The Prince Rupert Rampage didn’t quite have enough to get over the hump against Terrace River Kings on Saturday night, Jan. 19.

Playing in the second game of a back-to-back, the Rampage lost 3-2 at home to the River Kings in a hard fought, physical game between two team jockeying for playoff positioning.

“It’s a hard fought battle against Terrace all the time, I mean the last three years have just been wars so it’s good. You win some you lose some, that’s just the way it goes,” said Ron German, CIHL president and one of the team’s assistant coaches.

READ MORE: Rampage come from behind to beat Ice Demons

The River Kings opened up the scoring less than two minutes into the first period with a goal from Nathan Soucie. The Rampage replied soon after when Mike Coolin leveled the score off an assist from Marcus Atchison.

From there, the game was back and forth with neither team able to convert on their opportunities in the first and second periods.

In the third however, Terrace appeared to be the fresher team and were able to dominate puck possession and generated more shots on goal.

Eventually, the River Kings pressures yielded a rebound opportunity in front of the net that was put away by Chapen Leblond to give them a 2-1 lead.

Judd Repole quickly tied the score for the Rampage, but the River Kings struck back with less than three minutes left off a goal by Connor Onstein.

The loss narrows the gap in the CIHL standings between the two teams. Prince Rupert was third in the CIHL standing heading into this game, one ahead of Terrace. They will now face another tough pair of games against the league’s top two teams — Quesnel and Williams Lake — to close out the season.

“Now, it’s more emphasis on those next few games for sure,” said German. “We want that home ice advantage so we have to make sure we go and get it.”

READ MORE: Prince Rupert Rampage come up short in Terrace

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