The Major Midget Kootenay Ice dropped its opening set of games to the Greater Vancouver Canadians in Richmond on the weekend, getting shut out 3-0 on Saturday before dropping another three-goal game 5-2 on Sunday.
The Ice battled back from a 3-0 deficit in Game-2, with Luke Madge of Castlegar netting the first goal on the power play with an assist from Shawn Campbell at 15:39 of the second period.
The Ice would capitalize on another power-play opportunity when the Canadians’ Ante Mustapic was sent off for hooking. This time Castlegar’s Garret Patterson scored for the ice on an unassisted effort to bring the Kootenay team to within one. However, Greater Vancouver’s Sami Pharaon would restore the two-goal lead before the period was out and Ryan Wilkinson would make it a 5-2 final at15:46 of the third period. The Ice went 2-for-5 on the PP while Greater Van wast 2-for-8.
In the Kootenay Ice’s first game, after a scoreless first period Kyle Uy would score what proved to be the winning goal at 13:31 of the second beating Ice goalie Jason Mailhiot of Trail to give the Canadians the 1-0 lead. Uy notched his second of the night at 14:23 of the third period on 1-of-9 Canadian power plays, and is the MML leading scorer with four goals and seven assists in four games. Samuel Atkins rounded out the scoring with just under five minutes to play. The Ice went 0-for-5 on the power play with Solomon Burk taking the loss in net.
The Midget Ice next face the Thompson Blazers in a two-game tilt in Kamloops this weekend.
Meanwhile, the Female Midget AAA Wildcats also went winless in three games against the reigning FMAAA champion Fraser Valley Phantom, dropping 2-0 and 5-0 decisions on Saturday, and a close 3-1 loss on Sunday. The Wildcats will look for their first win of the season when they travel to Prince George to play three games on the weekend against the 4-2 Northern Cougars.