The Quesnel Kangaroos lost both home games over the weekend, playing against the Prince Rupert Rampage on Saturday night, and the Terrace River Kings on Sunday afternoon.
The losses were the team’s third and fourth of the season, after a recent three-game winning streak. They lost to Terrace early on in the season in September, and to Williams Lake late October.
The game against the Rampage got off to a decent start, with Roos player Paul Girodat scoring one in the first period (assisted by Ryan Reynolds and Curtis Gassoff) to Prince Rupert’s two. But things went downhill in the second, as Prince Rupert racked up five.
In the third period the Roos came back with two goals, scored by Reynolds (assisted by Luke Fox and John Belyan) and Alessio Tomassetti, the league’s current top scorer, with help from Jordan Lowe and Justin Fulton. But the Rampage also got two past Quesnel’s goalie, bringing the final score to 9-3.
On Sunday afternoon the Roos were first to score against Terrace, as Tomassetti put one in the net, but the River Kings were quick to follow with their own goal in the first period.
The teams continued on an even keel into the second, with the teams scoring two apiece (goals going to Quesnel’s Fox, assisted by Waylon L’Heureux, and Tomassetti again, assisted by Karl Weberg and Fulton).
But in the third period, Terrace got a second wind and came up with four goals to Quesnel’s one (scored unassisted by Alex MacKenzie).
Roos captain L’Heureux says: “We got into bad penalty trouble and had some poor discipline issues in the second period [during the Prince Rupert game]. They wanted the puck more than we did, and we were disappointed at our effort.
“With Terrace we were really proud of our discipline, we just didn’t have the greatest puck luck. We had some bad bounces. It happens, it’s hockey. We told the guys to hold their heads high after Saturday’s game and we were very pleased with the comeback effort.”
The Roos will play at home again Dec. 15, against long-time rivals the Williams Lake Stampeders.