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Ice still searching for a win streak

The Cold Lake Ice are still trying to put a win streak together, after picking up another win and a loss in the NEAJBHL.
In honour of Remembrance Day, Cold Lake Ice captain Kurt Franklin (front right), Saddle Lake Warriors captain Silas Makokis (front left) participate in a ceremonial puck drop
In honour of Remembrance Day, Cold Lake Ice captain Kurt Franklin (front right), Saddle Lake Warriors captain Silas Makokis (front left) participate in a ceremonial puck drop with Royal Canadian Legion District #3 Deputy Commander Keith Lockett (centre).

The Cold Lake Ice are still trying to put a win streak together, after picking up another win and a loss in the NEAJBHL.

The Ice started off last week with a 5-2 win over the last place Saddle Lake Warriors at home on Wednesday, followed by a 5-3 loss to the Vegreville Rangers on the road Friday night.

Not even five minutes into the action Friday night, Ice defenseman Colton Katuski dropped his gloves with the Warrior's Matt Delver. Both players picked up a total of 19 penalty minutes, and set the tone for what would be a rough game.

Taylor Anshelm found the back of the net for the Ice just before the half way point in the period, nabbing the first goal of the night and giving the Ice a 1-0 lead. A flurry of penalties at the 17:35 mark in the first left the home team with a two-minute penalty kill after scoring leader Mike Harbich was given a second 10-minute misconduct for breaking his stick in the tunnel.

Less than 10-seconds into the penalty kill, Saddle Lake sneaked the puck past Ice goaltender Dahlin Supernault to tie the game at one.

Not long into the second frame, Cold Lake head coach Scott Hood was sent off the bench with a 10-minute game misconduct for a comment made to the referee.

“It's obviously nice to see we've got some guys that stepped up and played really well,” said Hood of how his team worked together without him. “It's tough when you have that sort of stuff going on during a game; coaches lose focus, players lose focus, but we showed we have some character on our team.”

After the Ice lost their leader on the bench and their scoring leader on the ice, Saddle Lake managed to take the lead just over halfway in. A little over a minute later, Ice defence captain Kurt Franklin fired the puck past the Warriors goalie for his first goal of the season.

Heading into the third tied at two-apiece, the Ice were determined to get the win. Donovan Bibeau notched what would be the team's gaming winning goal less than a minute into the final frame. A pass from Ice d-man Wade Cline set up Franklin for his second goal of the night and season.

“It feels pretty good, it's been a pretty big dry spell for me right now so it's good to get it over with and get it out of the way,” said Franklin. “I just kept on going and working hard out there, I had a lot of help from the teammates.”

With 1:11 left in the game Curtis Witney wanted to get his on the game sheet, netting the final goal in the Ice's 5-2 victory.

“It's definitely huge. Anytime you win it's a big part of going forward. Was it pretty? No. But the way things have been going, we'll take a win,” said Hood.

There was a new name on the ice for Cold Lake during the game. Curtis Gullackson is the latest addition to the Ice's young team this season, donning the #22.

“He's a local kid, he hasn't played over a few years but we caught wind that he wanted to play. That's our goal here is to build us a local team, we've gotten a few locals out,” said Hood. “You can tell he's not in great shape and hasn't skated for a little while, but he's come a long way and will be a big part of our team moving forward.”

The local Jr. B team hit the road on Friday night, heading down to meet the Vegreville Rangers. Their previous match-up in Vegreville resulted in the Ice taking a 6-1 loss. Though once again unable to grab the two-points, the Ice managed to lessen the blow to 5-3.

It was an unusual game for a team averaging around 100 penalty minutes per game. Cold Lake only picked up one two-minute penalty in the third, while the Rangers only received a total of four minutes.

An unassisted goal to Ice forward Christian Nypower got the momentum going for the Ice, tying the game just over six-minutes in.

Three more Vegreville goals managed to get past Ice goalie Cody Janzen. The Ice trailed 4-1 going into the final period.

Over 12-minutes into the third, Ice defence Josh Wik captured his first goal of the season thanks to a pass from Nypower. With less than two-minutes left in the game, the Ice made one last attempt to tie things up. Nypower found the back of the net for his third point of the night – closing the gap to 4-3.

Unfortunately, after pulling Janzen in favour of the extra man, the Rangers secured their victory with an empty net goal.

Their loss to Vegreville put the Ice back in eighth spot in the league with a record of 4-6-2. The Ice will be back at home on Friday to host the undefeated Wainwright Bisons. Puck drop is 8 p.m.

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