The Prince Rupert Rampage dropped a pair of games on the road and are guaranteed to finish as the Central Interior Hockey League’s fifth seed.
The Prince Rupert Rampage made their longest road trip of the season, visiting the Williams Lake Stampeders before facing off against the Quesnel Kangaroos.
The game in Williams Lake got off to a slow start as the first goal didn’t come until the last few minutes of the first period as Stampeders forward Brendan Pigeon fired the puck past Rampage goaltender Frank Slubowski to give the Stampeders a 1-0 lead after the first.
In the second, the Stampeders added a pair of goals from forward Dawson Foerster and defenceman Kyler Wilkinson to give the Stampeders a 3-0 lead. The Rampage responded with a goal of their own off the stick of forward Kory Movold to cut the deficit to two goals heading into the third period.
Early in the third, Rampage forward Judd Repole beat Stampeders goalie Ryan Balbirnie to bring his team within one. Prince Rupert pressed for the tying goal and pulled their goalie in the final minutes, but Stampeders forward Austin Kuhn sealed the game with an empty-netter, making the final score 4-2.
Following the loss to Williams Lake, the Rampage rolled into Quesnel to take on the Kangaroos.
The Kangaroos opened the scoring with a goal from forward Brett Mero, then quickly added two more from forward Eli Jarvis and defenceman Bryan Allbee to take a 3-0 lead after one.
Mero scored his second of the game in the second period to make it 4-0.
In the third, the Kangaroos exploded, adding four more goals to the scoreboard with defenceman Tavis Roch and forwards Christopher Thon, Eli Jarvis and Hayden Wiebe adding insult to injury in a 8-0 rout over the Rampage.
With the win, Quesnel secured a bye to the semifinals of the playoffs as the top team in the east. With Quesnel securing the division the east division wildcard round will see Williams Lake take on Smithers in a best of three series with the winner facing off against Quesnel.
With the Rampage guaranteed a fifth-place finish and third in the west, they will play the lower seed of Terrace or Hazelton with the winner then facing off against the west champions in the semifinals.
Prince Rupert will close out its regular season at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre on Jan. 31 against the Smithers Steelheads.
