The Cold Lake Ice got the second half of their season off to a great start on the weekend, with a 4-2 win over the Vegreville Rangers.
The Ice were in front of a home crowd on Saturday night. After finishing 2015 on a low note, the win was a welcome start to the New Year, putting the Ice back in fifth spot in the NEAJBHL standings.
“It's huge. The standings are pretty tight so we know we have to win every game if we want to move up a little,” said head coach Scott Hood. “A great game for our first game in three weeks, so we'll take that and move on. We've just said let's keep playing better and better each game and we can do some damage once we get everyone back. It's positive.”
Vegreville got the scoring started, sneaking the puck past Ice netminder Cody Janzen just two minutes into the game. Unable to put together a scoring play together in the first, the Ice trailed 1-0 at the end of the first.
Following a two-minute penalty to Dillon Kalinski 30-seconds before the end of the second, Cold Lake started the second on a penalty kill. Less than a minute into the period, Mike Harbich went on a break away, notching the Ice's first goal of the night and tying up the score at one.
A scrap five-minutes in left both teams with three men in the box, but that didn't deter the Ice's momentum. Just under seven minutes, the line of Taylor Anshelm, Curtis Witney and Harbich were at work again. Anshelm fired the puck in, giving the Ice a 2-1 lead.
“We just looked for each other out there, a lot of puck support; every time we turned around there we were, it was really helpful,” said Harbich.
Witney added, “We control the puck and a lot of it's been hard work and winning the battles, the two guys I play with there are highly skilled. It's just hard work and dominating the teams down low, making things happen.”
With just over two-minutes left in the period Wyatt Murphy got his second goal for the Rangers, evening up the score at two-apiece.
Another penalty to the Ice at the end of the period, and they were starting out the final frame on a penalty kill. Eight minutes left in the game, Witney found the back of the net with the game-winning goal.
“That was awesome, especially getting back into it, haven't skated for a couple weeks,” said Witney.
He added, “It was huge, especially with only (six) points separating fourth and eighth. It felt really good to start off 2016 with a win.”
In an attempt to even up the score, the Rangers pulled their goalie with just minutes left in the game. With just one-second left in the third period, an empty net goal from Harbich brought the final score to 4-2 for the Ice.
“It was huge, especially for the standings it bumps us up a couple points from Vegreville so that's definitely helpful and just getting back on our jets and getting ready to go in the New Year, that's big,” said Harbich.
The Ice debuted their newest addition to the team on Friday night; up from the Swift Current, SK area, Ryan Evans donned 14 for Cold Lake.
“I think he's going to fit in real well with that top line, he's got some skill and he likes to work,” said Hood.
The win puts the Cold Lake Ice in fifth spot with 27-points, just three-points behind the fourth place Onion Lake Border Chiefs. Nine games left in the regular season, the Ice will be looking for two more wins this weekend as they take on the Wainwright Bisons and the Onion Lake Border Chiefs in a pair of weekend road games.
“Hopefully we get into Tuesday and Thursday, get in good hard practices and work on things and go into next weekend, get those wins and show the guys if you play hard for each and every game you'll be alright,” said Hood.
He added, “We know we can beat Wainwright, we know we can beat Onion Lake, it's just a matter of just who shows up. If the team that played tonight shows up, we'll be alright.”
Puck drop for Friday night's game against Wainwright is 8:30 p.m. The Ice will be back on the road in Onion Lake Saturday, puck drop is 8 p.m.
