Storm win in Sicamous to take 2-1 series lead

Luke Gordon has scored the first goal in each game of this series against the eagles. He netted another in the second period for his team leading 5th goal.  Spencer Schoech, Felix Larouche, and Brock Balson got the others. Liam McLeod got the win stopping 30 shots.  Sicamous came out strong had a couple of good scoring chances.  Liam had some help from the cross bar early and made a couple of big saves.  Joyce was also good in net for the Eagles.  Storm will be back in Sicamous for game 4 tomorrow at 7 pm,  Monday game 5 at MacArthur island at 8pm 

2014 KIJHL champions

The Storm clinched the overall league championship on Saturday night.  The Storm with 81 points could not be caught in the overall standings. A win on Saturday in Lillooet just added icing on the cake.  The Storm hosted the 100Mile House Wranglers in Lillooet as a neutral site game. The Storm won 3-2.  The winning goal scored by Lillooet native Brett Watkinson in double overtime.  The crowd went crazy, as the hometown hero made it a show that won't soon be forgotten.    

What is next for the Storm  first a makeup game Wednesday in Sicamous and then they are going to the NHL (rink that is). MacArthur island has two rinks the Storm's normal rink is the Olympic, the other is called the NHL.  This Saturday they will finish the regular season with a special promotion  KMHA, and Papa Johns pizza will give the first 500 paid adults a coupon for a free Papa johns pizza. One coupon per family.  It will be a special night on the NHL rink, the banner as league champions will also be presented.  The Storm will go back to the Olympic ice for playoffs starting Tuesday February 25 and Thursday February 27 th when they will start a best of seven series against the Sicamous Eagles. All games will be at 7 pm  

The Storm have only lost 8 times this season, 2 against, 100 Mile House, 2 against North Okanagan, and once to Golden, Chase, Creston and to Sicamous.  Sicamous was the last loss the Storm suffered to date a 7-5 defeat on January 31.  Playoffs will be a war as the Storm don't take losing easy and they will want to finish the Eagles quickly.  So far the teams have met 7 times.  In September it was 3-2 kamloops in overtime.  October was a 6-3 win.  November 5-3, December a 4-0 shutout.  January a 6-3 win then on January 31 the loss in Kamloops 7-5. The Storm rebounded in February with a 3-1 victory.  In the seven games so far with one game to play, the Storm have scored 32 times and given up 19 goals.  Sicamous have one of the top defensive teams and compete by working hard and relying on solid goaltending.  The Storm counter with great offence and are fighting for the league lead in fewest goals scored allowed.  It should be a good series but GO STORM.  

Come out and catch some great hockey action as the Storm look to go a long way in playoffs. Tickets for the playoffs are on sale only $10 for exciting hockey action.

Storm secure overall kijhl. Regular season championship by Nicole and Tamara barker

DOUG BIRKS DIV	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	ROW	OTW	GF	GA	DIFF	PCT	STRK
z-Kamloops Storm	49	40	8	0	1	81	40	5	237	139	98	0.827	W5
x-100 Mile House Wranglers	49	23	20	0	6	52	23	2	153	164	-11	0.531	W1
x-Chase Heat	50	25	23	0	2	52	25	7	185	175	10	0.52	W1
x-Sicamous Eagles	50	22	25	0	3	47	22	6	151	162	-11	0.47	L1
Revelstoke Grizzlies	50	8	38	0	4	20	8	0	121	287	-166	0.2	L9

 

 

From: Nicole Barker [mailto:nicole_barker04@hotmail.com] 

KAMLOOPS STORM WIN 4-1 OVER REVELESTOKE GRIZZLIES

February 15, 2014

 

The Kamloops Storm (40-8-0-1) beat the Revelstoke Grizzlies (8-38-0-4) 4-1 on Saturday night at home. 

 

Josh Rasmussen opened the scoring for the Storm with a short handed goal assisted by Rourke O’Briain. It was Rasmussen’s 29th goal in his record breaking 232nd KIJHL game. Storm built on their lead with a goal from Rourke O’Briain fed to him by Stefan Wood and Josh Rasmussen. Shortly after Bobby Kashuba and Brock Balson slid the puck up to Daniel Buchanan who scored his 23rd goal on a Subway Power Play. 

