This past weekend your Heat left town on a 52 passenger land yacht in the early hours of Friday the 30th of September. Their first stop on their itinerary was a meet and greet with the Kimberley Dynamiters. Now the KABOOM crew are perennially one of the best in the KIJHL, so who knew which way this was going to go. Young hearts and bus legs stepped out of the bus to face the opposition at the historic Civic Centre, a place that permeates the blood sweat and tears of battles fought decades ago. Remember there are 14 rookies walking into the unknown on a team that is still trying to find it’s footing and some chemistry. Added to this is the fact this is the Heat’s first crossover competition in years. The KIJHL consists of the Kootenay Conference and the Okanagan of which the Heat belong.
So, enough bafflegab lets get to the action. 26 seconds in the oppositions sticks a dagger in the Chase crew. A little over a minute later veteran Aidan Brown evens the score with a helper from Kieran Armitage. The hosts then pop in a second goal followed by Maddex Bignell on the man advantage from Braeden Huth and Josh Gagnon. Before the first twenty minutes is in the books Ryan Keylor gets his first KIJHL goal on the powerplay helped by Mason Lilly and Matt Crews, its 3-2. In the 2nd Jalen Davidson on the man advantage from Lilly and Crews adds to the lead. Dynamiters get one back on a powerplay and after 40 its 4-3. It’s a tennis matcg for 12 plus minutes in the 3rd before Kimberley ties it up. Three minutes later Davidson with his 2nd of the game regains the lead with aide from Gagnon and Armitage. With their net empty an an extra marksman on the ice the hosts tie it at 5-5. The teams are off to overtime where nothing changes. Time for a shootout and the hosts take a 6-5 win, with Chase garnering a single point for the regulation tie. Roderic May stopped 28/33 in a valiant effort between the pipes. A huge moral boosting point versus strong opposition.
After overnight slumbers the Chase crew ready themselves for a Saturday night Special in Invermere versus the Columbia Valley Rockies. Off to the races and the hosts strike first, but Bignell again on the powerplay pots his second of the road trip from Huth and its 1-1. The Rockies score twice more in the 1st, twice more in the 2nd and 3 more times in the 3rd, prior to Armitage from Davidson making it in the end an 8-2 loss. The Rockies had 51 scoring opportunities faced by a combination of Meyer Gaume and late in the 3rd May who both stood tall in a barrage from a formidable opponent.
Coming up next is a busy Thanksgiving weekend including two games at the Art Holding Memorial Arena with a Golf Tournament at Sunshore sandwiched in between on Saturday. Friday night at 7:00 pm the Princeton Posse ride into a hostile environment at our chilly Chaos Castle. Sunday features a 1:00 pm clash with the Beaver Valley Nitehawks. The Heat and Nitehawks battled for the KIJHL Championship some 6 years ago with the visitors winning the series. Both these contests will be supercharged with some like and a lot of the other (you fill in the blank). What is better on a long weekend then taking your sweetie and the kids to a couple of entertaining hockey games. See you at the rink!
