The Terrace River Kings split two games on the road this past weekend, winning 8-3 in Lac La Hache to the Tomahawks Saturday night, and falling 6-5 on Sunday to the Williams Lake Stampeders after fighting back from a 4-0 Stamps lead early in the game.
On Saturday, River King Tristan Murray had a hat-trick before the first period was up, scoring all three goals in the opening period, with assists by Calen Findlay and Cory Dekelver, and putting the Kings up 3-0 going into the second.
Assistant captain Josh Murray opened up scoring in the second, making it 4-0 just one minute in, assisted by captain Steve Cullis and Derek Jurista.
A goal by David Redpath (Brian Lomas, Jurista) and another on the power play by Jurista (Cullis, J. Murray) put the Kings at 6-0 until halfway through the second when the Tomahawks got on the board, making it 6-1.
Cullis scored the last two goals for the Kings, before a third period rally by Lac La Hache left the final score 8-3 for Terrace.
On Sunday in Williams Lake, the Stamps stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the first period. But Terrace battled back – shaving the lead to 4-3 six minutes into the third.
The teams traded goals in the third, with Terrace finding the back of the net with just 11 seconds left in the game to make the final score 6-5.
The Kings have now inched their way to third in the west division of the Central Interior Hockey League standings, with 13 points and games in hand.
Division leaders Kitimat Ice Demons are on top with 15, and Smithers Steelheads are in second with 14. Houston is just one behind Terrace with 12, with Prince Rupert at the bottom with 10 points – although the Rampage do appear to have Kitimat's number, beating them 6-1 this weekend and making it four straight wins against the Demons.
This weekend, Terrace is hosting Kitimat on Friday night and Prince Rupert on Saturday night – two crucial games that just happen to be a couple of the last home games of the regular season.