The Quesnel River Rush faced Cariboo rivals the Williams Lake Mustangs in matches on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 24 and 25).
Friday's game gave the Rush a convincing 8-3 win. The Mustangs scored the first two goals of the game and held that 2-0 lead until halfway through the period when the Rush's Lynden Donald-Gorman, Christian Rapp and Adam Valach struck back, tied it up then took the lead all within two and a half minutes of game time.
"I kinda just yelled for the puck and it found me in front of the net and just kinda roofed it over the goalie," Valach said of his goal.
Even after that the River Rush continued to rule the ice. In the second period Toren Fron and Max Kinnee added to the team's score, bringing it to 5-2 at the end of the second period.
In the third period team captain Bennett Kuhnlein scored a goal. The Friday game was his 150th in junior hockey, one of his closest friends and team assistant captain Cash Anderson scored shortly after.
"We've just been building for the last couple of weeks since the sickness," Kuhnlein said referring to the Rush's recent losses while most of the team was sick. "We drove the pace of the game all night. Our pace was higher, we shot the puck, we got to the net. We just outplayed them for 60 (minutes)."
Both Valach and Anderson talked up their captain after his 150th game. Valach explained that every time Kuhnlein has the puck, he makes something happen and never gives up.
"Best captain in the league," Anderson said of Kuhnlein. "He's a great leader, he's a great two-way guy. I think without Bennett we aren't as good defensively. He keeps the boys in check in the D-zone and makes sure that we're always dialed even if it's a practice."
With less than two minutes on the clock, the Mustangs scored their third goal but it was too late to close the gap. The Rush didn't stop battling until the buzzer and with two seconds on the clock Reece Unrau brought the River Rush total up to eight.
Saturday's game in Williams Lake was significantly closer.
Each team landed a shot in the net in the first period with the Rush's Bennett Kuhnlein starting things off with an assist from Toren Fron and Mathias Reha.
Early in the second period, the Mustangs got their second goal of the game but the Rush's Adam Valach responded by tying things back up. Lynden Donald-Gorman scored for the Rush shortly after giving them a one-goal lead until the Mustangs landed another shot in the Rush net and brought it to a 3-3 tie.
Before the period ended the River Rush regained the lead with a goal from Isaiah Bagri.
The game's third period was by far the most intense. The Mustangs scored one goal partway through the period, bringing things back to a tie. They scored another goal with two minutes left on the clock and it looked like the Rush were going to face defeat.
But the River Rush's Toren Fron managed to bring things back to a tie and putting them back in the game with just 43 seconds on the clock. Then, with 24 seconds on the clock the Mustangs snuck the puck in the Rush net and brought back their lead.
Some River Rush players lost hope, felt they were going to lose and gave up. But not all of them.
With 0.1 seconds on the clock Ian George brought things back to a tie for the River Rush, with the buzzer going off as soon as George's puck hit the net.
"On the first attempt to drop the puck I was ready to go straight to the net. Then they did a redo and we won the face off. Not exactly sure who shot it, but perfect pass right off the pad," George said. "Nobody was on me and I tapped it right in. I hope it was on time, which I'm pretty sure it was. I hit it, hit the back of the net then I heard the buzzer."
George said he didn't give up hope at all.
"I was hoping something like that was happening that's why I went where I was. I had faith in our guys."
That brought the game into overtime. Nobody scored, bringing it all down to a shootout.
First shot was from the Rush's Max Kinnee. He quickly raced to the net and made small, quick movements once he got there. He took his shot, it was blocked by the Mustangs' goalie.
The Mustangs' first shot on net was blocked by the River Rush's Emerson Willis.
Next up, Lynden Donald-Gorman took his shot and he blasted it past the goalie and into the net.
With the Mustangs' next shot, Willis blocked it again.
"I got a little bit lucky on the second shot," Willis said. "I thought he was ripping five hole (between the legs) so I got my stick there but he put it a little bit outside where I thought he was gonna go, hit my stick, hit the post, went out."
The final shooter was Isaiah Bagri for the Rush and when he shot his puck he found the net and the River Rush bench erupted with cheers.
This was Willis' first win in the KIJHL, his first game went to a shootout and was a loss so he was happy to have the chance to redeem himself.
One of the Rush's coaches, Jeremy LeBlanc, said that game was a preview of what playoffs will look like.
"It's getting to be tougher and it's whacking and hacking a bit more. We already have a couple guys out with injuries from high sticks and stuff like that," he said. "We showed yesterday that we can dominate these guys and today we just let them in a bit more. They were obviously a little more motivated than they were yesterday losing by that much but then at the end we showed we don't quit."
LeBlanc said they had the right players on the ice when they needed them to clutch the final goals and that's why he didn't lose hope.
The River Rush play their next home game on Jan. 31 at the West Fraser Centre against the Chase Heat, the next day they're headed down to Chase to play the team again.
