A double hat trick from Christian Nypower led the Ice as they swept away the visiting Vegreville Rangers 12-3.
The win ended the Ice's regular season on a high note Saturday night; they sit in fourth place heading into the NEAJBHL playoffs.
“It's not the game you wanted going into playoffs. There's lots of stuff we wanted to work on but that's hard when you have a 12-3 win,” said head coach Scott Hood. “It was good to get everyone involved, we got to give some other guys extra ice time.”
Up against the seventh ranked Rangers, Nypower got the game going for the home team. Seven minutes into the first period, a pass from Chad Schultheiss set up Nypower for his first goal of the night.
The duo was at it again seven minutes later, at the 14-minute mark. Nypower fired the puck in past the Rangers netminder, bringing the Ice up 2-0. The Cold Lake veterans continued to lead the team's offence, putting the pressure on Vegreville. Former Ice captain Schultheiss found the back of the net to get his name on the score sheet.
Wanting to show the Rangers what they were up against, with 2:31 left in the first period Nypower notched a hat trick.
“It's a huge relief. I've been fighting it all year, hoping for the bounces, so it came at a good time, especially before playoffs,” said Nypower. “Hopefully it keeps going and I keep getting the bounces and the help my way. It felt good to be like it felt in the old days.”
With the Rangers unable to get on the scoreboard, thanks to the goaltending of Cody Janzen, the Ice headed into the second frame leading 4-0.
Eight minutes into the second, Nypower started on the track towards a second hat trick with his fourth goal of the night. Not even a minute later, Cold Lake defenceman Josh Kohut fired the puck in from the point.
Taylor Anshelm kept the momentum going for the home team. With five minutes remaining in the period, Anshelm grabbed the seventh goal of the game for the Ice.
The Rangers caught a glimpse of hope, sneaking the puck in the net to end an Ice shutout. Any chance of an Vegreville comeback was quickly squashed, as Donavan Bibeau furthered Cold Lake's lead with 45-seconds to go.
Mike Harbich followed suit, notching his first goal of the night and 30th of the season, to bring the Ice up 9-0 at the end of the second.
Heading into the final period, Jadein Slingerland was in net for the Ice. The Rangers managed to get the scoring started in the third; Zach Lang sneaked the puck in for Vegreville's second goal. It wasn't long before the Ice got a scoring play together again. Nypower notched his fifth goal of the night, followed by a goal from defenceman Josh Wik less than two-minutes later, brought the Ice up 11-2.
Determined to make a statement in his last regular season game with Cold Lake, Nypower continued on his run, firing the puck in the net for his second hat trick.
“He's a goal scorer, he's been a goal scorer for years,” said Hood. “It was nice to get him get those goals going into playoffs and get him some confidence. He shot the puck and that's what we've been telling him all year to do. He finally shot the puck and was rewarded with that, so it was nice to see.”
While the Rangers managed to add another goal with just over five minutes left in the game, the Ice held them off for a 12-3 victory.
Sitting in fourth spot with 42-points in the NEAJBHL, the Cold Lake will have home ice advantage in the first two games of their playoff series. They'll be taking on the fifth place Onion Lake Border Chiefs in the first round, who finished with 39-points.
“Onion Lake is obviously a good team, but we have to turn it into an intense, physical series and hopefully come out on the right end of it,” Hood said. “(We're going to be working on) our systems; going over it again and working on our power play and that kind of stuff...Let's go back to the stuff that's made us successful since Christmas and just staying loose and staying focused.”
Nypower added, “It's going to be tough. They're a good team, they've got a good top line. Everybody has to buy in. We need all of our players going, we need all four lines and we need to stay out of the penalty box – we have to be disciplined, that's a big thing.”
In the regular season, the Ice won just one out of their four games versus the Border Chiefs.
The first two games of the series will take place on Feb. 12 and 13 at the Energy Centre. Puck drop for Friday night's game is 8 p.m. and Saturday is 7:30 p.m.
