The Prince Rupert Rampage were on the road again this weekend, and picked up three of a possible four points from division rivals Terrace and Kitimat.
On Friday night the team made their way to the Terrace Sportsplex to face off with the River Kings and it was the Kings’ Ryan Holtom who opened the scoring on the powerplay, getting one by Keano Wilson just over six minutes into the first, followed by six minutes later by a goal from Terrace’s Josh Murray to give the Kings the 2-0 lead.
Ninety seconds later, the Rampage’s Kory Movold found the back of the net on the powerplay to pull the Rampage to within one heading into the second. In the second, the period’s only goal was the tying marker by Justin Fontaine with 7:48 to go in the period.
All tied up at two, the third saw Terrace pull away again on a goal by Dawson LeBlond in the first three minutes. But the Rampage fought back, with goals by Josh Kierce and Movold giving the Rampage the lead. And with time winding down and Prince Rupert on the powerplay it looked like a sure win, but Terrace captain Steve Cullis was able to score the shorthanded goal with just 2:03 to play — forcing a shootout.
In the shootout, Movold’s goal in the first round was followed by a goal by Josh Murray in the second round to tie things up. In the third round, Jared Meers put one by netminder Darren Beaulieu while Wilson shut the door on LeBlond to give the Rampage their first win of the season.
The next night the team traveled to Kitimat to face the Ice Demons, and the home squad opened the scoring early on a goal by Nick Markowsky just over two minutes into the period. But the Rampage would take the lead with Josh Kierce scoring five minutes later and Movold beating Thomas Mildenberger just over half way through the first for a 2-1 lead. There would be no scoring in the second, but just over two minutes into the third Josh Slanina beat Wilson to tie things up at two. With no more scoring in the period, the Rampage would head to their second shootout in as many nights.
The shootout would follow a similar format to the previous night, with Movold scoring for Prince Rupert in the first round and Slanina scoring for the home team in the second, but this time there was no scoring in the third round which meant it went to sudden death. In the fourth round, Mildenberger stopped Bryan Tates while Steve Venman beat Wilson to give the Demons the two points.
The Rampage are off this weekend, and will host their first home game of the season on Nov. 10 against the Demons.