 

Both teams played a good second period with Aiden Silzer-Hooker and Felix Larouche feeding the puck to Bobby Kashuba who scored to make it 4-0 with 18 seconds left in the second period. 

 

The third saw both teams fighting for the puck with the Revelestoke Grizzlies finally getting their first goal by Brendan Jay from Matt Lucero. 

 

The Storm outshot the Grizzlies 52-14 in the game as Liam McLeod earned the win with 13 saves and Jaxon Nohr stopped 48 for the Grizzlies. 

 

Kamloops Storm was 2-for-7 on the power play, while the Grizzlies finished the nigh 0-for-5.

 

With this win the Kamloops Storm will have earned the league title for KIJHL. Kamloops Storm (40-8-0-1) will host the 100 Mile House Wranglers(23-20-0-6) February 16 at the Lillooet Recreation Center, the puck is set to drop at 5PM. These two teams have met six times this season with the Kamloops Storm winning four of those meetings. 

Possible KIJHL playoff match ups

With 2 weeks to go in the season the Storm still do not know who they will play in the first round.  It would appear it will be Sicamous who can still get a total of 8 points in their last four games, if they win all their games and if either 100 Mile lose their last 3 games and Chase win no more than one of four remaining games Sicamous will finish fourth.  The Storm lost once to Sicamous so far in their 7 games. They have one game remaining on February 19.  The Storm also lost once to Chase and twice to 100 Mile House.  The Storm play 100 mile house two more times.  They play in Lillooet on Sunday then the final game of the year February 22 at MacArthur Island arena.  The other 100 Mile House game will be against Chase.  

Chase can control its destiny as they playSicamous twice, 100 Mile once and Revelsoke once.  Sicamous plays the Storm, two against Chase and one against Revelstoke.  Sicamous is a bit of an enigma, and I wonder if they are wanting a first round match with the Storm.  Their last game they started an affiliate goalie, and while it appears he played well, it is a question, when your starting goalie is one of the best in the league.  I always tell my coaches that you never want to deliberately give points away, as it usually comes back to bite you in the rear.  Sicamous has strong defence from their entire team, good coaching and responsible forwards.  They have the sixth fewest goals against in the entire league, which is a function of their style of play and Joyce has been good in net.  So has Turner but he has been hurt over the last while and his status is unknown.  This Friday will be a huge game for Chase  and Sicamous when they meet in Sicamous.  They will play each other again on Saturday.  If Chase wins either game they will pretty much clinch at least third place. Chase has control of its own destiny for home ice advantage.    

Confusing?  Not much difference in the other divisions.  Golden and Columbia Valley have the same points and games remaining.  They meet each other in the final game of the year on February 22 and that might be the deciding of who goes home and who plays Creston.  Fernie will play in Kimberley in the other playoff matchup.  The Okanagan is mostly sorted out with Kelowna probably meeting North Okanagan in round one, with Summerland meeting Osoyoos.  Technically things could still change between Summerland a and Kelowna and they do have to play each other 2 more times. I am predicting status quo.  North Okanagan starting in Kelowna and Summerland at home to Osoyoos.  North Ok is the only team with a winning record against the Storm, winning both games.  

All teams are alive in the West Kootenay division, although Grand Forks are well back but still have 7 games to play awhile Spokane has only 2 games remaining.   Spokane and Castlegar are one point apart, so anyone of those 3 teams could finish from third to fifth.  It would be a struggle for Grand Forks as they play Beaver Valley and Nelson in the last two weeks.  The real battle is for first in the division.  Nelson is up 4 points but have two less games to play than BV.  BV has allowed the least goals against and the two teams should win most of their remaining games.  Beaver Valley would seem to have the tougher schedule, however the last game of the season will see the two teams play each other.  That could be the game that decides first place in that division.  Both teams look to have one extremely strong line.  Vlanich and Wellman are first and third in league scoring for Nelson, while Edwards and Calvin are also in the top 10 for BV.  The two teams split last weekend so it is anyone's guess.  Home ice is important for all teams but maybe more so for BV, as they seem to have a team built for their home barn.  Both teams have excellent home records.  A point of interest is that the final game will be in beaver valley.  Beaver Valley has the best defence in the league three goals fewer allowed than the Storm.  Nelson has scored 28 more goals than BV.  

