The Chase Heat hit the road on the weekend for the first two of a 52-game regular season schedule.
The first stop was the Coyotes in Osoyoos. Bus legs and beautiful hot weather may have put the team in La-La Land as the effort needed was not there except for 11 minutes in the second period. Outshot 45-32, the boys came out on the short side of a 7-2 decision. Missed assignments, lost faceoffs and early season jitters were evident throughout this lopsided contest. For the Heat, rookie winger Tommy Brown got his first KIJHL goal assisted by Kolten Moore at 2:44 of the first period. The second goal came off the stick of veteran Cody Hodges assisted by Chase Anchikoski and Kaleb Boyle at 7:33 of the second frame, and then the desert dogs took over completely.
Sunday afternoon found the team in Princeton versus the Posse. Chase outshot the opposition 28-19 and scored three powerplay markers en route to a second road loss 4-3. After falling behind 1-0 in the first, the Heat came back with two in the second. Rookie Travis Beaubien scored his first from Moore and Brown at 10:39, and Jordan Passmore from Connor Venne at 6:49. They were up 2-1 going into the locker room. In the third, the Heat came unglued as the puck became a grenade that no one wished to touch or seemed to know what to do with, and the Posse scored three in a row to totally take over. With 1:02 left, Venne scored from Boyle to make it interesting and then goalie Nic Bruyere was pulled from between the pipes, but to no avail.
This early in the season the roster is not set so fans can expect cuts, additions and intrigue as hockey operations works on chemistry, commitment, desire and dedication by the players. It simply is ‘show or go’ time.
Next up is the home opener Friday, Sept. 19 versus Grand Forks at 7 p.m. at the Art Holding Memorial Arena.
