It was one win and one loss for the northwest teams during last night’s first games of the Coy Cup tournament.
The Kitimat Ice Demons and the Williams Lake Stampeders started the first game of the night with a lot of back and forth play. No one was able to find the net for the first two periods; despite numerous close chances by the Ice Demons, the Stampeders’ netminder was able to keep the puck out of the net.
But with only 5:42 left in the game and a scramble in front of the net, Kitimat’s Daniel Mayer was able to score with an assist from Craig Hewitson. The Demons kept the momentum up, and Derek Wakita’s goal half a minute later, assisted by Jeff Baker, put two up on the scoreboard. The Demons went on to net one more goal with only 3:57 left in the game. Blaine Markwart was assisted by Wade Masch, giving Kitimat a 3-0 win over Williams Lake.
The Prince Rupert Rampage played the second game of the night and could not get the win over the Powell River Regals despite an early lead.
The Rampage net two in the first period, the first goal coming 6:02 in the game. Robin Gomez put the puck in the net from the side for Rampage’s first goal of the night. The assist came from Chris Brlecic.
The second goal came with only 2:34 left in the first period from Dylan Lawrence. Assists went to Kendall Stace-Smith and Chris Woodrow.
But the Regals came back in the second. With only 5:50 left in the period, Tyson Boucher scored the Regals’ first of the night during a power play, assisted by Rich Kellington and Eric Albertson. The second goal came less than a minute later from Powell River’s John Murgatroyd.
With the game tied going into the final period, the Regals started off the scoring 1:27 in. Keegan Young found the back of the net, assisted by Drew St. Laurant and Jordy Smith. Andy Welsh followed this up with a goal 9:12 into the period with a one-one-one with the Rampage goalie Keith Movold after a long pass to the blue line from Joe Calderone and Derek Jantz.
The Rampage tried to close up the game, hitting the post in a close one but then tucked one away during a power play. Brett Stava put the puck in the net with 8:37 left in the game, with assists from Colt Stava and JT Ward.
With the game at 4-3 for Powell River in the final minutes and a Regal in the penalty box, the Rampage pulled goalie Movold to put on an extra man. But The Regals managed to find the empty net, with Murgatroyd sending the puck down the ice to end the game 5-3.
Powell River and Williams Lake play tonight at 5 p.m., and Kitimat and Prince Rupert face off at 8:15 p.m.
The four teams will be playing each other at the civic centre all week, with the finals on Saturday, March 12 at 7 p.m.
Williams Lake's Jordan Winkler, #24, tries to clear the puck before Kitimat's Doug Higginson gets to it during last night's game.