The Kitimat Ice Demons had one of these fast-skating first periods where everything went right as the Demons ran up a 6-0 lead in the first 17 minutes of the game on February 2.
The period saw two penalties for the Demons where Terrace found Tyson Craven in good form in the Kitimat net.
The game eliminated Terrace in two games from the first round of the CIHL 2013 playoffs.
Goals in the first came in rapid succession from Jeff Mildenberger (Dan Jerrett) at 4:18; Derek DeLisser (Jeff Mildenberger) 6:02; Jordan Goncalves (Derek DeLisser, Terry Whelan) 8:44; Kyle Boudreault (Jon Aiken, Kyle Madsen) at 10:22; William DeJong (Derek DeLisser, Josh Slanina) at 17:16; and Ben Rumley (Dan Jerrtt, Adam Buick) at 17:36.
Then came a bit of a roughhouse at 14:30 mark of the second in the Kitimat corner after the River Kings got the ship righted a bit, and picked up a goal on a “disputed” kick-in by Cameron Kerr. With Darren Beaulieu replacing Patrick Leal and the team playing better as a whole, Terrace was working hard to dig out of the hole. Some roughing in the corners involving William DeJong and Steve Venman, as well as Cameron Kerr and Brett McIndoe got escalated when the ruck was joined by Terry Whelan of Kitimat and Terrace captain Steve Cullis. Sticks were up, cross checks exchanged, gloved punches and things looked pretty much more normal for a Terrace-Kitimat battle.
That’s when things changed with linesmen John McKenzie and Scott Pritchard up to their armpits in scrambling players and referee Barrie Graham taking notes. Then he took some more notes. He convened with both coaches and again with the linesmen and finally announced double minors to Whelan and Cullis, with an extra five to Whelan for a high stick. William DeJong was also ejected for a check from behind and an interference call. Cameron Kerr and Steve Venman each got double minors for roughing. Just when it seemed to be all over, the ref cleared the ice, added the five minutes of the second to the third period, called for an ice clean and retreated after some more arguing all round to the ref’s sanctuary.
When the dust cleared and the teams lined up for the remaining minutes of the second period, the clock showed seven minutes of short-handed time ahead for the Ice Demons. With 2:40 left in the second,
Terrace made the score 6-2 on a goal by Nick Homenuik (Dawson Leblond, Craig Vienneau) on the power play. One Kitimat player returned to service, but Terrace’s Tristan Murray took a tripping penalty and the period expired, with no more scoring.
Then began an undisciplined parade of Kitimat players to the box while Terrace picked up three minors. The result was some hope for the River Kings as they managed two more power play goals, one early and one late to make things interesting. Joe Cormano (Calen Findlay and Dawson LeBlond) at 2:40 made it 6-3 and with Jeff Baker serving a roughing call, Derek Jurista (Rich Claire and Craig Vienneau) at 17:44 made some of the Kitimat fans nervous about the Ice Demons’ lack of discipline but Terrace was out of gas and with goalie Darren Beaulieau on the bench and Rich Clair serving a two minute high sticking penalty at 18:18, it took the Demons 47 second to salt the game away 7-4 with an empty-net power play goal scored by Dan Jerrett from Brett Rumley and the guy who started it all, Jeff Milndenberger.
-Submitted
