There were no sour grapes in Cranbrook on Saturday as the Kootenay Ice snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-3 win over a rare visit from the Everett Silvertips.
Decked out in unique jerseys inspired by the flamboyant suits worn by Don Cherry, the Ice salvaged a come-from-behind effort to break a tie in the third period and post the win.
Newly acquired forward Jeff de Wit continued to impress with two goals, while Vince Loschiavo, Colton Veloso and Michael King rounded out the scoring.
Goaltender Bailey Brkin went the distance with 37 saves while Silvertips netminder Dorrin Luding made 27 stops in defeat.
After a soft start on the way to a losing cause against the Red Deer Rebels on Thursday, the Ice came out flying for a strong first period against the Silvertips.
“It’s important for our team because I do think we are a little fragile,” said Ice head coach James Patrick. “We got a lot of young guys and we’ve got a number of guys who went through some tough times the last two years here.
“Once we got past the first couple shifts, we into playing the right way — getting pucks deep, trying to pressure their D. Then, when we did get the lead, I think it settled us down and gave us a little bit of comfort.”
De Wit scored his first of the night early in the frame after an eye-popping toe-drag around the Everett defence and snapping the puck off the post and in.
Adding in his empty netter at the end of the game and he’s tallied three markers in two outings for the Ice since coming over in a trade with the Regina Pats.
“I think you can see the talent he has,” said Patrick. “He can make high-end plays, he can play with guys in the top-six. I know he wasn’t playing much in Regina, so I think his conditioning has a ways to go and hopefully the next couple weeks he can really pick up on that.
“He’s obviously got talent; he was a first-round player coming into this league and he showed that tonight.”
Going into the second period, the Ice made four trips to the penalty box for various infractions, one of which was a double-minor for high sticking.
“We’re not going to have success taking that many penalties,” Patrick said. “I even thought in the second period, they could have called three or four more on us. Our sticks were off the ice, we were catching guys up around their helmets with sticks, we were slashing at their sticks so it was frustrating. I think we became a little unraveled.”
The Ice killed off the four-minute powerplay but allowed a goal from Jake Christiansen on a subsequent Tips man-advantage just as it was expiring, who got a lucky deflection off a shot from just off the top of the circle.
However, the Ice regained the lead before the period ended off some magic from Peyton Krebs and Colton Veloso as the former took the puck behind the net and fed a backdoor pass to the latter in front, who made no mistake.
Veloso has been skating on the same line as the rookie Krebs for the last two games.
“It’s been awesome, he’s a real skilled forward,” Veloso said. “Just give him the puck and get open. He’s great at protecting the puck and finding, for example there, me on the back door. Not everyone can do that, so when you’re playing with a special kid like Peyton, it’s always nice.”
Patrick Bajkov knotted up the affair early in the third period and Riley Sutter scored a few minutes later to give the Silvertips their first lead of the night.
With just over 10 minutes left in the game, the Kootenay comeback was on.
Gilian Kohler blitzed down the wing and put a shot on net that a crashing Michael King was able to deposit into the goal to tie up the score at 3-3.
Two minutes later, Vince Loschiavo tallied the go-ahead marker.
Despite a late push from Everett, the Ice were able to hold on and protect their lead, even adding an empty net goal when Colton Kroeker drew a Silvertip defender to him in the neutral zone and unselfishly dished off the puck to de Wit, who tallied the insurance.
“ I think we found a way,” said Patrick. “I think, at times, we made it real hard on ourselves, but I thought it was a gutsy effort to come back and stay with the program.
“We made some mistakes to give them the lead, but overall, looking at the game, I think we did a lot of good, right things.”
