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Sicamous Eagles fail to summit Rockies, tie up with Wranglers

The Sicamous squad struggled in the fifth weekend of the KIJHL regular season.
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Dallas Stewart of the Sicamous Eagles tries some fancy stick-handling to get the puck past the Chase Heat’s goalie earlier this season. (File photo)

The Sicamous Eagles struggled in the fifth weekend of the KIJHL regular season.

The Eagles travelled to Invermere to take on the Columbia Valley Rockies on Friday, Oct. 5.

The Rockies came out of the dressing room hard and fast, peppering Sicamous goaltender Brett Akins with a flurry of shots– 14 in the opening period alone. The Rockies skaters found a chink in Akins’ armour six minutes into the period, scoring off the stick of Zachary Giacobbo assisted by Jesse Carr and Chase Hawkins. The Eagles were unable to match the Rockies’ fast offensive start, mustering only four shots on goal in the opening period.

After Eagles head coach Rob Fitzpatrick had a chance to rally the troops during the first intermission, the Sicamous squad hit the ice and got themselves on the board early in the second frame.

Eagles’ forward Josh Olson cradled the pass from Colton Yaremko, and the Salmon Arm product’s shot proved too much for Rockies’ goaltender Ben Kelsch.

Later in the period with Logan MacDonald of the Rockies warming the bench in the penalty box following a high-sticking call, Justin Hodgson outmaneuvered the opposing defence unassisted to score giving the Eagles the lead.

With four minutes to go in the middle frame the Rockies tied the game up with a power-play goal from Gavin Fleck.

As the clock ticked down on the second period, the Eagles had managed 11 shots to their opponent’s 10, a figure reflected on the scoreboard with a tie game heading into the final period.

After a tense first seven minutes of the third period, the Rockies broke the tie with a goal from MacDonald. They extended their lead a few minutes later when Dace Prymak lit the lamp on the power play.

In an effort to keep themselves in the game, the Eagles rallied and Sean Moleschi put the puck on the blade of Nicholas Cossa’s stick—Cossa fired it into the Rockies net making it a one-goal game racing to its conclusion.

With four minutes to go, the Rockies’ offence started clicking once more and a goal from Evan Woods left the score 5-3 for the home team.

In the final minute, Kale Hawryluk scored for the Rockies putting an end to a 6-3 defeat for the Eagles. The Sicamous squad was out-shot 18-6 in the final frame.

The following night the Eagles returned to Sicamous to face off against the 100 Mile House Wranglers. The opening 20 minutes went scoreless with each team unsuccessfully probing the other’s defence.

In the opening minute of the second period, Liam Dodd of the Wranglers was ejected from the game for hitting the head of an Eagles player. This incident kicked off bad blood between the two teams, which kept the officiating crew working hard for the remainder of the game. Nicholas Cossa of the Eagles was shown the door for a non-fighting game misconduct midway through the second and Wranglers defenceman Jayce Schweizer was ejected towards the end of the period.

The Wranglers managed the only goal of the middle period despite putting 14 shots on the Sicamous net.

The Eagles scored twice in the final period and the Wranglers added another goal to their tally leaving the score tied as the clock ticked down. Olson of the Eagles was ejected for fighting with 1:47 left to play; he is listed as suspended following the ejection.

The Eagles sit two points behind the Wranglers for third place in the division, with a record of 3-5-2 following weekend action. The undefeated Revelstoke Grizzlies lead the division while the 0-8-1 Chase Heat are bringing up the rear.



Jim Elliot

About the Author: Jim Elliot

I’m a B.C. transplant here in Whitehorse at The News telling stories about the Yukon's people, environment, and culture.
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