On Friday night the Rupert Rampage descended on the Terrace Sportsplex to face off with the River Kings—and left with their first win of the season.
It was the Kings’ Ryan Holtom who opened the scoring on the powerplay, getting one by Keano Wilson just over six minutes into the first, followed by six minutes later by a goal from Terrace’s Josh Murray to give the Kings the 2-0 lead.
Ninety seconds later, the Rampage’s Kory Movold found the back of the net on the powerplay to pull the Rampage to within one heading into the second. In the second, the period’s only goal was the tying marker by Justin Fontaine with 7:48 to go in the period.
All tied up at two, the third saw Terrace pull away again on a goal by Dawson LeBlond in the first three minutes. But the Rampage fought back, with goals by Josh Kierce and Movold giving the Rampage the lead.
And with time winding down and Prince Rupert on the powerplay it looked like a sure win, but Terrace captain Steve Cullis was able to score the shorthanded goal with just 2:03 to play—forcing a shootout.
In the shootout, Movold’s goal in the first round was followed by a goal by Josh Murray in the second round to tie things up. In the third round, Jared Meers put one by netminder Darren Beaulieu while Wilson shut the door on LeBlond to give the Rampage their first win of the season.
This weekend the Kings' face off against Kitimat here in Terrace on Saturday, hungry to make up for their 5-0 loss at Tamitik Arena a few weeks back. Look for a close game as the Kings' use home ice to their advantage.
Kings' stats and schedule can be found on Pointstreak.