It was a festive night at Western Financial Place, but the party didn’t end in the Kootenay Ice dressing room on Friday night.
As part of their final home game, before puck drop, the Ice gave out their 2016-17 player awards and there were smiles all around.
With a chance to end their eight-game losing streak and potentially delay the Calgary Hitmen’s clinching of a playoff spot, it was a game that was easy for players to get excited about.
Unfortunately, after keeping the good vibes going in a hard-fought scoreless opening period, the team had a brief but significant collapse early in the second period and eventually lost 6-1.
Head coach Luke Pierce was disappointed that his team didn’t leave Cranbrook on a higher note.
“It’s a disappointing way to end it ... we’ll look at the year as a whole after we get some time to reflect, but right now it just sucks where we’re at,” Pierce said. “Our offense has gone dry, our ability to defend seems to be struggling [...] I think there are some positives where we’ve gone in the right direction, but right now, this isn’t fun.
While Pierce was not unhappy with his team’s start, he was concerned with how they handled adversity.
“[We had] a short lapse five minutes into the second period and as a group we [didn’t] have the confidence to fight back and stay in it,” he said. “We’ve seen some resiliency with this team at times this year, but we didn’t have it today.”
He did however like the play of some of the team’s young players.
“I thought [some guys] played [an] excellent [game] — Kaeden [Taphorn], [Tanner] Sidaway and [Michael] King — I think that bodes well for us down the road,” he said. “It’s nothing [special though], it’s just their work. If our top guys could get some of the scoring chances that those guys get, we’d probably score some goals.
Those guys are just not natural pure goal scorers at this stage in their careers yet, but they’re getting the opportunities because of their compete level [and] we needed more out of our top players.”
Max Patterson had the lone Ice goal, a power play marker at the end of the second period that was assisted by Colton Kroeker and Vince Loschiavo.
The Hitmen had a number of players put up big offensive nights. Beck Malenstyn scored three goals in a performance that included a breakaway shorthanded tally, defenceman Jake Bean had three assists, and Calgary’s leading scorer Matteo Gennaro had a goal and an assist.
Payton Lee, who was named the team’s MVP in the pre-game festivities, made 32 saves on 38 shots.The Cranbrook native was also selected as the game’s first star.
While it wasn’t an ideal Kootenay swan song, Lee was still able to appreciate the special night.
“It was a pretty good night with the awards, and the crowd was really loud for us,” he said. “We appreciate that [and] it was nice to end it off here at home.
The Ice finish off their season tonight on the road against the Calgary Hitmen, an opportunity Lee is grateful to get.
“We’re going to go in there tomorrow and leave it all out there,” Lee said. “We have nothing to save it for at all, so we’ll be giving it our all.”
With Friday night’s loss, the Ice have now lost 15 straight games to the Hitmen. Although the two teams are supposed to be arch-rivals, Pierce doesn’t believe the potential animosity is a worthwhile motivator anymore.
“It’s been too long I think. We can try to continue to drum it up, but it was [just] years of playoff battles as an organization and it doesn’t take long to lose that,” the coach explained. “Now, it’s just another opponent for you. [We] should just focus on ourselves [and] trying to leave some decent impression in people’s minds.”
Lee, however, who grew up watching the two teams fight in game sevens, is still hopeful that his teammates can bring some spark into Saturday.
“I hope [our team understands what this matchup means]. I’ve seen the rivalry with the Ice and the Hitmen since I was a little kid, so I know what it’s all about,” he said. “Hopefully we can come out and end that streak tomorrow.”
With this win, Calgary has secured the final wild card spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, knocking the Saskatoon Blades out of contention. The Hitmen will play the powerhouse Regina Pats in the first round. The Ice have already had their fate decided, as the last-place team in the WHL.
Although Pierce is hoping for a win in the team’s final game, he isn’t looking for any magic.
“At [a certain] point, whether it’s next year in January or a year down the road when we’re a team that feels like we’re ready to compete for the championships, you’re going to remember times like these and which guys stuck with you and fought through it and battled,” Pierce said. “We’re not asking everyone to play the game of their life … we’re just asking them to work and compete and show some character.”
Puck drop at the Saddledome is at 7 p.m. tonight.