The Major Midget Kootenay Ice broke out of its scoring slump in a big way on Sunday at the Cominco Arena.
Ice captain Mason McLeod and forward Joe Davidson each scored a hat trick in a 7-3 triumph over the North Island Silvertips.
“It feels great, but without my teammates I don’t think I could have got it done,” said McLeod. “It was them that set me up, and I was just there to tap the puck in the net.”
The three-goal outburst for McLeod gives him a team-leading six goals and nine points on the season, while for Davidson, his first-period goal was the first of the campaign and it broke the flood gates open for the Nelson native.
“It was awesome to see a rookie get the hatty,” said McLeod. “He’s playing great, been playing good the last few weekends, and getting better all the time, so he deserves it.”
Kootenay managed just three goals in their previous three games that included a 3-1 loss to the Silvertips on Saturday, but penalties were a big factor in the game, with North Island scoring the winning goal on a two-man advantage.
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“Yesterday’s game, there was just no momentum in the game, because there were 40 penalty minutes, and two minute minors, so it seemed like both teams couldn’t get a flow going,” said Kootenay head coach Kris Boyce. “There was no rhythm at all.”
The Silvertips jumped out to a 1-0 lead with 5:38 left to play in the first period, but the Ice found their stride when Davidson scored with 2:23 left in the opening frame on a setup from Dayton Nelson.
McLeod didn’t waste any time netting his hat trick in the middle frame. The Dawson Creek product scored five minutes into the period, on a nice passing play with Jaxson Waterstreet and Noah Quinn. Davidson scored his second 25 seconds later, and McLeod notched his second of the game on a setup from Caleb Concalves and Quinn at 13:27 for a 4-1 lead.
North Island cut the lead in half at 11:18 on a Hunter MacDonald goal, but the Ice came right back with McLeod again finishing a setup from Waterstreet and Quinn for the hat trick to make it 5-2 just 39 seconds later.
Davidson then completed his three-goal performance, making it 6-2 with 9:50 to play in the period. The Silvertips Gage Newans added one more for the visitors, and Anthony Williams finished the scoring for the Ice at 2:04 of the second for the 7-3 final.
“The second period, we scored six goals,” said Boyce. “It’s good on these kids, when you have the flow going and you have five guys working hard and going into the corners and battling you get rewarded for it.”
The Ice didn’t rest on their laurels in the third, but kept up the pressure, putting the Tips back on their heels for most of the final stanza. When North Island did get its chances, particularly in the final seven minutes when the Ice took three straight minor penalties, Kootenay goalie Tenzin Mint came up huge for the home team.
“I think the mental preparation for the boys was a lot better in the changing room, we were more focused,” said McLeod. “We went out there and had a little up and down at the start, but once we got the momentum going there was no stopping us.”
Kootenay’s Quinn and Nelson each had three assists in the match, while Waterstreet added two helpers.
In the opening match on Saturday, solid goaltending by North Island’s Keegan Rivett kept the Silvertips in the game early. North Island got on the board first in the second with Ben Julius Kotylak scoring 68 seconds in. But the Ice responded when Trail native Jarred Macasso scored his first of the campaign on a power play at 15:10 with assists to Quinn and Williams.
Kootenay took back-to-back penalties midway through the final frame and the Silvertips capitalized on the 5-on-3, when Brent Arnet beat Ice goalie Charles Curiston to put the ‘Tips up 2-1. North Island scored an empty net goal with eight seconds remaining to ice it.
“Their goalie played well yesterday,” said Boyce. “We had lots of chances, we just couldn’t score … We deserved a better outcome yesterday (Saturday), but we’ll take the loss as long as we are improving every day.”
Despite Saturday’s loss, goaltending has been a strength for the Ice this season with the Nelson tandem of Curiston and Mint sharing the duties equally in net.
“Both our goalies have played really well for us, for us to be successful we need our goalies to be reliable in net and both of them have been nothing but reliable and kept us in every game,” said Boyce.
The 3-5-0-0 Kootenay has a bye this weekend, and will travel to Prince George to face the 2-2-2-0 Cougars Oct. 27 and 28.