The Ice wrangled a 5-3 win over the Broncos on Friday night at Western Financial Place during their “WHL Suits up with Don Cherry for Organ Donation” game.
The Broncos are currently last in the Western Hockey League Standings, with a 10-45-3-2 record, while the Ice are just above them with a 12-39-7-3 record.
“A lot of the game was really good,” said head coach James Patrick. “Some really good possession time, I thought defensively we kept them to the outside for the most part … I liked the game. It’s been a while since we got the win so you could feel the guys grip the sticks a little tighter the last 10 minutes of the game with the lead.”
The Ice started off the scoring with Brandon Machado getting the puck past Isaac Poulter as it trickled past the goal line.
“In the first period, the zone time. I thought we did a good job and kept our feet moving in the offensive zone … I just thought we didn’t spend time in our zone,” said Patrick.
Early in the second period, the Ice went on the power play with Christian Riemer in the box for hooking. Just as the Broncos killed it off, Riemer came out of the box with the support of Matthew Culling, who tied the game 1-1.
But, the Ice kept the pressure coming back and Jaeger White soon took a 2-1 lead for Kootenay. Brad Ginnell later added to the score for a 3-1 after 40 minutes.
Connor McClennon buried is 10th goal of the season in the third frame to make it 4-1.
The Broncos didn’t let down; Carter Chorney and Eric Hook both scored to cut the Ice lead by one, making it 4-3.
An empty net total by McClennon solidified the Ice win at 5-3 over the Broncos.
“It was an exciting game today, nice to get a win finally,” said defenceman Valtteri Kakkonen.
“It was a tough game, we were up the first two periods, then a little collapse in the third period for the first 15 minutes, but we regrouped … it feels amazing to be back winning games. We have been playing good on a few games on the road trip in Saskatchewan, then got it rolling there and it just keeps going.”
With four different goal scorers and a good defensive effort, Patrick noted it was a team win.
“There was a lot of guys who played well. It’s hard to single out one guy, but I thought it was a group effort,” he said.
The Ice will be back in action less than 24 hours away as they host the Calgary Hitmen at Western Financial Place.
“I think everyone is going to be excited to come out tomorrow and coming off a win I think everyone is going to be going. We are going to give Calgary a good game tomorrow,” said defenceman Marco Creta.
Not only is it going to be a tough team, but they will also be inducting Jarret Stoll into the newly launched ICE Hall of Fame on March 2.