Sicamous Eagles Grounded

:Kamloops Storm Blows through to 2nd Round

For 3 straight games on Kamloops ice, the Sicamous Eagles almost pulled one out. For the 2nd time in the series the Storm and the Eagles needed double overtime to settle things and the result was the same.

Austin Goode, coming into the game 0-0-0 in the playoffs snuck off the bench, picked up a big rebound from the the back boards on a shot by Jassi Sangha and popped the series winning goal at 10:44 of the 2nd OT. The final score was 3-2. It's been a tough series for Goode but he came up big when the team needed him most, not unlike many times during the season.

It was a tight checking affair all evening with both Anthony Manfredi and particularly Riley Wall making their share of spectacular saves. Wall stood on his ear time after time to stop point blank Kamloops gunners. Kamloops outshot Sicamous 71 -36.

Sicamous got the upper hand early when Brock Backus showed some hustle by stealing the puck from the 3 Storm players behind the Storm net and set up an opportunistic Jay Stuart for a howitzer over the glove of Manfredi to make the score 1-0.

Anthony Collins popped his second goal of the season on a nice set up by Lundy Trenaman and gritty Tod Kennedy.

There was a melee near the end of the 1st period after Jassi Sangha retaliated on a Sicamous defenseman and took an 2 min. penalty for a hit to the head and an automatic 10 min misconduct. Only 14 seconds into the second period Cody Lockwood blasted a rocket from the blueline on the powerplay and Sicamous took a 2-1 lead.

Again with Wall standing tall in the net and the Sicamous penalty killers showing outstanding discipline the scored stayed 2-1 until late in the 3rd period when Ryan Bullock buried the game tieing goal with 3:13 remaining in the 3rd. Manfredi was called upon late in the game to come up with a few big saves to keep Kamloops in the mix. Wall got involved in a collision in his crease and looked like he hurt his knee. He finished the period in pain and one wondered if he was going to make to the overtime period.

Wall didn't disappoint. The first 10 min overtime solved nothing with Wall and Manfredi looking pretty sharp.

The second overtime seemed to be going Sicamous's way early but Kamloops started coming on when finally Goode got his opportunity to bang home the winner. Sicamous goes home early in the playoffs knowing that they were only a hair away from making an upset in the series twice on Kamloops ice.

A couple of players for Kamloops that had particularly sparkling efforts were Mike Hanes (#2) and Tod Kennedy (#16). Kennedy stepped up to play with 2nd line Collins and Trenaman and Hanes moved up to play forward on the third line. Kennedy got an assist on the first Kamloops goal while Hanes was a wrecking ball, taking on anything he could catch. And he caught alot. Not knowing the official count on hits but I would bet that he had 8 solid hits himself. The kid was like a pitbull on a pant leg. Coach Bryant Perrier and team owner Barry Dewar where both impressed with the play of the two players.

Kamloops will now take on the winner of the Revelstoke - Summerland war. Game 5 goes tonight in Summerland with the series tied at 2. The series opener is not likely to start until Monday or Tuesday of next week.

See you then