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How's the view up there? River Kings sitting at first in the west

After two decisive wins at home last weekend, the Terrace River Kings have climbed to the top of the CIHL's Western Conference standings
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The Terrace River Kings were on the attack on home ice two weekends ago

For the first time since the league’s formation, the Terrace River Kings have climbed to the top of the Central Interior Hockey League Western Conference standings.

That’s following two decisive wins on home ice this past weekend that saw them outscore their opponents 18-3, continuing the offensive style of play the team has been championing for the better part of the season.

Friday the 13th saw the Kings host the Kitimat Ice Demons, outshooting them 50-34 and going up 7-0 in the first two periods before Kitimat’s two powerplay goals in the third.

Terrace’s Corey Dekelver (Calen Findlay, Tristan Murray) opened up the scoring eight minutes into the first, with a powerplay goal by C. Findlay (Jeremy Van Den Broek, Dekelver) coming six minutes later. On the powerplay again, Brian Lomas (David Redpath, Van Den Broek) made it 3-0 Kings with nearly a minute and a half left in the third, and T. Murray (Rich Clair, Dekelver) got the first goal of the second at 4:37.

Three more goals in the third by Van Den Broek (Reinbolt, Steve Cullis), Reinbolt (Corbin Legros, Van Den Broek) and one unassisted by Josh Murray finished the second. Kitimat caught a break in the third scoring two goals on the powerplay, one at 3:03 (Grey Sabey, assists Daniel Jerrett, Jordan Goncalves)and another at 16:23 (Joel Findlay, assist Scott MacGregor), Terrace’s Reinbolt’s (T. Murray, Legros) second of the game at 9:03, to make the final score 8-2 River Kings. Goalie Garrett Muir got the win for the Kings.

Prince Rupert Rampage’s luck wasn’t much better the next night, Saturday, Dec. 14, with the Kings outscoring them 65-38 to take the 10-1 win.

After a lone goal by River King Nick Homeniuk (Dekelver C. Findlay) in the first, the Kings unleashed in the second scoring six in a row – Skylar Andrews (Chris Brown, Rajan Sangha) at 2:42, Reinbolt (J. Murray, Lee Muir) at 7:26, Lomas (Derick Jurista, Cullis) at 8:21, Sangha (J. Murray, Van Den Broek) at 10:14, Brown (Andrews, Sangha) at 12:52, and C. Findlay (T. Murray, Clair) at 15:33 – to make it 7-0 going into the third. Josh Murray (Dekelver, Reinbolt), T. Murray ( Redpath, C. Findlay) put the Kings up 9-0 before Prince Rupert got on the board at 13:27 in the third (Kory Movald assisted by Jordan Weir and Devin Palmer). With two minutes left, C. Findlay got his second of the night, slamming home the 10-2 win.

With a 6-2-0 record at home, and a 2-2-1 on the road, Terrace is now first place in the west with 17 points, just ahead of the Smithers Steelheads with 16.

River King captain Josh Murray is now tied for fourth in the league for scoring with 27 points, and goalie Garrett Muir is leading the league with a goals against average of 2.72.

To start 2014, the River Kings have back-to-back games against the Rampage Jan. 3 and 4 – the latter in Prince Rupert and the former at the Terrace Sportsplex.