Kootenay Ice left Victoria on Sunday with two big wins in BC Major Midget League hockey action on the weekend.
The Ice defeated the South Island Royals 5-2 on Saturday then completed the sweep with a 4-2 victory on Sunday.
Ice forward Ashton Underhill scored Sunday’s game winner converting a setup from Cole Cowan and Noah Quinn with 5:28 remaining in the third period to give the Ice a 3-2 lead.
The game-winning tally was Underhill’s third goal and fifth point of the season for the 16-year-old Whitehorse product.
Kootenay had a tough run, going 0-6 against three of the top teams in the league, before breaking out of their slump.
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South Island’s Simon Pollock put the Royals up 1-0 at 11:52 of the first period, but Kootenay replied just over a minute later when Anthony Williams and Underhill set up Noah Quinn for a shorthanded tally.
South Island’s Ethan Ewer scored the lone goal in the middle period with 43 seconds remaining for a 2-1 Royals lead.
But the Ice rallied in the third. Trail’s Ethan Smyth tied it at 17:21 with helpers going to Austin McKenzie and Gavin Damstrom.
After a Kootenay goal was disallowed, Underhill gave the Ice the lead, and Connor Cooper, another Whitehorse recruit, notched his first of the season with an empty net goal to make it 4-2 with 49 seconds left on the clock.
The victory improves Kootenay’s record to 3-7-0-0 good for eighth place in the BCMML.
In Saturday’s match, Ice forward McKenzie had a three-point game, scoring twice and adding an assist in a 5-2 victory.
The Fruitvale native opened the scoring firing in a pass from Cooper at 13:05 for a 1-0 Kootenay lead. The Royals tied it before the period was out and Ewer gave the home team a 2-1 lead at 11:21 on the second period.
Luken Murray tied it for the Ice at 9:04 and Underhill scored a shorthanded goal at 2:19 for the 3-2 lead. Smyth and McKenzie rounded out the scoring as the Ice scored four unanswered goals for the 5-2 victory.
The Ice are back home next weekend and host the 2018-19 BCMML champion, Fraser Valley Thunderbirds. The two-game series will be a good test for Kootenay and an opportunity to move up the standings. After finishing first in the regular season last year, the Thunderbirds are off to an inconsistent start going 4-3-0-1 this season and sit in fifth in the BCMML standings.
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