Only one on-ice contest to report on from the past weekend. On Friday night, Nov. 20, the KIJHL second-place overall Kamloops Storm came to play at the Art Holding Memorial Arena.
It was National Aboriginal Addictions Awareness Week Night at the arena and a larger-than-normal crowd took in the best home-ice tilt this season.
The 282 hockey hounds were entertained both on and off the ice on this special occasion, including one lucky fan walking away with $540 from the 50/50!
The well-fought battles between the Storm and the Heat are always a great event, due to five seasons of developing a fierce rivalry. Both teams have their fair share of products from Kamloops Minor Hockey and friendships are locked away for 60 minutes as friends take on friends. This game was no different, except both teams are skilled, fast and smart.
So on with one man’s synopsis.
Chase opened scoring in the first, Zachary Fournier on the power play from Pat Brady and Michael Fidanza. But 21 seconds later Kamloops gets one from Hunter Kero and it’s all notched up at 1-1.
In the second, Kolten Moore pops the biscuit in the basket assisted by Nolan Parr and Cole Perison. But – the Storm plunk in the equalizer three-and-a-half minutes later, a power play marker by Dario Piva, tying it up at 2-2.
So it’s off to the third where Kamloops came storming out, trying to take over the game. The Heat were resilient and waited for an opportunity that arrived just over five minutes in – Brady from Fidanza and Braden Hughes. Then a minute and 38 seconds later, team leading scorer Logan Mostat gets Chase two up from Spencer Farstad. The action and intensity increases as one team holds on to the lead while the other throws everything possible at Nic Bruyere in net (30 of 32).
The icing on the cake comes with 1:19 left as Zachary Fournier fires in an empty netter to seal the deal. The end result – a huge, 5-2 victory for the Heat who remain eight points back with three games in hand of the division- leading Storm.
Hot Ice Chips: The next two games are versus the Grizzlies from Revelstoke. In a weird quirk in the schedule they play in Chase on Tuesday, Nov. 24 and Friday, Nov. 27, both games at 7 p.m. They are six points back of the Heat with two games in hand, so both games are huge in the standings.
Spencer Farstad, #26, continues his tradition of checking sticks with his face. As a result he has added more stitches to the already impressive total and will soon be in contention for a Guinness World Record!
After this weekend’s games the Heat will be at the halfway point in the regular season.
It’s that time to buy some tickets to put in someone’s Christmas stocking, or buy some hot products at the merchandise table.