Winning both out-of-town games last weekend made the 10-hour bus ride home seem less long for everybody, said Williams Lake Stampeders coach Cody Tent.
“It was nice to get out of there with four points this weekend,” he said. “We are looking forward to playing some good hockey for the rest of the season. We are at six wins and six losses now.”
On Saturday, Jan. 29 the Stamps won 4-6 against the Rampage and on Sunday, Jan. 30 won 5-4 in overtime against the Kitimat Ice Demons.
Tent attributed the commitment of team members to travel as the reason for the wins.
“We’ve had a couple of trips in the past where we weren’t able to attain that same commitment and we had a bit of a rough time on the road,” he told the Tribune Monday.
“In this league if you travel well you are going to have a lot more success as opposed to if you don’t.” Tent said a lot of guys met them from out of town, which he also really appreciated.
Within the first few minutes of Saturday’s game against Rupert, the Stamps took the lead by scoring four goals within the first four and half minutes of the game.
“One thing that was great to see was we were really able to take control of the game early,” Tent said. “That came from every one of our lines that we had. It was a top-to-bottom contribution from everybody. Our goaltender Ryan Balbirnie played really well that night and Willie played really well on Sunday in Kitimat as well. With guys kicking the puck like that behind us it’s easy to play in front of them.”
On Sunday in the game against Kitimat, the Stamps were having some penalty trouble, Tent said, adding it resulted in the game being closer than they wanted, but getting a goal in overtime made everybody happy on the bench.
Before the puck dropped in Prince Rupert against the Rampage, there was a ceremony to acknowledge the preliminary findings of 93 potential graves at St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School announced by Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) last week.
READ MORE: ‘93 is our number’: WLFN reveals St. Joseph’s Mission preliminary findings
Esk’etemc elder Francis Johnson Sr. led WLFN Chief and Stamps goalie Willie Sellars, team members Rich MacDonald and Wilfred Robbins, in a Secwépemc honour song. “Willie expressed what he was going through and the crowd in Prince Rupert was really good about it and gave a standing ovation,” Tent said. “It was a really nice thing for them to see that support from the community like that.”
Members of the Rampage team were all wearing orange Every Child Matters jerseys as were all the volunteers.
“They put on a great show up there. The crowd was packed to as much capacity as they were allowed right now. It was a fun atmosphere and nice to be a part of.”
This Saturday, Feb. 11, the Stamps will face-off on home ice against the Nechako North Stars made up of players from Vanderhoof and Fort St. James.
“They are always a nice team to host and have around. It should be a good showing and some good hockey,” Tent said.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. and includes a food drive.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to state the next game has been postponed to Feb. 11.
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