The Sicamous Eagles kicked off KIJHL regular season play with a pair of tough losses to the Golden Rockets and the Nelson Leafs on Sept. 7 and 8.
The Sicamous team had lost a close game to the Rockets to start their pre-season schedule on Sept. 1. The Eagles hit the road to face Golden on Sept. 7.
Golden opened the scoring under three minutes after the puck dropped. Taking the man advantage in stride after Eagles forward Colton Yaremko landed himself in the box for misconduct and head contact, the Rockets’ Zach Salyn slipped the puck past Brett Akins to make the score 1-0 Golden.
The Eagles tied it up with a goal from Sebastien Archambault assisted by Justin Hodgson less than a minute later.
The Eagles soared into the lead with a power-play goal from Hodgson as Rockets’ D-man Samuel Lussier sat in the penalty box for elbowing.
The second period whipped by with neither team able to solve the opposing goaltender.
The Eagles carried the lead through most of the third period until, with just over two minutes remaining in regulation time, Jacob Dewar of the Rockets cradled the pass from Brendan Sime-Vivian and fired it into the Sicamous goal. The score remained tied and the game went into overtime.
Dewar brought his team the win with 58 seconds remaining in the first overtime period, wrapping up first star honours for himself. Sicamous’ Sebastien Archambault earned the second star.
The Eagles played their first home game of the regular season against the Nelson Leafs the following night.
Nelson struck first– a shorthanded goal from Scott Lancaster in the opening minute.
Hodgson picked up his second marker of the weekend on the power play to tie the game. The Leafs responded with another power-play goal to leave the score 2-1 after 20 minutes.
On another power play late in the second frame, Logan Wullum potted a goal to stretch Nelson’s lead to two.
Kaleb Comishin made the score 4-1 Nelson before the middle frame was over.
The final period passed scoreless, leaving the Eagles 0-2 for the weekend and the season. The Sicamous team will look to bounce back, hosting the Chase Heat on Sept. 14, followed by the Revelstoke Grizzlies on Sept.15.