Rampage review week Seven

The longest road trip of the year for the Prince Rupert Rampage proved to be a instructive one, as the westernmost franchise took on their kin from the easternmost point, collecting two of four points in the process.

The Rampage took the first of the two games in a split of their weekend series with the Williams Lake Stampeders, a potential rival come March for the Coy Cup Championship .

Prince Rupert which plays host to this years Senior Men's championship in March, will receive an automatic bye into that championship series, and the events on the road this weekend provided the Rampage with a good measuring stick as to what the path towards that Championship may be like.

Saturday night the Rampage won a  hard earned victory over the Stamps, coming from behind to take  them down by a score of 8-6 in front of 350 fans in Williams Lake.

The Rampage took the first period to get their skating legs after the lengthy bus ride from Rupert to Williams Lake, spotting the Stampeders three goals in the first.

However the second period marked the beginning of a hard fought comeback for the Rupert squad, with the Rampage scoring three goals in the second period, putting the Rampage to within two goals by the time the second period came to an end.

And while the second showed a lot of the Rampage's mettle, the third delivered the goods, as the Rampage scored five goals to the  Stampeders one, taking control of the game and grabbing the first game of their weekend double header .

 Goal scorers for the Rampage included Kendal Stace-Smith who paced the Rampage with a hat trick, goals also came from Derek Baker, Jared Meers, Brett Stava, Rob Miller and Chris Woodrow.  Rupert had 41 shots on Williams Lake's Justin Foote by the game's end, finding success on seven of them with the final goal an empty net marker at 19:37 of the third.

Another strong showing the nets from Keith Movold, who held back the Stampeders in the third provided the Rampage with the keys to success on Saturday as he turned aside  38 of 44 shots directed his way.

As might be expected from any trip into the puddle, the night was a physical affair with officials handing out a  few minor and major penalties throughout the match, the majority of which were in the hectic third period.

Williams Lake led the parade to the penalty box on the night with 22 minutes assessed on eight penalties while four Rampage players served time on four infractions.

The Sunday rematch proved to be one which featured a determined Williams Lake squad looking for redemption from Saturday's loss,  the Stamps took  control of game two in the second period and never looked back, skating on to an 11-3 victory in front of only about 150 spectators.

The Rampage got off to an impressive start  in the game holding a 3-1 lead into the fifteen minute mark of the first, but after that the game was all Williams Lake, as they scored 10 unanswered goals to collect the win. Rampage goal scorers in the Sunday matinee were Kendall Stace-Smith, Brett Stava and Rob Miller.

Warren Hanson was in the Prince Rupert net to face the Williams Lake onslaught, the Stampeders scoring broke down to four goals in the first, five in the second and two in the third as they peppered Hanson with 42 shots on the afternoon.

Sunday's game was a rather tame affair in the penalty department, with only 18 minutes of infractions split nearly evenly between the two teams. The Rampage were assessed four minor penalties on the day while the Stampeders collected five minors before the game came to an end.

The Rampage return home to face Kitimat once again this weekend, taking to the ice at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre on Saturday night with a game time of 8 pm.

It was a busy weekend for the remainder of the CIHL's teams with five other games scheduled over Saturday and Sunday, the results of which you can find below. (Scores to be updated as posted to the CIHL website)

Saturday-- Kitimat 6 at Hazelton 3
Saturday-- Terrace 0 at Smithers 4
Saturday-- Omineca 2 at Burns Lake 7
Sunday-- Kitimat 5 at Hazelton 6 (shoot out victory)
Sunday-- Omineca 2 at Burns Lake 5


You can find a full review of the Rampage season so far from our permanent link on the blog, which you can check out here.

Further reports on the action from the weekend can be found below.


Nov 15-- Wolverines record first victory of season
Nov 14-- Prince Rupert Rampage split weekend series with Williams Lake