Nelson Sweeps KIJHL Final

In Game 4 Thriller



The Nelson Leafs showed resilience in Game 4 of the KIJHL Final on Thursday night when, after taking a 3-0 lead, losing the lead, taking it back, losing it again and then finally putting it away with 2:01 left in the 3rd period to defeat the Kamloops Storm.

It was a see-saw battle that saw the Kamloops crowd playing "taps" after a disastrous first period when Anthony Manfredi was pummeled with 3 goals by the Leafs and pulled himself after only 16:37 gone. It wasn't Manfredi's fault and the team, well, they were awful. The Leafs needed only 14min 12 seconds to build that lead, including the first 2 in less than 4 minutes. It was a quiet building during the first intermission.



I don't know what was said between periods (I can just imagine!) but the Storm came out in the 2nd period and scored 4 straight goals to take the lead. Goals were scored by Ryan Hanes and Devin Gannon with some tough close in work around the net.



Then Goode, on a pretty set-up by Brock Backus tied the game at 3 and seconds later it was David Gore batting the puck out of mid-air to take the lead. The building was frantic.




This time, the Leafs were shell-shocked and with a well timed time-out, the Leafs regrouped to answer with one goal (a beautiful effort by talented Kai Bauman) to tie the score before the final period.

In the 3rd period it was the Leafs that came out flying again when the skillful Dylan Walchuk scored only 17 seconds gone to make it 5-4 Leafs.



The Storm, still feeling the momentum from the 2nd period didn't cower and Devin Gannon scored his 2nd goal of the game to tie it at 5.





The game was pretty even up until late in the period when the Leafs started exerting more pressure and Michael Spring found an opening while Christiansen was screened and buried the final goal with 2:01 to go in the game. The Storm had some pressure on at the end of the game as they pulled Christainsen for 6 attackers but Nelson goaltender Garrett Beckwith stood tall and barred the Storm from the comeback.

In everyone's eyes, if it had to be a loss, it was a great effort to end the season. The Kamloops boys played hard after the 1st period, probably as intense as they have been all year. Nelson was just the better team and congratulations to them. We hope that they represent the league well in the Cyclone Taylor Cup, coming up this coming week.

I would personally like to wish all the graduating players well and hope that their futures are proud and prosperous. Also, there will be a number of players moving on with try-outs in the BCHL or WHL. Good luck to them at the next level. Many of the players will be returning for another year and they will be the core of the future for the team. We will look forward to seeing them in September.

I would like to acknowledge all the sponsors and their commitment to help the Storm become a mainstay in the Kamloops Hockey scene. The team couldn't do it without them.



And finally, to the coaches, staff and volunteers that give their time enthusiastically to make the Storm a real community team.



Barry and Sandy Dewar have put together a solid team both on and off the ice, running a quality organization that is appreciated by the fans and supporters in Kamloops and across the league.
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All game photos taken by Judi Dupont,

Chiefs Calm the Storm

Rematch Tonight at Mac Park Sports Centre by Barry Dewar

The Storm came out flat last night against the Chiefs, who get full marks for the win. While we came back hard in the second period it was not enough. The final score was 5-3 for the Chiefs. That was the seventh meeting between the two teams and tonight is the final regular season match up. Chase holds the season series lead 4-3. Tonight the Storm want to even that record so that they can go into playoffs with a positive finish.

The Storm were without several key players due to a line brawl last weekend. Forwards Ryan Hanes, Scott Kirkham and Austin Goode and defenseman Daniel Medland Marchen all watched the game from the stands and will be in the lineup tonight. The Storm brought up affiliate players Duncan Shultz and Daniel Buchanan for the game and both played well.

In the previous 7 games both teams have won one game in the other teams building. The total scoring has Kamloops with 25 goals while Chase has 20. Kamloops has had 2 lopsided wins 5-1 Jan 23 in Kamloops, a Dominos Pizza night and and 8-1 win in Chase on October 24. the rest of the games have been 2 goals or less. Riley Wall, a Kamloops minor hockey product has won all the games in net for Chase and has started every game against the Storm but Jordan Bytelaar did play 43 minutes in the October 24 game and 20 minutes in the Jan 23 game although Wall got the loss in both of those games. Manfredi started the first 6 games against Chase and Kyle Graham started last night. One of the Chase wins included an empty net goal, so other than 2 games they have all been close.

The Storm take on the Kimberley Dynamiters a 2pm Sunday start tomorrow. It is the return to Kamloops of Tory Caldwell who was traded away at the start of the season. Tory has not played the last couple of games for the Dynamiters but I am sure he will be looking to show his old team that they made a mistake. The game also will have Dominic Alec in the lineup. Dominic came to camp in September but thought he would have a bigger role with another team. He is playing well for the Dynos.

