The period of Monday January 31st to Saturday February 5th had the Heat scheduled for 4 games in 6 nights. During that short game filled stretch Captain Jacob Biensch got at least a goal in each game. In the last contest he rocked a bang, bang, bang, boom of fireworks to climb up the KIJHL stat’s board.
Monday night the local lads were in Sicamous versus the frustrating Eagles. Sicamous scored the lone goal in the 1st on the man advantage. In the 2nd each team scored twice, Biensch getting his 18th unassisted and Jarod Sigouin his 10th of the season from Keegan Pittendreigh and Mikkel Hrechka. No scoring in the 3rd, the bad news a 3-2 defeat on the road. It was the 4th straight win over the Heat for the Eagles.
The very next night, Tuesday at home at the Art Holding Memorial Arena our guys hosted the Summerland Steam. No scoring in the 1st, in the 2nd during a man advantage the Chase crew allowed the Steam to score shorthanded. Being kind doesn’t always pay, however Sigouin scored from Hrechka and Biensch on the powerplay to make it 1-1 after 40 minutes. In the 3rd Chase scored a pair between bookend counters by Summerland. Red hot Biensch from Matthew Poole and Brayden Haskell and a minute later Dylan Handel from Sigouin and Matteo Bordin. It’s 3-3 and time for 3 on 3 overtime. 16 seconds in the visitor’s score with Roderic May basically being left out to dry. May repelled 38 of 42 shots in an effort that should have been a win, with a bit of help from his teammates.
The Heat travelled to 100 Mile House to compete versus the Wranglers in a weekend overnight two game series. Friday the Heat dominated but 100 Mile scored first, and then the freshly returned Corson Nordick got things rolling from Poole and Ben Schmidt. In the 2nd sizzling Biensch from James Poole and Haskell followed by a pair from Tyson Mallet, the first from Aiden Brown and the second from Matthew Poole. Handel scored his 15th of the season from Diego Flota and Malachi Franklin to end 40 minutes of play, 5-1 Chase. In the 3rd stanza Biensch got his 2nd of the contest from Poole and Sigouin on the powerplay. 100 Mile House scored before Handel on the man advantage got his 2nd from Sigouin and Brown put this one to bed, a 7-2 victory aiding a good night’s rest. Chase outshot the Wranglers 48 to 20 with Jack Osmond stopping 18 of 20 shots.
Last of 4 in 6 nights found Biensch “Chubby Checkering” (ask your grandma) with his twisted twig dance partner all night long. Again, Chase saw the Wranglers open scoring. Captain Biensch then figured in the next five twine twisters commencing with a shorthanded twine finder from Garrett Martin. Next up an ordinary one for him assisted by Trevor Kennedy, then a Kennedy net finder assisted by Biensch. Just before the buzzer buzzed to end 20 minutes Biensch popped in another counter aided by Handel and Hrechka. A hat trick in the 1st with an assist to boot. In the 2nd…yes…Biensch scores his 2nd unassisted shorthanded goal. Lucas Ouellette on the powerplay scores in the final minute helped by Poole and Handel. In the 3rd Flota adds to the team total unassisted, 100 Mile House gets one and Nordick concludes the twine tweeks aided by Poole and Handel. An 8-2 win, shots on goal 50 to 18 Heat with May stopping 16 efforts by the Wranglers. Biensch with 4 goals, 1 assist, is an easy selection for player of the game as well as week! Jacob currently sits 4th overall in KIJHL scoring.
Your Heat hit the road again, Tuesday the 8th in Kamloops, Friday the 11th in Revelstoke and a home match Saturday the 12th versus the Kamloops Storm.
A brief mention about a pair of rearguards worth talking about, Malachi Franklin and Bryan Fraser. Malachi from Cranbrook arrived in Chase in last year’s shortened season. The Assistant Captain tried out with the La Ronge Ice Wolves of the Junior A SJHL, prior to returning to display his talents on the Heat’s solid backend. General Manager Lars Pittendreigh considers Franklin to be one of the classiest young gentlemen in team history. Fraser from Kamloops plays an old school style of defence on the backend. Pittendreigh states “ Bryan leads in bringing a tremendously hard working effort each and every game while making life miserable for the opposition”. Both young men will play important roles in the upcoming playoffs.
Bright Light Biensch Brings It Big Time
