a 6-1 victory over the Rampage, with John Hunt picking up a first period goal, the only marker for Prince Rupert on the day, with assists going to Brad Deshane and Josh Kierce.

The Saturday evening scoring summary can be found here.

Sunday afternoon however, Terrace punched their ticket into further playoff action. Once again finding the net frequently, picking up another victory, this one by a score of 7-1 and bringing the Rampage season to a end.

Craig Munro goes into the scoring books for the season, having picking up the final goal of 2013-14 campaign for Prince Rupert, Kendal Stace-Smith and Jordan Weir provided the final helpers of the year.

Sunday's scoring summary can be found here.

The Rampage took to their twitter feed and facebook page over the weekend to salute the raucous collective of Prince Rupert fans that made the trip to Terrace to cheer on their squad.

As their season came to an end, the Rampage also thanked their fan base for all their support through the 2013-14 season. Despite a challenging year for the team on ice, Prince Rupert's CIHL provided the highest support of any time for the CIHL league wide.

With a total regular season attendance of 5,240 and a average of 582 per game, in addition to over 800 at the Jim January 25th for the first playoff game with Terrace, the Rampage fan base has done their part to keep Senior Hockey a going concern on the North Coast.

While the Rampage now put the equipment away for the year and make their plans for the fall, the CIHL playoffs move on to the next phase. With Terrace taking on the Smithers Steelheads in the CIHL West playoff, while Williams Lake and Quesnel will face off in the CIHL East Division showdown.

You can review the 2013-14 Rampage season from our Results page, there is more on the CIHL season and playoffs on our archive page.

Labour rumblings could derail CN traffic to Prince Rupert

What was originally thought to be a slam-dunk acceptance of a contract proposal, has apparently gone a little sideways.

That as word comes out that members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference  have decided to reject a recently signed tentative deal, sending negotiators back to the discussion table to try and sort it all out.

As we outlined on the blog in November, CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference had reached a tentative three year deal, however as the ratification process moved ahead, union members began to express a number of concerns on negotiated issues.

When the final count came in, some 60 percent the union's members had rejected the deal, the main sticking point a level of mistrust between union members and CN and the need for assurances that rest provisions in the current agreement will be respected.

Logistical issues regarding crew relief have apparently escalated since the memorandum of agreement
had been reached, a situation that led to the union members holding back their ratification of the tentative deal.

CN and the Teamsters are looking at the ratification troubles and are considering how to address them.

While there is a possibility of a labour disruption, the two sides which will meet this afternoon with the goal of finding a solution to the latest concerns.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is in a position to serve a 72 hour strike notice, though union representatives stressed that the preferred solution will come from further negotiations.

You can find more items of interest on CN operations in the Northwest on our archive page.

Reviews of the background on the current labour situation can be found below.

National Post-- CN to meet with union after yard and train workers reject deal
Globe and Mail-- Tentative contract for 3,000 CN Rail workers rejected
Progressive Railroading-- CN, TCRC to resume negotiations after tentative agreements aren't ratified
Yahoo Finance-- CN Rail to meet with union over stalled labour deal

Update:  The Teamster's Rail Conference Served Strike notice on CN on Wednesday, potential for strike action along the rail network could come as soon as Saturday.

Slubowski splits duties for WMU in weekend series

The weekend was a rough one for any team named Broncos, with the Western Michigan University version having as many trouble as the Denver one.

The WMU version found their trouble at the hands of the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs who came into Kalamazoo and took both games of their two game NCAA series over the weekend.

Friday night, Prince Rupert's Frank Slubowski was on the bench as Lukas Hafner faced down the Bulldogs, as Minnesota-Duluth took the opener of the two game series by a score of 5-2.

Saturday night Slubowski received the tap on the shoulder and took to the nets in what ended up to be a 32 save performance, all be it in a losing cause as the Bulldogs again outplayed the Broncos taking the back end of the weekend series 3-1.

The PRMHA alumnus held the Broncos in the game in the third when the Bulldogs fired fifteen shots in the final frame, but the Broncos could not find the offensive range to get back into the game.

