After wrapping up an eight-game home stand, the Cowichan Valley Capitals headed off the Island last weekend for their first road games in nearly a month.
Things didn’t go as well as the Caps might have hoped, as they lost games on Friday and Sunday and claimed a costly victory on Saturday.
The Caps opened the weekend trip with a 6-2 loss to the Chilliwack Chiefs, who sit second overall in the B.C. Hockey League.
“I thought we had a pretty good effort for two periods and were right in there with Chilliwack,” head coach Bob Beatty said. “It wasn’t the best third period we’ve played.”
The Chiefs scored the only goal of the first period and were ahead 3-0 before Jared Domin scored with just over three minutes left in the second. Chilliwack had the first two goals of the third before Ben Verrall’s powerplay marker at 5:32. The Chiefs added one more after that.
Ryan Hogg and Michael Montambault each had two assists in the defeat, while Lane Michasiw made 37 saves in the Cowichan net.
The Caps beat the Salmon Arm Silverbacks 5-2 on Saturday thanks to a standout performance by goalie Adam Marcoux, but lost key defenceman Nii Noi Tetteh to a concussion late in the game.
Marcoux was credited with 55 saves in the game, including 25 in the first period, although Beatty acknowledged the scorekeepers might have been a little creative with the totals.
“It was a big win on the road,” the coach said. “They have a pretty good team, but we weathered the storm thanks to Marcoux. He’s had a few games this season where he was a difference maker, as has Lane.”
The teams went back and forth in the first period. Ayden MacDonald opened the scoring for the Caps, and the Silverbacks answered. Domin put Cowichan ahead again with a powerplay goal, and Salmon Arm drew even a minute and a half later with former Capitals defenceman Carter Cochrane scored. George Sennott put the Caps up for good with 4:14 left in the second. Cowichan added two more powerplay goals as captain Chris Harpur found the net in the second and Montambault scored in the third. MacDonald, Domin, Sennott and Montambault each finished with a goal and an assist.
The game was a physical battle for the already banged-up Caps, particularly tainted when reliable defender Tetteh was concussed by what Beatty called a “cheap shot” with five minutes left in the game. Tetteh will be out for at least a few weeks.
“We’ll be circling the calendar when they come back here, for sure,” Beatty said.
The Silverbacks will visit the Island Savings Centre on Feb. 10.
The Caps ended the weekend with a 2-1 loss to the Vernon Vipers on Sunday. The Vipers struck first at 4:39, but Rhett Kingston tied the score at 9:44. One-time Capitals affiliate player Brett Stapley scored the go-ahead goal for Vernon at 11:53, and the teams went scoreless for the remainder of the game.
Michasiw was back between the pipes and made 32 saves.
“The guys played hard,” Beatty said. “We had a opportunities in the third and a couple of powerplays in the second half of the game, and we had chances to bury pucks when it was six-on-five, but we weren’t able to put it away.”
Cowichan will play host to the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before heading to Powell River for back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday.
