The Quesnel Kangaroos split a pair of games during a home series at West Fraser Centre this weekend (Jan 12-13).
The hometown hockey team came up short in a 7-4 loss to the Terrace River Kings on Saturday night.
Despite leading 3-1 after one period, thanks to goals from Karl Weber, Justin Fulton and Paul Girodat, they were unable to contain a determined Terrace squad who tied up the game at 3-3 in the second period and exploded for four goals in the third.
“Obviously the outcome wasn’t what we wanted or anticipated,” says Roos head coach Harley Gilk. “We got a little outworked I believe and we weren’t fully ready to go.”
Chapen Leblond lead the visiting squad with four goals, while team captain Steve Cullis notched a pair in the winning effort.
Thankfully for the Roos, their luck turned around on Sunday afternoon when they matched up against an under-manned Kitimat group who had yet to win a game all season.
While the Ice Demons goalie, Nick Almeida, played phenomenally, stopping 59 shots over the course of the game, the constant onslaught of the Roos proved too much for the overmatched northern squad.
The Roos won the contest 5-2 with Girodat having another strong game, contributing two goals and an assist.
Nick Tomasetti, Cam Graham and Karl Weber also potted goals for the home team, who remain in contention with Williams Lake for first place in the CIHL.
Gilks was luke-warm on his team’s performance in the second game of the back-to-back.
“Their goalie made some good saves,” says Gilks.
“We should have had a little more traffic in front of their net to capitalize on those but in the end we came out with the win which keeps us up in the standings.”
He has some ideas on what the team needs in order to be successful on their upcoming road trip (Jan. 26-27), where they will face Terrace as well as Prince Rupert.
“We need a full team going up there and we definitely need to work hard to make those road games turn in our favour.
“We’ve got to play how we’ve been playing all year. We had a slouchy weekend but the boys know that and now we’ve got to step up.”
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