Stay tuned as things unfold. go Storm

Storm clinch conference

The Kamloops Storm's win on Friday over the Sicamous Eagles clinched the conference title in the Okanagan Shuswap Division.  The Storm are first overall in the kijhl right now and now have a magic number of four points to ensure the league title. The Storm are in a race with Creston, Beaver Valley and Nelson.  Any combination of 4 points so two wins by the Storm or losses by the other teams will give the Storm the league crown.  In the playoffs the team with the most points gets home ice advantage as they advance through playoffs.  

On Saturday the fans saw what could be a conference battle as the Kelowna Chiefs came to town. It was another Dominos pizza night as the Storm won 5-3 with an empty net goal.  A well played game by both teams, with the Storm controlling the majority of the play.  It was fast aggressive hockey and the fans got their money's worth.  

The Storm have worked hard all season, with a balanced scoring attack and aggressive forechecking which has kept their opponents off balance.  The playoffs will probably start in kamloops February 25 and 27.  At this time the opposition is not known and could be anyone of the Chase Heat, Sicamous Eagles or 100 Mile House Wranglers.  100 Mile will play the Storm twice over the last two weeks with one of those games in Lillooet next Sunday.  100 Mile is 2 points ahead of Chase and 5 points ahead of Sicamous.  Chase has a game in hand and more wins right now so are in good shape to finish either second or third to avoid a first round matchup with the Storm. Sicamous have a good team but seem to lose the wrong games to make any head way for the fight for second.  

This has been a great season and playoff tickets are going on sale shortly.  Season tickets for next year will also be available. 

Shane Poulsen

Former Kamloops Storm player earns NCAA scholarship. Shane Poulsen going to university of Nebraska.   Shane is a local kamloops hockey  player who was able to advance his hockey career by playing junior hockey at home.  We are so proud of Shane and wish him all the best

Playoffs in the Okanagan division

We only see the Okanagan division once at home once on the road.  What we have seen has been very tight.  Looks like Kelowna will open against North Ok while Summerland and Osoyoos will face off, however it is not settled.  Kelowna is 7 points ahead of Summerland while North Ok is only 3 points behind Osoyoos.  Kelowna is a solid team good structure and depth of players especially in playoffs as many have been close the last couple of years.  The loss of Nick Joseph's to BCHL hurt, but they picked up last years scoring champ Salahor so it is a minor blip, on the forward line. Goal has been strong and doesn't seem to matter who is playing.  A couple of Rookie dmen have stepped up.  Nick Headrick from Prince George and Alex Gran are having good seasons.  Summerland has been on a role.  Personally a big John Depourq fan (tried to hire him a wiggle ago).  He has a skilled fast team and when I saw them in December thought they were the best team we had seen in the league.  There core group is not big but good skill.  Since then they lost Riley Hunt who went to Junior A, and he is a skill guy who is hard to replace.  They have good scoring in Scott, letaurd, Robertson and Burton.  If Summerland plays north Okanagan I predict Summerland in 4  or 5.  North ok is short on scoring and very young in goal.  Kelowna should beat Osoyoos but I predict 6 games.  Kelowna should be better in goal but Osoyoos has some big bodies who could wear down whomever they play.  Chemelka, azevado are solid players.  Dobransky while not big has been solid on defence.  Goaltending is in question, we haven't seen the current two to know how it will play out.  Both are only 17 and lack experience.  Will be interesting.  Kelowna should play Summerland in the division final.  Home ice could be huge and that does favour kelowna right now.  Summerland don't list most of their players size and while Kelowna are mostly around 6 feet, they don't have a big squad either.  A we see Kelowna this weekend so will have a better idea.  I predict 7 games for the Okanagan final with whomever has home ice advantage taking the series