The Cold Lake Ice got their playoff run off to a great start, as they lead their first series 3-0 versus the Onion Lake Border Chiefs.
Making the best of their starting home-ice advantage, the fourth place Ice conquered the fifth place Border Chiefs 5-2 Friday night. They followed it up on Saturday with another 5-2 victory at home before heading down to Onion Lake for a third 5-2 win on Monday.
Mike Harbich picked up five points in the first two playoff games, with two goals and three assists.
“It's a good start to the series. Obviously, in the best of seven you have to win four and we're (over) half way there where as they have to beat us four times. We just have to be prepared, stay healthy, and be ready (for the next game),” said Ice head coach Scott Hood.
The Ice got off to an early lead Friday night. Two minutes in, on the power play, Ryan Evans notched the first goal of the playoffs. Less than two minutes later, Nic Murrell kept the momentum going for the home team, finding the back of the net to bring the Ice up 2-0.
Onion Lake managed to get the best of the Ice at the 11-minute mark, putting themselves on the scoreboard. That carried through to the first half of the second period, as the Border Chiefs' Justice Gardypie found the back of the net to tie the score at two apiece.
Emotions, and penalty minutes, ran high both on the ice and on the bench. Six minutes into the second, tension on the ice landed Cold Lake with three penalties and Onion Lake with five, including their head coach getting ejected from the game and a two-game suspension.
The Ice bounced back. With just under four minutes left in the period, Harbich fired in a short-handed goal to give the Ice a one-goal lead heading into the final frame.
Leading 3-2, it wasn't until the tail end of the final period that the Ice found some security. On a power play with just over three minutes left, Christian Nypower went on a breakaway, netting his first goal of the playoff season and giving the Ice a two-point lead.
In the final two minutes of the game, Chad Schultheiss guaranteed Cold Lake's win, nabbing the team's fifth goal of the night.
“For sure when you have that home ice advantage you want to get that first win, it definitely gives you the advantage in the series and puts you in a good spot,” said Harbich.
While pleased with the win, Hood said there are some things they have to work on moving forward.
“We didn't play our best game tonight, that's for sure. We played like we did at the beginning of the year. We lost track of what we wanted to do and got away from what we've been preaching. In the third we played better and scored some nice goals and came out with the win.”
Cold Lake Ice take Game 2
Back at home the following night, the Ice were looking for a second win in their series versus Onion Lake.
Once again it was Cold Lake who got on the board first, with a goal from Nypower at the halfway mark in the period. With 2:46 to go, Austin Smyth netted his first goal with the Ice since joining the team in January.
Less than a minute into the second frame, despite being down a man, Harbich shot the puck past Border Chiefs goaltender Blair Mahon to give the Ice a 3-0 lead. At 12:46 in the period, Onion Lake finally managed to get on the scoreboard. Their victory was short lived, though, as Curtis Witney came back with a goal for the Ice just over two minutes later.
Leading 4-1 in the third, the Ice added insurance thanks to Taylor Anshelm finding the back of the net around the seven-minute mark. With five minutes left in the game, the Border Chiefs managed to get the puck past Janzen on a power play, but it was too little too late. The final score was 5-2.
“We played good tonight. Our defence moved the puck well, the boys started listening to some of our systems and we tried some new things, like a high guy. Overall we played well, we just lose our focus once in a while and that's what hurts us,” said Hood.
With two of the four wins needed to take the series, the Ice are down in Onion Lake for the next two games.
“(The two wins are) huge, especially in playoffs you have to win your home games if you want to have any chance in a series,” said Witney. “We've got to stay disciplined, we can't sink to their level. We just have to stay out of the box and let them play their game and we'll play ours.”
Ice come away victorious in Onion Lake
Cold Lake headed down to the Border Chiefs' barn for Game 3 of the series. Murrell picked up two goals for the Ice in yet another 5-2 win over Onion Lake.
It was back and forth for the first period. The Border Chiefs managed to get on the scoreboard first, just after the five-minute mark. It wasn't long before Donavan Bibeau answered back with a goal for the Ice to tie the game at 1-1.
Not even 30-seconds later Onion Lake's Colby Stanley got his second goal of the night, giving them back the lead. While they managed to hold off the Ice for a few minutes, Murrell scored on a backhander to even up the score.
Tied at two heading into the second period, Schultheiss shot in a power play goal to give the Ice their first lead of the game. Just over the halfway mark, Murrell fires in his second goal of the night – his third of the playoffs.
“It feels good to help out, and do what I need to do,” said Murrell. “We feel confident and hopefully we can keep going. We're pretty strong right now so we've just got to keep doing what we're doing.”
Not even a minute later, Nypower found the back of the net bringing the Ice up 5-2. With neither team able to put a scoring play together in the third, the Ice headed home with a 3-0 lead in the series.
“We've played some good games and good periods, tonight was another one. We didn't come out as strong as we wanted to but we battled back. At the end of the day we've still got to win that fourth game, so we've got to come prepared Wednesday and hopefully finish it then,” said Hood.
The Cold Lake Ice will be looking to sweep the series against Border Chiefs on Wednesday night, when they head down to Onion Lake for Game 4. Puck drop is 8 p.m.
