Storm lose to Eagles: Game 7 Needed in KIJHL First Round Series
SICAMOUS, BC—The Kamloops Storm and Sicamous Eagles will have to play a seventh and deciding game in their Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoff series.
The Eagles got two first period goals from overage forward Alex Smith and held on for a 2-1 win at home over the Storm. That evened the series at three games a piece and will force a seventh game Monday (Mar 4) night at Mac Isle in Kamloops, BC. Start time is 7:00 PM PST (available on FloHockeyTV).
The Eagles badly outshot the Storm in this one: 41-20 including 18 shots in that first period.
Kamloops’ lone goal came from Ryan Larsen (Kamloops, BC) shorthanded in the second period.
The Storm was 0-1 on the power play. Sicamous was 0-3.
Colton Phillips-Watts (Quesnel, BC) played his sixth straight game in the nets for Kamloops. Gabe Bergeron (Calgary, AB) was in the nets for his third start of the series. He has a record of 1-2 but has made four appearances in the series: coming in for an injured Dylan Marshall (Saskatoon, SK) late in Friday (Mar 1)’s 6-1 loss in Kamloops.
The Storm had Sam Zulyniak (Kamloops, BC) return from a two game suspension to play on their blueline in this game. Veterans Sam Lewis and Devin Benson (Kamloops, BC) remain out of the Kamloops line up. Sicamous lost veteran rearguard Ezra Chan (Salmon Arm, BC) with a shoulder injury after he was hit by Zulyniak in game three.
During the KIJHL regular season, Kamloops and Sicamous each won three times against each other. The winner of this series will face the Revelstoke Grizzlies in the Birks Divisional final. That will start next week in Revelstoke.
