The Quesnel River Rush went down to Kamloops to start their playoff run and faced defeat in two hard-fought games against the Kamloops Storm. The series is best of seven, giving the Rush plenty of opportunity to make a comeback.
On Friday, the Rush had their first game in Kamloops. The game kicked off with a goal from Kamloops and despite playing hard, the Rush didn't manage to find the net in that period.
They did however, kick off the second period with a goal from Gage Parrell, assisted by Lynden Donald-Gorman. Unfortunately that was the start, and the end for the Rush's scoring prospects in that game.
Kamloops scored again after Parrell, giving them a 2-1 lead going into the third period. In that final period, Kamloops scored another two goals, giving them a victory against the Rush.
"That was a hard-fought game. Just a couple breakdowns ended up in the back of our net but I liked how we played," River Rush coach Logan Maxwell said after the game. He said the team needed to go hard from the first puck drop to end of the game to improve their fortunes moving forward.
The Rush tried to bounce back in the second game and while they played hard and put up a fight, Kamloops had better chances at getting the puck in the net.
Two goals for Kamloops kicked off that game. None for the Rush in the first period. There were two more for Kamloops before the Rush's Wyatt Ball got their first goal of the night but before the end of the second period, Kamloops grew their lead to 5-1.
Lynden Donald-Gorman scored for the Rush at the start of the third period but it wasn't enough, especially as the Storm landed another goal before the game was done.
The way Maxwell described how the weekend went was "not as planned." One of their flaws was the amount of time Rush players spent in the penalty box, with 24 minutes of penalty time.
While the scores favoured the Storm, the Rush put up a strong fight and kept the shots-on-net numbers relatively even. The shots-on-net were 30-31 for the Storm on Friday and 46-50 for the Storm on Saturday.
The Rush will face Kamloops twice in Quesnel, first team to four wins moves on to face either the 100 Mile House Wranglers or the Williams Lake Mustangs.
Game one will be on Monday at 7 p.m. and game two will be Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the West Fraser Centre.
