The Prince Rupert Rampage took to the friendly confines of the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre Arena with a one game lead in the CIHL western conference finals, but it would be the Kitimat Ice Demons that walked out on Sunday with a ticket to the league championship against the Williams Lake Stampeders.
The Rampage got off to a rough start on Saturday night, as Kitimat’s offense clicked for two goals in the first 47 seconds of play - with Ian Coleman sweeping across the front of the net and going low past netminder Keith Movold just 27 seconds in and Blaine Markwart making it a 2-0 game just 20 seconds later to effectively silence the home crowd. That silence was shattered though, when Kendall Stace-Smith picked up the loose puck in front after it took a weird bounce off the backboards and put it by Demons goalie Jamie Moran with 15:46 to play. The Rampage would get the equalizer with 7:58 to go and on the powerplay as Derek Baker’s blast from just inside the blue line got by a screened Moran. With 1:03 to go it looked like Kitimat regained the lead with a wrister that went top shelf, but the goal was called off due to a Rupert playing touching the puck on the delayed penalty not being picked up by the ref but being seen by the linesmen.
Kitimat would regain the lead though, with Craig Hewitson putting home a cross ice pass in a two-on-one situation with 12:20 to play in the second. Kitimat ended up getting 1:20 of 5-on-3 and capitalized when Jeff Mildenberger went high at the side of the net with just 2:07 left in the frame to give Kitimat a 4-2 lead heading into the third.
In the third Kitimat dominated play early as Rupert struggled to get anything in the Demons zone, and with 13:13 to play Mildenberger dangled the puck past the defense and fed Derek Wakita to put the Demons up 5-2. Rupert would have chances to close the gap, including a goal that was waved off because it was deflected in with a high stick, but it would be for not as the Demons took game two by a final of 5-2.
On Sunday it was the Rampage who struck early, with Colt Stava beating Moran just 2:21 into the period. After being unable to capitalize on a 5-on-3 late in the period, the Rampage went up by two with 4:51 to play as Tom Jackson put a high wrister over the blocker of Moran to give Rupert a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.
There were lots of chances on both ends early in the third, but it was Kitimat who struck first on a great individual effort by Craig Hewitson that saw him go through three defenders and hold the puck all the way to the crease to get it by a down Movold. Prince Rupert spent much of the second short-handed, and the result was a powerplay goal for the Demons by Derek Wakita, who jammed the puck five-hole after it bounced off the chest of Movold, putting the score at 2-2 heading into the third.
Wade Masch of Kitimat made it 3-2 early, putting the puck over the glove of Movold just 2:43 into the period, and that would be all the offense until just before the buzzer went when Ian Coleman found the open net with Movold on the bench for the extra attacker.
“On Saturday night we just didn’t have the effort, it was a bit of a let down...It’s not that we didn’t battle, the guys did, but we could have tried a lot harder,” said captain Colt Stava.
“Today it really could have gone either way and we had chances...You have to give the Ice Demons credit, they’re a great team. They’ve been there, they’ve done it all and they thrive on it. They were just the better team this weekend.”
The Rampage will now have some time to heal up before the Coy Cup provincial championship starts in March, and Stava said they will be ready to give the fans a show.
“We couldn’t have a team without the fans and the sponsors. The community has really embraced us and it is just an awesome feeling, not something everyone gets to experience,” he said.
“We had a new found dedication to the team, the whole group worked hard for the fans, the sponsors and ourselves. We’re just a really proud group.”