By Beverly Lomosad
And third time’s a charm. After a third round of hostilities on ice, the Spirit River Rangers prevailed over the Dawson Creek Canucks in a shutout victory, 2-0, that provided some redemption for the local squad after a pair of losses in their previous encounters.
Riley Boomgaarden had the hometown fans on their feet when he knocked in a power-play goal at the 4:03 mark in the first period with assist-play by Jace Weegar and Brandon Bogdanek. That was the first goal of the night, which stood unchanged for the next 38 minutes of action.
Defense was tight on both sides, with each team keeping the other in check and with such prowess neither managed to score in the second frame.
Marco St. Pierre scored and broke the impasse at 5:58 in the third with assist by Dustin and D’Lane Sather, extending the lead of the Rangers to 2-0, a scoring deficit the Canucks were unable to overcome with very little time left in the game clock.
Goalkeeper Kenton White stopped all 30 of the Canucks shots for the Rangers, who also made 45.
The Canucks had only one defeat in 10 games entering into Saturday’s game, a 5-4 shootout loss to the Grande Prairie Athletics in their November 24 match-up.
The Rangers and the Canucks had faced off before in a couple of games scheduled two days in a row on December 2-3. The Canucks triumphed both times.
Last Saturday’s game was a yearender for both teams. The Rangers return to action after a three-week holiday break in a road game on Friday, January 6, against the Valleyview Jets.
As of Monday, December 19, each of the eight teams in the North Peace Hockey League (NPHL) has now played 10-12 games. The Rangers have played 12 games, winning four. (See table below)
The NPHL 2022-2023 regular season follows a 20-game format, which culminates on Saturday, February 4. Playoffs begin after that.
