The Kitimat Ice Demons suffered a blow this Saturday as they lost 5-0 to the Prince Rupert Rampage in their first home game of the season.
“I’m very disappointed in the way we played,” said head coach Donald Pacheco. “I thought we came out flat and we didn’t play within our system.”
The Demons went down early when Hunter Johnson buried one past goaltender Thomas Mildenderger. Goals kept coming after that thanks to a slow-looking Demons team, according to Pacheco.
Keeping things simple has been the name of the game for the Demons, but penalties proved costly as they racked up a total of 30 minutes in the box. Two of the five goals for the Rampage happened on the powerplay.
Josh Slanina received five and a game misconduct for a hit to the head in the 12:15 mark of the third period and will be suspended for the Demons’ brush with the Smithers Steelheads on Oct 29.
“Some of the penalties were deserved, a lot of them were not,” Pacheco said. “We just find lately we’re getting the short end of the stick.”
There were bright spots in the game — Alex Harvey made his first appearance for the Demons, and after a slow start, he got his footing, according to Pacheco.
Once again goaltender Thomas Mildenderger made 42 saves and was a positive component for Pacheco. “He played well, but we can’t rely on Tommy all the time,” he said.
The Ice Demons don’t play this weekend but will be back in action on Oct. 29 against the Steelheads.
“The bright side is we have 14 games to go.”