Prince Rupert splits final homestand, finish regular season second overall

The Prince Rupert Rampage will settle for a second place finish in the CIHL standings this regular season after splitting their home finales over the weekend.

The real deciding result took place in the penultimate game against the rival Terrace River Kings. The sides had split the season series so far, each winning in their own building back in December. Coming into the Friday, Jan. 31 showdown, Prince Rupert sat one point ahead of Terrace through 14 games played each.

Terrace set the tempo in the first period, and were rewarded more than halfway through the period, the lead coming via a family connection as Ben Reinbolt combined with Chapen Leblond to set up Sam Reinbolt for the game’s opening goal.

Despite out-shooting the Rampage 14-7 in the first period the River Kings managed just the one goal. The goal light would be put to work in the second period though, starting right off of puck drop as Terrace scored a trio of goals in 2:41 early on to leap out to a 4-0 lead. Hunter Johnson, Gianni Carmano and Mason Richey had the tallies. Teal Burns finally got the home side on the board at the 5:36 mark, but his goal was cancelled out by a Connor Onstein goal less than two minutes later to make it 5-1 for the visitors.

Prince Rupert would close out the period strong though to stay in the game, starting with a goal from captain Kory Movold snapped top right on the glove side of goalie Pat Leal at 9:17 to cut the lead to three. Tyler Ostrom had Rupert on the board again just 62 seconds later as he jammed home a loose puck. Connor Beauchemin stopped the bleeding for Terrace at the 11:31 mark to boost Terrace’s lead to 6-3, but another goal from Movold with just 70 seconds left in the period gave Rupert hope going into the final 20 minutes.

The crowd at the Jim Ciccone went electric when the Rampage pulled within one at 3:11 of the third period when Jeremy Boot made his contribution to the score sheet. They went even crazier just minutes later when it appeared that the home side had tied the game, but the goal was taken away due to goaltender interference, a decision met with a chorus of boos from the fans. This would prove to be the turning point, as Terrace took command the rest of the way to the tune of four more goals. Connor Beauchemin restored the multi-goal lead on the power play at 9:07 on a glove side shot that Rupert goalie Kieran Sharpe would have loved to have back, followed by quick strikes from Fred Mowatt that just trickled over the line, and a second goal from Richey to give the River Kings three goals in 2:53. Ostrom was tossed from the game after Terrace’s ninth goal as emotions boiled over.

The exclamation mark was delivered with just 25 seconds left as Mason Richey cranked home his hat trick goal on the power play to see his side hit double digits. This followed a spirited exchange between the benches as head coaches Roger Atchison from the Rampage and Stephen Turner from Terrace debated in colourful terms the apparent sportsmanship of each other’s teams.

“Our first period was really good, we were on them a lot and we forechecked. We have some big forwards,” Terrace coach Stephen Turner said of his team’s effort. “Our guys came out and we scored those goals so quick, but we started to get a little slack, we didn’t bear down and everybody wants to score. Everybody wants to be fancy and that’s what happens.”

Turner’s advice for the team when the Rampage looked poised to tie it up: “We’re still winning the game, we have to make smart decisions. Fire the puck in, don’t make stupid plays in our own end, quit trying to be fancy. Go force the issue like we did in the first period, and the kids came around.”

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The loss meant Rupert would almost certainly be playing Hazelton in the playoffs, unless Smithers pulled off an upset of Terrace on Saturday night. The Rampage would get no such luck though, as the River Kings dismantled the visiting Steelheads 9-4 to clinch first place.

“They came out with their A-team and played hard, and we couldn’t really weather the storm,” Rampage head coach Roger Atchison said after the game. “I’m happy with our guys, they battled back and made it a game.”

“We tied it for a split second,” Atchison said of the disallowed Rampage goal. “I didn’t really like the call but it is what it is, it doesn’t matter whether I like it or not, it didn’t count.”

The game therefore would serve as a valuable preview for the upcoming postseason matchup. Hazelton had the first pair of goals in the game, Kevin Mcnab scoring 6:31 in before setting up teammate Byron Sam to double the lead eight minutes later. Kory Movold got Rupert on the board before the period was out though, pulling off the signature Peter Forsberg move to get the crowd into the game.

Like the previous night though it was a tough start to the middle frame, Mcnab adding his second at 4:09 before Wilfred Duncan put the Wolverines out-front 4-1 halfway through the period. Like Friday as well though, Rupert closed the period strong with a pair of goals, first a snipe high glove side by Teal Burns on goalie Keano Wilson, followed by a power play goal from Koltin Chasse to bring the score to 4-3 after 40 minutes.

Just 25 seconds into the third period the Rampage were back on even footing as Kory Movold scored a power play tally for his second goal of the game. The home side looked in trouble when Duncan scored his second of the game with 4:45 remaining, but a Rampage answer from Teal Burns a mere 26 seconds later meant overtime was in the cards for the two teams.

Five minutes of four-on-four hockey would solve nothing, but just 72 seconds into the wide open ice of three-on-three play the game had a winner as Teal Burns completed his hat trick to ensure the Rampage ended the regular season on a winning note. Rupert likely would have put the game away earlier but for the stellar play of Keano Wilson in goal, who turned aside 47 shots total.

Prince Rupert’s playoff matchup is now set, with Game 1 of their series against the Wolverines beginning on Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Upper Skeena Recreation Centre in Hazelton. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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