Ice Capture the W in Last Regular Season Game

The Cold Lake Jr B Ice welcomed the Vegreville Rangers to Imperial Oil Place on Saturday for the last game of the regular season. Thus strong, smart plays, the home crowd was delighted in a 3-1 win for the Ice.

“We always want to play well going into the playoffs,” Coach Hood says there were some areas of improvement; including allowing the visitors to get the first goal of the game.  Jared Steinbach of the Rangers put one past Ice’s netminder, Dyson Loewen at 7:07 in the first. The Ice would be able to answer back, just over a minute later from Coltan Buchta; with help from Curtis Witney and Jason Hamilton.

Cold Lake would hold of Veg for the remainder of the game, while advancing in the second.  Steven Kufflick with Donavan Bibeau and Chase Brown for the game winner and  Jason Hamilton for the security of a two-goal lead. Coltan Buchta and Curtis Witney both picked up the apples on that goal.

The third period was scoreless and nearly penalty-less with only 4 minutes served. Two for Veg and Two for the Ice. Overall, for the last game of the regular season the match was in someways lack-luster… yet very exciting!

With that being said, a win is always thrilling for the team, who invited Cold Lake Minor Hockey to enjoy the game thanks to the City of Cold Lake sponsoring the youngster’s tickets. “The support is great,” Hood says the team really enjoys when the young kids’ faces light up, watching the Ice. “There was a good crowd and our boys were loving it. Gave them a little bit of an extra jump in their step.”

https://youtu.be/Y94LyM5Sjik

Thanks to the win, the Ice finished fifth place in the Northeast Alberta Jr B Hockey League (NEAJBHL). “We’ll be playing Killiam. It’s a quick turnaround, practice in Tuesday and we’re on the road Wednesday,” Coach says the club will travel to Killiam for Game 1 of the Best of 5 series.