Kootenay Ice let one slip away, drop 4-3 decision to Fraser Valley
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Kootenay Ice missed a golden opportunity to climb the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League standings during a weekend home series.
Costly penalties down the stretch proved to unravel the Ice, allowing the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds to escape with a 4-3 victory Sunday at the NDCC Arena.
Kootenay, 3-9-2 on the season, remain a point behind Fraser Valley and five back in the race for the final playoff spot. The Ice opened the two-game set Saturday with a 7-3 victory in Nelson.
“For the first time this season we got a little undisciplined and that cost us,” said Ice skipper Robbie Wright.
“(Fraser Valley) is a big strong club and a couple of their guys started running around and got under our skin.”
“But overall on the weekend I thought we played well, it was just a couple of bad penalties that really hurt us Sunday,” Wright added.
Trailing 3-1 in the third, Nelson’s Justin Podgorenko pulled Kootenay to within a marker of Fraser Valley.
However, the Ice took three penalties, two at the 9:34 mark of the third period with the Thunderbirds already being assess a minor penalty, to kill any momentum.
Coy Prevost of Kimberley and Ross Amour also scored for the Ice.
Justin Bowerman scored twice to lead the T-Birds.
Saturday, Kootenay, playing perhaps its best game of the season, scored a season high seven goals en route to the lopsided victory.
“We had a fantastic game Saturday,” Wright exclaimed. “Even Sunday I thought the guys played very hard and deserved better.”
Trevor Van Steinburg of Cranbrook scored twice to lead the Ice.
Spencer McLean of Montrose, Ryan Neil of Fruitvale, Podgorenko, Nelson’s Sam Weber and Jacob Yuris of Trail also scored for the Ice.
Provost, a Western Hockey League draft pick of the Saskatoon Blades, finished Saturday’s game with three assists.
Jason Mailhiot and Carson Schamerhorn, both of Trail shared the netminding duties in goal during the weekend for Kootenay.
Kootenay takes to the road for two very tough games Saturday and Sunday against the Vancouver Northwest Giants.
The Giants hold down second spot in league standings, four points behind leading Okanagan Rockets.
“This will be a very good test for us,” said Wright. “So we’re going to focus on having a great week of practice and work on our zone coverage in the defensive zone.”