Offence proved to be a downfall for WMU over the weekend as the Broncos were out shot by Minnesota-Duluth by a total of 64 to 49

Summaries of the weekend action can be found below:

Friday January 31
Saturday February 1

Recaps of the weekend can be found below


February 2-- Broncos Swept by Bulldogs
February 1-- Bulldogs End Broncos' Unbeaten Streak
February 1-- WMU hockey swept by Minnesota-Duluth after 3-1 loss to Bulldogs
February 1-- WMU hockey plays with more intensity, still comes up short vs. Minnesota-Duluth in 3-1 loss
January 31-- No. 20 WMU hockey team left "frustrated" after third-period collapse, 5-2 loss to Minnesota-Duluth
January 31-- Minnesota-Duluth beats WMU hockey 5-2, with three third period goals

WMU had entered the weekend holding down the number 20 spot in the NCAA rankings for the week ending January 27th, a placement that may be at risk after the results of the weekend.

The Broncos  head out on the road for two weeks now and see their next action on February 7th and 8th when they take on Miami of Ohio for a two game series in Oxford, Ohio.

More can be found on our archive page regarding Slubowski's time with WMU, as well as for other Rupertites in sports away from the North Coast.

Road Woes continue for UNBC Timberwolves

A trip into Saskatchewan and Alberta saw the UNBC Timberwolves Women's team come close on Friday night, but as they head back to Prince George, the squad along with the Men's team is still finding the wins hard to come by.

On Friday night the Timberwolves squad was in Saskatoon where the hometown Huskies squeaked out a 74 to 70 victory. For Prince Rupert's Sarah Robin Friday provided for 36 minutes of playing time with ten points in the losing cause.

Saturday UNBC moved on to Edmonton to take on the Golden Bears, a game which saw the Timberwolves have strong first and third quarters, but lapses in the second and fourth proved to be key to the evening, as the Golden Bears turned on the offence to streak to a 79-48 victory.

Robin played 25 minutes in the second game of the weekend's action, picking up three points on the days work.

The summaries for both women's games can be found below.

Friday, January 31
Saturday, February 1

On the men's side of the trip, the Timberwolves came within ten of the Huskies on Friday night, while Saturday they found the Men's Golden Bears to be a strong challenge as well, with Alberta pulling away to 96-70 victory

Men's summaries

Friday, January 31
Saturday, February 1

Prince George Citizen-- T-wolves tamed in Alberta
Prince George Citizen-- UNBC Basketball teams dog the Huskies in Saskatoon
Prince George Citizen-- T-Wolves facing playoff elimination

Both men's and women's teams are back in action this weekend, when the University of Fraser Valley makes the trip to Prince George for two games. With games scheduled for Friday and Saturday evening at the UNBC Northern Sports Centre.

Games are streamed through the CanadaWest portal, the Women's action starts at 6 PM each night.

You can find out more from their website.

More can be found on our archive page regarding Ms. Robins' time with UNBC , as well as for other Rupertites in sports away from the North Coast.

Arctic Outflow Warning issued for North Coast Inland

A decidedly cooler turn in the temperature has settled in over the North Coast, with the Inland section of the region now under an Arctic Outflow Warning.

Temperatures inland will reach near -20 tonight as temperatures drop and strong winds arrive to increased the windchill factor.

The conditions inland are expected to continue through until Wednesday and perhaps longer with lows of -30 expected.

For coastal regions of the North Coast, Temperatures will be a little less extreme, with Daytime Highs of 0 to -1 and overnight lows reaching -14 by Wednesday.

For more on the Cold Weather consult the Environment Canada website for updates

Blog Watching Week ending February 2, 2014

As part of a weekly feature on the blog, every Sunday we offer up this weeks recap of the top five items viewed over the course of the last seven days.

Included in the countdown, we will provide links to the articles in question, offering up with one click of the mouse, those items of the week that you may have missed.

This week, news from CityWest topped the most read list, with the Prince Rupert based Communication company announcing a date for the end of its cellular service to the community.

City Council events also found their way onto the Top Five, with the announcement of the hiring of a Recreation Specialist on a contract basis for the City and the release of the names of residents selected to serve on a number of committees in the city.

To wrap up our review of the week, readers found our items on changes to the billing process at CityWest and the court related developments between the BCTF and Provincial Government were among the items to complete the top five items of the week.

