The Doug Birks Division of the KIJHL is where the Chase Heat reside as one of five teams.
The others are the Kamloops Storm, 100 Mile House Wranglers, Revelstoke Grizzlies and the Sicamous Eagles.
Thirty-two of each team’s 52 regular season games are played in the division. So this past spell of three games versus division rivals has significant impact on all five franchises and their potential playoff rankings.
On Tuesday, Nov. 24, the Grizzlies played the first of two games in the week at the Art Holding Memorial Arena. There was no scoring in the first. In the second, Kolten Moore for the Heat scored assisted by Tommy Brown and Nolan Parr. That was it for the scoring, with a 1-0 victory and a Nic Bruyere shutout as he stopped all 19 shots.
On Friday the 27th, the same Revelstoke squad came back to Chase for revenge in the second game in the week versus the Heat.
In the first once again it was Moore from Brown and Parr before the Grizzlies latest acquisition, Jackson Caller, potted his first.
In the second, Chase got a pair, Brown from Moore and Logan Mostat and then Zachary Fournier from Travis Beaubien and Alex Durbeniuk.
In the third, Michael Fidanza added to the lead from Trevor Okino and Coleton Johnson. Then it was an empty-net goal, Mostat from Austin Willier, and the icing on the cake was a power-play marker from Pat Brady assisted by Parr. Final score, 6-1, with Bruyere stopping 36 of 37.
Saturday night the 28th the Heat travelled to Sicamous to oppose the Eagles. In the first, Jaden Hay got Sicamous started but Parr tied things up from Brown and Moore. Durbeniuk got his 1st of the season from Brown and Parr before the Eagles’ William Mizuik evened things up.
In the third, the fast and flashy Danny O’Donnell put Sicamous up, before the Heat, with just 15 seconds remaining in the game, evened things, with Fidanza from Durbeniuk and Mostat.
Two periods of overtime ensued with the outcome unchanging, a 3-3 draw with Bruyere stopping 33 of 36.
The overall result was 5 of 6 available points and the Heat climbed up the division standings to make it a three-way fight for top spot.
As part of Chase Country Christmas, the Kamloops Storm are here Saturday night the 5th at 7 p.m. The following night Sunday the 6th the Grizzlies from Revelstoke return for a 7 p.m. engagement at Art Holding Memorial Arena.
Broken sticks: Defencemen Kyle Riley is out with a lower body injury, Moore is playing through an upper body injury as is Brown. Jacob Longmore is back on the ice after recovering from a serious cut to the face. Goaltender Daniel Toews has been called up to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on a weekend-by-weekend basis.