Ice move faster than Rockets to earn first win of season
By The Nelson Daily Sports
By Bruce Fuhr,
The Nelson Daily Sports
If this keeps up Derek Georgopoulos may soon be playing in his home town of Cranbrook with the Western Hockey League’s Ice instead of those younger siblings in Nelson.
Georgopoulos scored a goal in each period to spark the Kootenay Ice to a 6-3 victory over the Okanagan Rockets in B.C. Major Midget Hockey League action Sunday afternoon at the NDCC Arena.
“Ya, it was really good to win that first game,” said Kootenay defenceman Matthew Carr after it took the Ice four games to finally get into the win column in BCMMHL.
“We’re getting better as a team every game,” Carr added. “(Coach) Simon (Wheeldon) got us up before the game and we never let up on (Okanagan).”
Losers of three straight to start the season, including a tough 3-2 loss Saturday in Nelson, the Ice got the jump on the Rockets Sunday.
Trail’s Luke Bertolucci and Georgopoulos scored early in the game to give the hometown Ice the early advantage. Alex Gillis narrowed the margin to 2-1 before the period ended, scoring for Okanagan.
Jarrod Soloway, for the Rockets, and Georgopoulos exchanged goals in the second frame before Riley Ostoforoff of Castlegar gave Kootenay a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.
In the third the bend-but-don’t-break attitude of the Ice allowed Okanagan to cut the lead to one goal before the home side scored a pair of insurance goals.
“You can’t let that phase you,” Carr replied when asked if there was any extra pressure on the Ice when Gillis scored early in the third period. “It happened in the first game (Saturday) but today we were able to respond with goals of our own.”
Georgopoulos and Bertolucci completed the scoring for Kootenay in the third.
Nelson’s Cody Beckman faced 35 shots to register the win in goal for the Ice.
Saturday Kootenay watched as the Rockets scored three consecutive goals to edge the Ice. Jesse Knowler of Castlegar opened the scoring for Kootenay while Carr added a single in the third. Okanagan held period leads of 2-1 and 3-1.
Kootenay, 1-3, remain near the bottom of the standings in the 11-team league. Valley West Hawks and Vancouver Northwest Giants currently hold down the top two places in the league.
The Ice travels to Chase this weekend to face the Thompson Blazers. Thompson is winless in six starts after losing 5-1 and 8-1 to the Greater Vancouver Canadians.
“Now that we finally won, hopefully we can make playoffs this year,” said Carr, who along with Nelson’s Carsen Willans and Jake Lucchini of Trail each finished with two assists in the game.
Next home game for Kootenay is Saturday October when the club hosts the Prince George Cougars in Castlegar. Game times are 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
