The opening two games of a long road trip which saw the Sicamous Eagles travel to Washington State did not go their way.
The Eagles made the long journey south of the border to face off against Spokane Braves on Friday, Sept. 20. A late-game charge by Sicamous fell just short of securing them the win.
The home team scored early and often in the opening period lighting the lamp less than 40 seconds after the opening buzzer off the stick of Derek Humphreys. They scored again on the power play before the four-minute mark and Humphreys tallied up his second goal of the game seconds later, leaving the score 3-0. Things looked bleak for the Eagles after a fourth braves goal found the back of the net before five minutes had been played.
Koltin Dodge was pulled in favour of Reed McLennan, taking the ice for his first KIJHL game. The Sicamous skaters then dug in and rode out the remainder of the period scoreless. The deadlock was broken broke as the Braves took advantage of a power play late in the second to leave the score 5-0 heading into the final period.
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With the Braves’ Matthew Klenk in the box for a boarding call at the buzzer to end the second, the Eagles came out with a manpower advantage and made it count — Cole Nisse tallied up his first goal of the season 40 seconds in. The Braves potted their sixth less than a minute later but from there it was all Eagles.
Brayden Haskell skated in unassisted to make the score 6-2. His goal was followed by a power-play marker from Jaimes Guidon, and a goal from Trevor Ebeling inside the five-minute mark putting the Eagles two goals from forcing overtime.
Frazier Mohlar brought the Eagles thrillingly close to tying the game with a goal 14 seconds from the final buzzer but the Braves held on to wrap up a 6-5 win.
The following night, North of the 49th parallel once more, the Eagles took on the Beaver Valley Nitehawks. Brayden Haskell scored first for the Eagles assisted by Nisse and Mohlar but the Nitehawks tied it up in short order and then gained the lead on a power play. One more goal from the home team left the Eagles marching into the dressing room down two after 20.
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The second period saw goaltenders at both ends of the ice face double-digit shot totals. The Nitehawks were able to slip one by Cole Steinke between the pipes for the Eagles leaving a three-goal deficit which lasted into the third period.
The Eagles put on another third-period rally with goals from Guidon and Trysten Brookman but came up a goal short for the second night in a row.
The Sicamous squad is gearing up for an afternoon tilt against the Nelson Leafs to conclude their road trip. They will host the North Okanagan Knights at the Sicamous and District Rec Centre on Friday, Sept. 27.
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