Leads Tumbler Ridge PeeWee Raptors to victory first game in Fort Nelson. What happened in the second? Read on…
The Hockey Hound
The Tumbler Ridge Peewee Raptors headed to Fort Nelson for two games January 26-27.
The peewee raptors hold the only unbeaten record in the North East Recreational Hockey League this year with a 10-0-0 record in league and tournament play.
The first game was Saturday night and the Raptors didn’t waste any time setting the tone. Three minutes in Dane Campbell sent a cross ice pass through the slot to Makena Lloyd-Howe for a one time shot that was deflected in by Trey Stokes.
Ft Nelson answered back with a goal from Peyton Dickie. Four minutes after that the Raptors had a fast breakout started from a Charlie Wieman stretch pass up to Tristan Bradley who fed Blake Urness for his first of the game with a quick flick shot over the goalies shoulder.
Late in the period the Raptors Goalie, who had a strong first period, decided he wanted in on the action. He made a quick pad save and got the puck to Dane Campbell, who, with his excellent hands, deked his way through Fort Nelson for an end to end goal to put the Raptors up 3-1 after the first.
The second period saw some excellent head man passes and solid defensive play from newly returned D-man Tyler Hewitt. Defensemen Rio Smith and Caleb Fiss kept the puck deep in the Fort Nelson zone, creating many of the forwards opportunities to score. It also saw Campbell, Urness and Stokes all add their second goals of the games. Ft Nelson added one to make it 6-2 after two.
The Third period was when Stokes decided it was time to go on a tear. It started with his cross ice pass to Lloyd-Howe who this time on her one time slap shot, blasted one past the Ft Nelson net-minder. Then towards the end of the period Lloyd-Howe fed Stokes for a quick wrister in the top corner.
Stokes would go on to add his fourth goal on a pass over from Campbell that Stokes slid through the five-hole on the Fort Nelson goalie. Stokes finished the game with 4 goals and 2 assists.
Tyson Urness had the only other goal in the period on a superb pass from Tristan Bradley. ‘’I was really pleased with how well the whole team played. But the Campbell, Stokes, and Lloyd-Howe line was just really clicking tonight,” commented Coach Blaine Stokes. ‘’We have a small team with short numbers, when they are all working together like they were tonight it’s a thing of beauty to watch, and coach.”
Sunday Morning the Raptors headed back to the rink to once again face Ft Nelson.
The Raptors opened the scoring in the first period on a beautiful defensive play. Off the draw the puck came back to Rio Smith, who calmly looked over his options, faked a shot, then slid a D to D pass to a waiting Tyler Hewitt. Hewitt cradled the puck, and in one cross over motion, ripped a shot toward the net, through the scrum in front and somehow Dane Campbell managed to get his stick on it and deflect it into the net.
Going into the second period the Raptors seemed to forget where they were, and Fort Nelson made them pay, surging out of the gate in the second period and scoring two goals less than five minutes into the period.
The Raptors hung on by the skin of their teeth thanks to some great poke checks and defensive play from Wiman and Fiss. Hewitt and Smith were equally as good bailing out their sinking forwards. “You know if it was wasn’t for our D and the unbelievably sharp net-minding from our tender Riley Lewis, this game could have been 8-1” said an astonished Stokes.
The Raptors started the third period off right with a Tic-Tac-Toe power play goal from Stokes, set up by Campbell and Lloyd-Howe. But Fort Nelson’s Dickie countered again with a goal of his own putting the far north team up 3-2.
The Raptors were in deep and Coach Stokes had another power play opportunity. Stokes sensing the moment, brought out heavy shooting Blake Urness to quarterback the power play. His instincts proved to be correct, even quicker than he had imagined.
Off the Draw Campbell drew the puck back hard to a waiting Urness, Urness wound up and stepped into a rocket of a slap shot that blew by the unsuspecting goalie, for a top corner tally. The Raptors bench exploded with cheers!
But Fort Nelson wasn’t done yet as there was still ten minutes to play and they started pouring the pressure on. After a series of unbelievable saves by Riley Lewis, Fort Nelson kept shooting and shooting until, with five minutes left they managed to jam a puck under a stretched out Lewis.
The clock ticked down and the crowd in the stands were literally on the edge of their seats. The Raptors unbeaten record was within two minutes of being shattered.
Once again the cool headed Trey Stokes stepped on the ice and decided it was time to tear it up once again. The Raptors entered the Fort Nelson end and the puck was dumped into the corner.
Lloyd-Howe was first on the puck and after a quick dangle around her check she flung a wild pass towards Campbell and Stokes in front of the net. Stokes managed to get his stick on it and slid it through the five-hole on the Ft Nelson Goalie into the inside pad in the back of the net.
The Raptors bench and fans jumped up and down in excitement, they had tied it, but could they hang on?
The last minute and a half of the game was wide open, back and forth with both teams having quality chances to score, but in the end the game ended in a tie 4-4.
“That was a real wake up call. You can never underestimate your opponent,” Coach Stokes was overheard telling his team after the game. “I know what happened, they know what happened, and as a team we’ve made a promise to each other to not let this happen again.”
The Raptors next game is against AAA Fort St John on Sunday Feb 2, and then a home and home with Chetwynd in the next few weeks. But luckily for all you Raptors fans, Tumbler Ridge has been selected to host the year end finals tournament here Feb 22-24. This should give the home town fans at least a few more games to watch these kids play at home.
The Tumbler Ridge Peewee Raptors would like to thank their team sponsor Freshmart.
