Kootenay Ice forward Noah Quinn had a massive weekend in BC Major Midget League action.
The Nelson native tallied seven points in a 7-5 Ice victory over the Greater Vancouver Canadians at the Trail Memorial Centre on Sunday, while teammate Ashton Underhill netted a hat trick, for a combined 10 points.
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Quinn scored the first and last goals of the close match up and assisted on five Kootenay goals.
The victory comes a day after Quinn tallied three points and the Ice fell just short of a comeback in a 5-4 loss to the Canadians on Saturday.
In Sunday’s match, Kootenay jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Quinn at 12:04 and a power-play goal from Adam Parsons just over two minutes later. The Canadians got one back when Matthew Stewart beat Ice goalie Carson Schrimpton at 3:15 of the opening frame.
Vancouver took control in the second period. After Ice forward Joel Smyth was sent off for crosschecking, Stewart tied it up with his second of the game on the power play at 13:38. The Canadians then took 3-2 lead on a Benjamin Ruthven goal with 4:43 remaining in the period.
Cue the comeback for Kootenay in a crazy third period that saw both teams explode for seven goals.
Quinn set up Underhill at 17:55 of the third period to tie it, then again at the 15 minute mark to take a 4-3 lead.
Jack Hemsley scored for the Canadians to even it again at four, but Jacob Smith sniped a shot passed G.V. goalie Dylan Tsang at 6:28 to restore the lead.
Underhill completed the hat trick scoring his eighth goal of the season on the power play to put the Ice up 6-4, but the Canadians replied one more time with Daniel North cutting the lead to one at 3:37.
The Canadians pulled their goalie and pressed in the final minutes, but the Ice weathered the storm and Quinn capped off his weekend with an empty netter with three seconds left.
Kootenay defenceman Kaelen Wittingham pitched in with three assists, Gavin Damstrom counted two, and Parsons a goal and one helper.
The win is an important one for the Ice as they look to climb the standings and overtake the eighth and final playoff spot, currently occupied by the 10-17-0-1 Thompson Blazers.
In Saturday’s match, Kootenay fell behind 5-0 but rallied to score four goals in the final 23 minutes to cut the lead to 5-4. Quinn sparked the rally converting a setup from Smyth with 2:18 to play in the middle frame.
Smyth notched one of his own at 16:21 of the third, and Whitehorse product Cole Cowan made it 5-3 at 3:41. Quinn scored with 1:40 to play for his third point of the game, but it was not quite enough as the Ice fell 5-4.
The big weekend brings Quinn’s team-leading totals to 17 goals and 34 points in 30 games. With 10 games left in the regular season, Quinn is on pace to be among the all-time leaders in Kootenay Ice scoring.
Trail native Jake Lucchini holds the scoring record for the Ice with 22 goals, 29 assists, and 51 points in 2011-12 season, while Nelson’s Dryden Hunt tallied 19 goals and 47 points in 2010-11. Lucchini currently plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins affiliate Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins, while Hunt started the season with the NHL Florida Panthers, and is with their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
The Ice are one point behind the 8-21-1-0 South Island Royals for ninth spot in the BCMML and five points back of the Blazers. The upcoming games are must-win matches as the Ice host the Royals this coming weekend and then are on the road to face the Blazers the following week.
The Ice swept the Royals 4-2 and 5-2 in their first meeting Oct. 19-20, but dropped both games to the Blazers last month.
Kootenay hits the ice vs South Island at the Trail Memorial Centre at 4 p.m. Saturday and wraps up their season series against the Royals on Sunday at 9:45 a.m.
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