This About That Last Week

Some good news right off the start. Veteran rearguard Edmontonian Matthew Poole will be plying the blueline for the University of Jamestown in North Dakota next hockey season. It appears that the Jimmies and Poole have equal admiration for each other. Poole follows in the footsteps of fellow dman Trevor Okino who is now a member of Jimmies alumni. Poole is in his final year of junior eligibility.

Onto the difficult task of telling tales on a trio of trials and tribulations versus our close neighbours to the east and west. First game of the past week was in Kamloops on Wednesday the 12th versus the Division leading Storm. This fenderbender of a clash saw the return from injury of Brayen Haskell and the 1st game suiting up for the Heat of Trevor Kennedy, both a good thing. Kamloops scored first and then Jarod Sigouin with 51 seconds left in the opening period tied the game at 1-1. Haskell got the assist on that tally after ringing the puck off the crossbar 15 seconds earlier. In the 2nd stanza the Storm popped in two powerplay markers , however Dylan Handel for Chase scored his own man advantage goal assisted by Lucas Oullette and Haskell. Off to the 3rd twenty minutes and the teams exchanged a goal apiece, Oullette with 41 seconds left from Corson Nordick got the Heat close in a 4-3 loss. This game could have gone either way, noteworthy contributions came from Haskell who made a difference and the reliable Oullette with a goal and assist.

Friday the 14th saw the Heat head east to bump and grind with the Sicamous Eagles. The Heat appeared to play a step behind their rivals for the 3600 seconds to put a 4-1 loss in the books. Captain Jacob Biensch scored a powerplay goal from Mikkel Hrechka and Handel in the 1st to ruin any shutout bid the Eagles savoured. So, Saturday the 15th came the next day and so did the Eagles for the 2nd time in the weekend. The venue changed though as the entertainment was performed at the Art Holding Memorial Arena. The generous hosts allowed the visitors to tally first, however big blasting Owen Dean slapped a seeing eye disk past the Eagles keeper. After one period it’s 1-1. Inspite of outshooting Sicamous 15 to 8 in the 2nd, the Eagles scored 4 times to take a lead into the locker room The Heat’s Hrechka from Sigouin scored in the middle of the foes four, followed by a pair from the Poole brothers. James fired his 2nd of the season from Oullette and Haskell and big brother Matthew slapped a counter from the blueline assisted by Kennedy and Haskell. The outshooting Heat couldn’t get a puck past the Eagle’s keeper in the 3rd but they managed a single goal to claim a 6-4 road win, and a happy bus ride home. Haskell once again displayed his value on this night.

The Heat’s schedule now goes into 5 alarm fire mode as they cram 15 games into 33 days and it isn’t the playoffs till they are all in the books. The Heat take on the Grizzlies in Revelstoke on Tuesday the 18th, Kamloops comes to town on Friday the 21st, Sunday the 23rd the two teams switch venues as the game moves to McArthur Island and then our guys once again travel to Revelstoke Tuesday the 25th. Four very tough tussles as both rivals are top teams in the KIJHL. Catch the road games streaming exclusively on Hockeytv. This about all that last week and what’s coming in the near future.