The Cold Lake Ice kicked off their second playoff series on home ice on Thursday against the Killam Wheat Kings. Despite having an extra opponent on the ice, the ref, Cold Lake pulled ahead 2-0 in the series after a second game on Saturday.
The tone of Thursday's game was set early on, less than three minutes in Ice's Brett Bujold was in the box with twelve minutes in penalties for a hit to the head and misconduct. Cold Lake still managed to take an early lead in the game thanks to a goal from Mike Harbich five minutes into the first. With a nice set-up from Holden Daley, Tanner Corbeil fired the puck past Wheat Kings' goaltender Tanner Watkins.
Just under six minutes into the second frame, Ice defenceman Zach Zarowny furthered the home team's lead. Two and a half minutes later the secondary scoring continued for Cold Lake as Curtis Witney buried the puck in the net. The score stayed at 4-0 for the remainder of the period, but there was no shortage of penalties with Ice players Christian Nypower picking up four minutes for slashing and roughing and captain Chad Schultheiss taking two minutes for goalie interference.
Three minutes into the third, Schultheiss found himself in the box for another two minutes for goalie interference. At the 8:40 mark in the period, the Wheat Kings took advantage of a two minute high sticking penalty to Ice player Josh Kohut. Not giving up another power play opportunity, Killam's Clay Lang sneaked the puck in past Ice net minder Cody Janzen. With just a little over five minutes left in the game, Harbich gave Killam a final answer netting his second goal of the night. The pressure got the better of Wheat Kings coach Jamie Langely who, with three and a half minutes left, got himself ejected from the game and got the team a 10 minute game misconduct.
It was a spectacular start to the series for Janzen who made a total of 38 saves. Despite some questionable reffing, the Ice took the first game of the series 5-1. Ice Head Coach Paul Desjardins said after the game that while they're happy with the win, the refereeing continues to be a major issue.
“They're not protecting the players on the ice. The other team can spear you, cross-check you, slash you and jump you and even if we don't fight we're going to get called...We'd like to see some supervisors up in the stands to watch these guys.”
The Ice brought the momentum from their win into game two of the series on Saturday night. A quick goal from Mike Harbich less than three minutes into the first period got Cold Lake off to a good start. The first half of the period stayed relatively quiet. At the 13:44 mark, off a pass from Ice defence Cosimo Yapello, Brett Bujold beat the Wheat Kings starting goaltender Luke Grassl to bring the Ice up 2-0. With less than three minutes left in the first, a power play goal from Harbich furthered the home team's lead heading into the second.
Two and a half minutes into the second frame, a two minute kneeing penalty to Schultheiss gave Killam the opportunity to finally get on the board. Wheat Kings forward Craig Lynes sneaked the puck past Janzen for what would be the visitors only goal of the game. Five minutes left in the second, Ice forward Connor Fynn found the back of the net for his first goal of the playoffs.
With just a little over a minute left in the period Christian Nypower set up Holden Daley for a power play goal, bringing the score up 5-1 for the Ice. The home team made sure there was no chance of a Wheat Kings comeback as Curtis Witney fired a goal passed Grassl with only 20 seconds remaining. Punches started flying following Witney's goal landing Ice's Devon Hascarl and the Wheat Kings' Josh Beck both 10 minutes for game misconduct. The scrapping wasn't over yet though. At the 20 minute mark, Ice player Josh Wik got 15 minutes in penalties for fighting and game misconduct, while Zach Zarowny saw 10 minutes for misconduct. Killam's Brant Johnson and Kyle Sanders also rounded up 15 minutes in penalties.
In the third period, there wasn't much scoring being done with players constantly in and out of the penalty box. The Ice managed to get a total of 44 penalty minutes in the third, while the Wheat Kings only received 26 minutes. A little over seven minutes in, Harbich got the only goal of the period netting his third of the game and eighth in the playoffs.
The Ice finished the game beating the visiting Wheat Kings 7-1. Desjardins said following the second win that the team is finally getting to the level they want them to be at.
“This team is here with a challenge, you have to step it up and the boys stepped it up. We're getting into that zone where we feel we're getting better every game…they're starting to come together.”
He added that it was the first time the Ice has had a full line-up in a while and that had an impact on the team as a whole.
The Ice will be in Killam for the next two games in the series on Mar. 4 and Mar. 6.
