The highly anticipated showdown did not disappoint the large crowd at the Jim, with lots of scoring and a very physical game the earmarks of another contest between the two long time rivals of the Northwest.
Friday's showcase offered the Rampage a chance to move into First Place for the final night to follow on Saturday, but the guests had no intention of being evicted from the penthouse, with some close hockey in period one which delivered but one goal, that for the visitors.
Period Two saw the ink flowing for the score sheet, with nine goals marking the middle frame, the Rampage opening their night up with Kory Movold's marker just past the one minute mark, with assists going to Teal Burns and Tyler Ostrom.
Ostrom would pick up an unassisted marker about eight minutes later, followed by another Kory Movold goal, this one with helpers from Teal Burns and Marcus Atchison.
Burns was next up on the Rampage goals list picking up the fourth goal of the game for the Rampage at 14:24 with assists from Kolton Chasse and Kory Movold.
And while the Rhinos were finding their scoring groove, the River Kings were matching them along the way, picking up five markers of their own to take a 6-4 lead into the dressing room heading towards the third period.The final twenty minutes belonged to the River Kings who recorded four straight goals in the first eleven minutes, a period of the game marked by a number of penalties as the Rampage frustrations spilled out onto the ice, with the Prince Rupert squad assessed all but three of the eleven penalties assessed, four of them to Jim Lessard who picked up a fighting major and a misconduct.
Jeremy Boot wrapped up the Rampage scoring on the night at 16:49 with an assist to Tyler Ostrom, making the final 10-5 Terrace.
When it came to facing down the offence, the Ramapge's Kieran Sharpe had a much busier night in the nets than that forPatrick Leal for Terrace.
The River Kings directed 32 shots the way of the Prince Rupert net minder, while the Ramapge only had half that many making for challenges for Leal.
The full boxscore for Friday can be found here.
The Prince Rupert squad ending the regular season on a winning note with the 6-5 OT victory.
Hazelton held the lead after twenty minutes with two goals, with only one answer from the Ramapge by way of Kory Movold's marker at 2:35 assisted by Tyler Ostrom.
Prince Rupert took the lead midway through the second as Kolton Chasse scored a power play marker at 6:30 of the second period, with assists from Tyler Ostrom and Teal Burns.
Burns would score two minutes later with helpers from Jacob Santurbano and Kale Burns.
The Wolverines however, who have been a very competitive team through the season stayed tight with the Ramapge picking up two goals of their own, to set the score at 4-3 Hazelton heading into the final frame.
The two teams exchanged goals early in the third, with Teal Burns picking up an unassisted goal at 4:19.
The Wolverines however held hard to their 5-4 lead until the last thirty seconds of play when a Power play marker for Kory Movold off an assist from Tyler Ostrom put the game into overtime.
The extra frame came to an end at 3:48 when Teal Burns with a helper from Tyler Osrom put the Rampage into the win column.
The teams split the penalty totals at 36 minutes each with the Wolverines assessed 10 penalty calls, the Rampage six. The middle frame making for most of those numbers as emotions boiled over for the two teams.
Kieran Sharpe claimed the OT victory for the Rampage, facing 16 shots on the night, Keaon Wilson was stellar in the Wolverine nets, turning aside all but six of the 53 shots that he faced during the near 64 minutes of play.
Rampage/Wolverines scoring summary can be reviewed here.
The road to the Coy Cup Senior Men's Championship in Quesnel, will start this month with the CIHL playoffs, so far the CIHL has not released the schedule and details for the 2019-20 Playoff Round.
For More notes on the Rampage and the CIHL see our archive page here.
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