The Prince Rupert Rampage won their season opener in dramatic fashion with a 4–3 overtime victory against the Hazelton Wolverines.
Before puck drop, the Rampage held a ceremony for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with a Ts’msyen drum line.
The game got off to a slow start, with no scoring chances until the 9:05 mark of the first period when Hazelton defenceman Liam Dodd was assessed a double-minor penalty for high-sticking. The Wolverines killed off the full four-minute penalty and returned to even strength unscathed.
The Rampage were penalized at the 13:51 mark of the first period as defenceman Marcus Atchison headed to the sin bin for two minutes for interference. The Rampage killed off the penalty, but two minutes after it ended, Rampage forward Tyler Halliday was sent off with an interference call, which sent Hazelton back to the power play. One minute into the man advantage, Hazelton captain Sean Maktaak drew first blood, putting the Wolverines up 1–0 with just over a minute remaining in the period.
The second period saw the Wolverines extend their lead to two goals just 54 seconds into the period after defenceman Joel Patsy buried a shot past Rampage goaltender Frank Slubowski. Over the next few minutes, the two teams would trade penalties, giving the Rampage a two-man advantage.
The Rampage put the pressure on during their power play, leading to a goal from forward Hunter Johnson that would cut the Wolverine lead in half at the 5:51 mark. Just over a minute after their first goal, and still on the power play, Rampage defenceman Jacob Santurbano would receive a pass from Marcus Atchison right on the tape and hammer home the game-tying goal.
A few minutes later, Sean Maktaak would have a clear breakaway but would be tripped up by a backchecking defender, leading to a penalty shot. Maktaak took the puck at centre ice, looking to restore the Wolverine lead, but Slubowski would stand his ground and keep the game knotted up. A few more penalties would be called before the end of the period.
The game got more intense in the third period, and as a result seven penalties were dished out, however, neither team would capitalize. Nine minutes into the period, Hunter Johnson would get his second goal of the game giving the Rampage their first lead. With under seven minutes left to play, the Wolverines would ramp up the pressure, trying to get the game-tying goal.
With some extended time on the attack, the Rampage would start getting fatigued and the Wolverines took advantage with Patsy burying the game-tying goal. In the last minutes of the third both teams had great looks but couldn’t beat the goaltenders, sending the game to three on three sudden death overtime.
With more space to work with in overtime, both teams had several chances to put the game to bed, but both goalies maintained their composure. After a great pad save from Slubowski, Rampage captain Kory Movold took the puck up the ice on the breakaway, firing it past Hazelton goaltender Damien Ketlo to give the Rampage a 4–3 victory.
After the game, Rampage head coach Roger Atchison credited the win to the team’s resilience after being down 2–0.
“We just want to battle every shift, every period. We didn’t think we played that bad in the first, but we thought we could do a little better and maybe capitalize on the power play — which we didn’t. And then we were down 2–0 after one. So the guys just said, look, let’s do better in the second. Once we got the power play goal and a little bit of momentum, the crowd got behind us and that carried us the rest of the way.”
The Rampage’s next game is Oct. 4 in Kitimat when they take on the Ice Demons.
