The Sicamous Eagles have not found their way into the win column in the month of January and time is running out, with the last of their regular season games to be played about a month from now.
A tie against Summerland has been the high point for the local KIJHL team in the first month of the year. Last week, the Eagles lost an overtime heart-breaker to the North Okanagan Knights on Saturday and then had an unsuccessful trip to 100 Mile House; the Wranglers won 4-1.
The Eagles hit the ice again against the Chase Heat on Saturday, Jan. 19.
Eleven minutes after the opening whistle, Hayden Wiebe of the Heat collected a pass from Breckin Erichuck and slipped the puck by Cole Steinke in the Heat’s net.
Tyson Lampreau chalked another goal in the Heat’s column assisted by Gavin Mattey in the last minute of the first period.
After the first intermission the Eagles found their feet.
Seven minutes into the second period, Sean Thornton got Sicamous on the board with some help from Jack Olson and Jacob Chafe. Jordan Sheasgreen tied the game near the end of the middle period.
The tie held into the second intermission and both teams went to the dressing rooms to gear up for a closely contested final period.
The Heat restored their lead off Erichuck’s stick early on and then followed up with a power-play goal just two minutes later; Cody Allen scored, assisted by Brett Alexander and Tyler Collens as David Cloutier served a spearing penalty.
The Eagles pulled Steinke from the net in favour of a sixth skater two minutes ahead of the final whistle in hopes of making up the two-goal deficit.
With a minute to go, Tyson Lampreau of the Heat was tossed by the officials for checking from behind and in the ensuing scuffle, Trysten Brookman of the Eagles was also given a misconduct penalty.
Although the Heat were shorthanded, Marino Bordin managed to get his stick on the puck and put it into the Sicamous net with only two seconds on the clock. The final buzzer sounded on a 5-2 defeat for the Eagles.
Next on the agenda for the Sicamous squad was a Tuesday night road game against the Revelstoke Grizzlies, who have been sitting comfortably atop the Doug Birks division of the KIJHL’s Okanagan Shuswap conference for most of the season.
The Eagles were the team to deal the Grizzlies their first defeat of the season and that coupled with a goal from Cloutier early in the Tuesday’s game gave the Eagles hope for snapping their losing skid.
A minute after Cloutier’s goal and in some penalty trouble, the Eagles were scored on by Kaeden Patrick of the Grizzlies. Jordan Kohlman added to the Grizzlies’ tally with 7:46 left in the first, but immediately after getting the puck back, Trysten Brookman slapped one home for the Eagles setting up a tie game going into the second period.
The middle frame gave Steinke a run for his money as the Grizzlies pelted the rookie goaltender with 22 shots over the course of the period. Steinke stood up to the offensive pressure, stopping every scoring attempt until a shot from Jaden Hay made it over the line with 1:10 before the end of the period.
The Grizzlies potted four more goals in a third period which saw them out-shooting the Eagles once more.
@SalmonArm
jim.elliot@saobserver.net
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