The top item of the week:

CityWest Announces cutoff date for Cellular Service...    March 1st is the date selected by CityWest to bring to an end it's cellular service to Prince Rupert, a topic which we reviewed this week. (posted January 29, 2014)

That item was followed by:

Prince Rupert City Council brings in a recreation "specialist"...   A bit of a surprise announcement from City Council with the notice of the hiring of Mr. Bren Meunier who arrived at the Recreation Department this week ( posted January 27, 2014 )

City announces new committee members for 2014... A notice from the minutes of the most recent City Council session provided the names of the successful candidates for a number of Committees hosted by the City of Prince Rupert. (posted January 24, 2014)

CityWest to align its billing system by doubling the Amount Due from customers for March.. A change to the billing system at CityWest could make March an expensive month for household budgets (posted January 30, 2014)

BCTF finds success in the courts; but BC Government considering appeal..  The court decision reached this week between the teachers' union and the Provincial government wraps up our top five items of the week (posted January 29, 2014)

You can find our Blog watching featured posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.

The Permanent link to the feature can be found above our Blog Archive section, found on the right hand side of the title page.

For those looking for updates to items as they are posted to the blog, don't forget about our email alert access.

A daily review of the latest items on the blog can be delivered to your email in box, simply by entering your email address into the information bar, items posted to the blog will be delivered to your e-mail account each day.

You can find the link to that feature on the upper, right hand side of the blog.

Emergency Service Files --- February 2014

Our Archive of items from the files of law enforcement and other emergency responders in Northwestern British Columbia.

From the North Coast Review

February 17-- RCMP seek man on many charges including those from Prince Rupert
February 11-- Highway 16 Closed at Rainbow Summit due to vehicle incident
February 4-- Not a fond farewell for the Rampage from a Terrace fan
February 1-- Prince Rupert resident faces multiple charges after crime spree in Prince George

Media Items from Across the Northwest


Prince Rupert/Port Edward/Haida Gwaii/North Coast

February 28-- Vehicle strikes pedestrians on McBride in Prince Rupert
February 26-- Prince Rupert joins deadly online drinking game
February 19-- Prince Rupert RCMP report a quiet All Native Basketball Tournament Week
February 5-- Prince Rupert police find stolen hunting rifles across the street from where they were stolen (audio)
February 5-- Unlocked doors lead to theft in Masset
February 4-- Terrace RCMP investigate man who hit Rampage player at end of playoff game
February 4-- Prince Rupert man facing multiple charges in Prince George, Vanderhoof area
February 3-- Alcohol, Theft and a Bear: QC RCMP
February 1-- Prince Rupert man arrested/Charged in PG

Terrace/Kitimat elsewhere

February 28-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 26-- Special constables help stop bullying
February 25-- Terrace couple duped of more than $2,000
February 25-- Terrace RCMP seize drugs
February 25-- Boy Threatened in Thornhill
February 25-- "Grandparent" Scam dupes Terrace couple
February 24-- Terrace couple scammed out of over $2000
February 24-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 24-- Emergency or Grandparent Scam
February 24-- Terrace boy threatened
February 24-- Boy threatened by stranger
February 24-- Terrace RCMP seize drugs from city home
February 24-- Heroin and Cocaine Seized in Search of Residence
February 21-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 20-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 19-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 18-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 17-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 17-- Hallucinogen leaves Kitimat resident with a bad trip
February 9-- RCMP name man fatally stabbed on Friday night
February 9-- Victim identified in Fatal Smithers Stabbing
February 8-- 21 year old arrested after fatal stabbing is Smithers
February 8-- Smithers RCMP investigating stabbing death
February 8-- Young man dies following stabbing in Smithers
February 8-- Fatal Stabbing in Smithers
February 6-- New Hazelton RCMP seek Local Man
February 6-- New Hazelton RCMP  investigate assault
February 5-- Obstructed windshield causes crash
February 5-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 5-- Traveller found safe
February 4-- RCMP seek missing traveller
February 2-- RCMP use spike belt to nab suspect
February 3-- Terrace RCMP Service Report
February 1-- Smithers RCMP arrest Nova Scotians for Attack
February 1-- Conviction strips teacher of licence

Ketchikan/Southeast Alaska

February 28-- Alleged texting leads to single-vehicle accident
February 25-- Police arrest man for meth as he steps off the ferry
February 3-- Man faces multiple felony drug charges