The Quesnel Crossfire recorded their first win of the season against the Shooters Pub Devils on Thursday.
“The boys, especially the midgets, really laid it out there,” coach Pat Gibbs said.
Gibbs credited the defence and goalie Bob Mills, who he called fantastic in the game, with helping to break the Crossifre out of their doldrums.
“Our defence tightened up a lot,” Gibbs said.
He also said the transition from defence to offense had smoothed out, making the team quicker.
The Crossfire, who have had a hard time meshing thus far this season, found their pace early in the game. With the score tied after an even first ten minutes at 3-all, the Crossfire picked up the pace, scoring almost at will.
The Crossfire offence found the back of the net three times in a row to double up on the Devils 6-3 by the end of the first period.
“We really took it to them at the end of the first,” Gibbs said.
The second period started off hot for the Crossfire again, as they scored just over a minute into the period and again at the fifteen minute mark before the Devils could get anything started at their end.
The Devils started to pick up their pace after the back-to-back goals, putting through a trio of their own in quick succession, which threatened the momentum the Crossfire had gained through the first half of the game.
The Crossfire, however, managed to close the period on a high point, netting a goal shortly before the end of the second.
They started the third on a high point as well, breaking the ice 5 minutes in.
With the score sitting at 11-7, the Crossfire was looking unstoppable, but the cushion was enough to lull the Crossfire and the Devils did their best to take advantage, scoring two goals to put them within two points of tying the game.
Mills, however, was pulling out stop after stop, keeping a win-hungry pack of Devils just far enough behind to keep the victory out of their reach.
The Crossfire netted another goal and the devils responded in a fury, as a very tense crowd watched, netting two goals in a massive push to put them within a goal of tying and forcing the game to overtime.
Mills kept up his game, sending the Devils packing with a 12-11 final score in favour of the Crossfire, stopping 58 of 69 shots.
The Crossfire is still looking for players to round out their roster, as road games play havoc on their short list of players and they have had to call up young guns from the juniors to pump up their numbers.
The Crossfire is next in action May 23 at the Twin Arenas against the Twisted Cork/Regional Security Stylers.
