Ice finally get to taste home cooking after horrendous start to BCMMHL season
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Kootenay Ice are going to get a fantastic Christmas present in the form of an abundance of home games after spending most of the current BC Major Midget Hockey League season on the road.
Kootenay plays 14 of its next 18 games in West Kootenay arenas after completing a horrendous part of the schedule on the road this BCMMHL season.
“We’ve been on the road for most of the first half . . . and when we’ve played in Nanaimo and Victoria we’re getting home at one in the morning, which is a little tough,” said Ice coach Rob Wright.
“We’ve got some home stretches coming but we’ve got to try to get some wins in those home games.”
The Ice took a point from the Valley West Hawks in BCMMHL action this past weekend in Surrey.
A goal by Shawn Campbell of Castlegar in the final minute of Saturday’s contest lifted the Ice to a 4-4 tie.
Sunday, Valley West skated to a 4-2 win over the visiting Ice.
Kootenay, playing with a short bench after a few players were held out of the game for internal reasons, held a 2-1 lead going into the third period on goals by Kobe Nishida of Nakusp and Nelson’s Keaton Roch.
However, Valley West outscored the ice 3-1 during an eight-minute span to take a 4-3 lead.
That set the stage for Campbell to score the tying marking on the power play to give Kootenay the tie.
Evan Gorman of Trail scored the final goal for Kootenay.
“We can play 40 to 50 minutes but we’ve got to learn to play 60 minutes to have success in this league,” Wright said.
“When we’ve got teams down we’ve got to finish them.”
Sunday, Valley West held period lead of 2-0 and 4-0 before Kootenay scored twice in the third period.
Ellis Junker of Castlegar and Campbell scored for Kootenay.
Kootenay, 3-16-3, is back home for a pair of games against the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs.
The Chiefs are tied for fourth in BCMMHL standings with Valley West Hawks.
Saturday, the NDCC Arena in Nelson is the site of the 3:30 p.m. puck drop game.
Sunday, the teams play at 7:30 a.m. at the Cominco Arena in Trail.
