Despite being short a few key players, the Cold Lake Ice rallied to hand the first place Wainwright Bisons their second loss of the season.
The long-standing rivalry was evident Friday night; both teams fought hard but it was the Ice who came away with a 5-4 victory after a nail bitter of a shootout.
“I think that's a huge win for us, obviously, getting rewarded for the hard work we've put in. We've lost a few games like that (in a shootout) but it was nice to get the win in front of a home crowd. It's a good start to a tough five game stretch for us,” said head coach Scott Hood.
The game got off to a slow start scoring-wise, with just 4:15 left in the first Chase Brown nabbed the first goal of the night putting the Ice on the board. Wainwright quickly answered 24 seconds later, tying the game at one.
Already without forward Taylor Anshelm and defenseman Mackenzie Zarowny, a shoulder injury sent captain Kurt Franklin out of the game for the remainder of the night and left the Ice without two of their top D-men.
Almost at the halfway point in the second frame, Brown kept his momentum going. The veteran forward found the back of the net for his second goal of the night, giving the Ice back their lead. The home team couldn't keep the Bisons out of the defensive zone, though. In five minutes, Wainwright managed to sneak in two goals past Ice goaltender Cody Janzen. By the end of the period, the Bisons were leading 3-2.
After a roughing penalty to Cold Lake's Brae Howatt just over six minutes into the third, the Bisons furthered the gap grabbing their fourth goal of the night. Less than a minute later, it was the Ice who took advantage of a power play. Mike Harbich and Donavan Bibeau each netted one goal apiece, tying the game back up at 4-4 by the10-minute mark in the period.
“That was huge. The first two periods we didn't play great, but we stuck with it in the third period there and made the most of our chances and battled back,” said Janzen, who made 45 saves to keep the Ice in the game.
Neither team was able to put together a scoring play in the remainder of the third, sending the game into overtime. Following a scoreless five minutes of overtime, the teams headed into three-on-three double overtime but still weren't able to find the back of the net.
Moving into a shootout, it wasn't until the Ice rookie Nicholas Murrell took his turn as the fifth shooter, notching the game-winning goal in the Ice's 5-4 triumph.
“It was crazy, that was a pretty important game for this five-game streak we have to go through. It was a lot of fun and played hard,” said Murrell. “It was pretty crazy, I was pretty excited myself.”
It was a welcome win for Hood, who was pleased to see the effort the team put in.
“In the third, we came out and played our systems. We did everything we've been talking about and it was kind of rewarding to see as a coach that it wasn't just the goals we scored but it was how we got them and what we did.”
Ice fall to Killam
The Ice were back on the road the following night, travelling to Killam to take on the Wheat Kings, who were sitting in second place in NEAJBHL standings. Coming off a big win over Wainwright the night before, Cold Lake couldn't get a win streak together, suffering a 5-3 loss to Killam.
Though unable to get on the board in the first, the Ice kept the Killam offence at bay for the duration of the period. The Wheat Kings took the lead shortly into the second period, but it wasn't long before the Ice hit their stride.
In a span of just a little over two minutes, goals from Anshelm, Howatt and Christian Nypower brought the Ice up 3-1. Their scoring streak didn't last for long, though. After a goal from Killam in the final minutes of the second, the game went downhill for the Ice from there.
“It's just keeping on our systems now. They guys have got to realize they can't take a shift or two off. They get up and think they can beat teams the old way and that's going to affect our outcomes,” said Hood.
The Ice were unable to get the puck past Killam's netminder in the third, but the Wheat Kings managed to grab three goals to bring the final score to 5-3.
While it wasn't the outcome they were hoping for, Hood said they're getting more consistent each game and it's time for them to pass the other teams in the standings.
“We're starting to see some of the systems fall into place and we're getting a lot less penalty minutes. It's just keeping plugging away now,” said Hood. “We're a good team, we still believe in the guys and we're halfway through the season but sitting in the bottom half so we're going to have to make a move soon.”
The Ice will be back in action on Wednesday against the T-Birds in Frog Lake. They'll be back at home for a pair of weekend games on Friday and Saturday against the Vermillion Tigers and St. Paul Canadiens. Puck drop for those games is 8 p.m.
