Storm Play Disciplined Hockey: Series Even

KAMLOOPS, BC—The Kamloops Storm played strong defensive hockey en route to a 3-2 win over the visiting Sicamous Eagles in Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoff action on Saturday (Feb 24).
The Storm have evened up the best of seven first round series at a game a piece as the series shifts to Sicamous for games three and four on Monday and Tuesday (Feb 26-27).
In this game, team captain Evan Clark (Kamloops, BC) scored an unassisted goal in the first period to give the Storm the lead. He was named the “Red Tomato Pie” Player of the game.
Kamloops made it 2-0 after two periods as rookie Teghan Mullin (Kamloops, BC) beat Eagles goalie Gabe Bergeron (Calgary, AB) on the short side.
Sicamous cut the deficit to 2-1 at the 9:16 mark of the third period as Ashton Angle (Lethbridge, AB) put the puck past Storm goaltender Colton Phillips-Watts (Quesnel, BC). Phillips-Watts faced 40 shots in goal for Kamloops including 14 in the second period. That was a period where Sicamous outshot the Storm 14-5. Bergeron faced 29 shots.
The Eagles pulled Bergeron looking for the tying goal but it backfired as Ryan Larsen (Kamloops, BC) scored into the yawning cage for his first goal of the series and second point of the night.
Sicamous did pull to within one before it was over as, with Bergeron on the bench, saw Luke Rothfos (Devon, AB) take a pass from captain Daniel Kroon (Calgary, AB) to make it 3-2 with just over a minute left. Rothfos has two goals in the series.
The Storm played the game without one of their top defenseman as Devin Benson (Kamloops, BC) was out with a lower body injury. He was replaced by John Spraggs (Vernon, BC).
The Eagles inserted affiliate player Charlie Grant (West Kelowna, BC) and fellow forward Joseph Jankowski (Malakwa, BC). They replaced defensemen Levi Dewitt (Sicamous, BC) and Matteo Sardinha (Salmon Arm, BC).
Games three and four have a 7 PM PST start time. You can watch the game on a pay-per-view basis on FloHockeyTV.