Tonight’s match up with Chase is also a Diabetes fundraiser . All of the jerseys being worn will be auctioned off. Minimum bid is $50 and some have some gas certificates included courtesy of Husky/Mohawk Gas stations in Kamloops. A great cause a very unique prize and maybe some gas sounds too good to be true.

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Playoff home dates will be February 24, February 28 March 2 and March 3 all games at 7pm. Get your tickets for one or all of the games. On sale now.

Posse Gunned Down in Storm

Complete Team Effort by Storm Pays Dividends

It was a good old fashion shellacking, one we're sure the Princeton Posse will keep in the back of their minds for the next meeting. The Kamloops Storm unleashed their offense and used sound defense to control the game from start to finish. The Posse looked like they were standing still.

Two 20 year-old veterans, Jamie Galbraith and Mick Ludvig stepped up their efforts on Friday night to score 2 goals apiece in a 9-2 drubbing of the Posse. And there were significant contributions from almost every one on the team. In fact, everyone on the team got on the score sheet except James Friedel (who was tossed for fighting the middle of the second period) and AP Chris Clark. Clark saw limited ice time until late in the 3rd period.

Sheldon McDonald (0-3) and Austin Goode (1-2) led the point parade with 3 apiece while 7 others had 2 points.

For added entertainment there were a couple of good tilts. James Friedel took on Brody Brewster with Brewster taking a narrow decision and Jose Reyes duked it out with Kevin Darcy with Reyes on top of the heap after the smoking fists cleared.

A couple of unfortunate hitting-from-behind penalties also took a couple of players out of the game. Nick Cecconi got nailed for the Posse. I did not see the hit as my vision was obstructed so I can't comment on the hit. I will however say that Cecconi was issuing cheap hits earlier in the period and got away with it so it didn't break any of the Kamloops fans hearts to see him tossed. Darren Mann, in his speedy, aggressive style of play took out a Princeton player in front of the penalty box with a hit from behind and also got tossed. I did see that one and although I don't think it was intentional, it was a good call by the ref, who struggled with the concept of hitting and getting hit throughout the game.

Kamloops was firing on all cylinders. It was too bad that Manfredi lost his bid for a shutout. The goals were a perfect example of team overconfidence that led to breakdown. One fan mentioned to me after the game that it was a good thing the Posse scored earlier in the 3rd period because the Posse's 2nd goal was a coaches nightmare. Taylor Stuart, who played a pretty good game for the most part, committed the ultimate sin of being the last guy back with the puck, trying to stickhandle out of his own zone. With three Posse players on top of him, he coughed it up resulting in a goal by Bill Marshall. With head buried between his legs coming to the bench, the coaches didn't need to say too much.

For full game results, go the the KIJHL site here.

All said and done, the Storm seem to be coming together much earlier than the last two seasons.
With five really good players out of the lineup (Ryan Hanes-ankle, Travis Cech-suspension, Tyler Jackson - flu, Brandon Long - shoulder and Josh Caron- ankle) one wonders how good this team can really be. The impending 5 game road trip should solidify the character of the team and do nothing but grow their confidence.

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Keep your eyes open for the new player profile pages. We are solidifying a sponsor and intend to hold a season long contest for all fans.

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Hanes and Goode Dominate Score Sheet

Tory Caldwell Wins 2 Between the Pipes!

With a 2 game sweep of weekend games, the Kamloops Storm are only 1 point out of first place in the division with 2 games in hand. Currently tied with the Chase Chiefs and only 1 point behind the Sicamous Eagles, the Storm are starting to make some noise in the division.

Rookie Ryan Hanes and 3rd year vet Austin Goode dominated on the score sheet this past weekend, scoring 6 of the 7 goals by the Storm, while Travis Cech scored a game-opening, short handed goal in Sicamous on Friday.

Tory Caldwell was impressive, stopping 28/29 on Friday night and 29/30 on Saturday's game for a weekend GAA of 1.00 and Save Percentage of 0.9661... rather stellar I might say and certainly putting a little pressure on regular starter and past MVP, Anthony Manfredi.

On the weak side, the power play was a miserable 0 for 7 while they still managed to score one short-handed marker by Cech. To date the team has 4 Power Play goals and 3 Short-Handed goals, an interesting ratio, would you agree?

Coach Patterson has been putting an awful lot of faith in the inherant first line of Reyes, Gore and Ludvig, who for some reason can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn door these days. You gotta wonder if there is a little shake up in the offering, noting that this line had a total of ZERO POINTS for the weekend. A bit of an underachievement to say the least.

Stay tuned for this weekend's home stand as the Storm hosts division rivals Summerland Sting on Friday and perennial league powerhouse, the Fernie Ghostriders on Saturday.

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What are your comments on the past weekend games?
(click comments below - your views and opinions are welcome - keep it civil - thanx... DaveO)

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