The Chase Heat Junior Hockey Club opened their 2016/17 regular season with a pair of games this past weekend.
On Friday, Sept. 9, at home in front of 307 fans at the Art Holding Memorial Arena, the locals met up with the Kelowna Chiefs. Off season rust was prevalent both on and off the ice in this contest.
The Heat opened scoring less than three minutes in, on the power play, with Michael Fidanza doing the honours assisted by Josh Bourne and Mason Palaga.
With 1:12 left in the 1st stanza, Kolten Moore potted his first from Fidanza and Bourne.
In the 2nd period it was Moore again at 14:36 on the powerplay from Fidanza and Palaga. Less than two minutes later, Kelowna climbed back into this one 3-1.
In the 3rd, the Chiefs kept climbing with their second marker, a shorthanded momentum builder, now 3-2. However, with six seconds left in the contest, and the Little Apple goalie pulled, Moore fired an unassisted empty-netter for his first hat trick of the season.
Nic Bruyere between the pipes, was called on to stop 23 of 25 in the opening-night victory.
One night later, Saturday the 10th, and the boys were in Little Montreal for a meet and greet with the Kamloops Storm at Memorial Arena. After the first period was over it was 2-0 for Kamloops.
Chase got the only goal of the 2nd, Bourne from Fidanza and Nolan Parr. It got ugly in the 3rd period with a Storm power-play score. Then Pat Brady got one from Spencer Meyer and Moore. Then the Storm power played again, followed by the first tilt of the season, Brady versus Kole Comin. Moore gets his 4th of the season on the subsequent power play from Fidanza and Zack Sanderson. But the end was near as Kamloops scored three in a row to roll to a 7-3 win in a game that was full of bad nerves, jitters and miscues.
ICE CHIPS: Back to the drawing board as the new crew and the vets meld together as a well oiled machine. Its early in the season, but there is little time to waste in getting to where the squad needs to go. Next up is a two-game home stand, Friday the 16th versus the North Okanagan Knights from Armstrong, and then Saturday night the 17th is all right for tussling against the Kamloops Storm. Both games start at 7 p.m. at AHMA.