In B.C. Major Midget hockey action, a depleted Kootenay Ice lineup battled hard on the weekend salvaging a point from a pair of games with the fourth-place Valley West Hawks in Surrey.
The Kootenay Midget’s iced only 13 players for the two game set, coming away with a 4-4 tie in the first game on Saturday before falling 4-2 on Sunday.
In the opening match, the Ice tied the game on the power play with 56 seconds remaining in regulation, when Ice forward Shawn Campbell took a pass from Korbyn Chabot and made no mistake in beating the Hawks goalie.
Kootenay opened the scoring when Kadrian Klimchuk scored his first of two on the night just 20 seconds into the game. But Ben Evanish would reply for the Hawks at 11:42 of the first period, before the Ice retook the lead on a goal from Keaton Roch and the assist going to Ellis Junker with just over three minutes remaining in the opening frame.
A scoreless second period would set up an exciting third, where the Ice would take a 3-1 lead at 16:11 on Klimchuk’s second goal and ninth tally of the season, finishing a nice pass from Trail’s Evan Gorman.
However, penalty trouble resulted in two Hawk goals over a five minute span to deadlock the game at three. The Hawks’ Trevor Ayre would get the go-ahead marker at 4:28 before Campbell would tie it up with the last-minute power-play goal.
Fatigue may have been a factor on Sunday, as the Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second period on goals from Stewart, Evanish, and a pair from Christian Bosa. The Ice would get halfway back into the game in the third when Junker scored at 15:15 and Campbell would score his fifth of the season at 3:23 with assists going to Garret Patterson and Gorman.
The Kootenay Ice next host the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs in Nelson on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday at the Cominco Arena in Trail at 7:30 a.m.