They didn’t get to play outdoors.
But the indoor ice at the Fort Forum proved just fine for the U18 female Northern Capitals, who defeated the high-powered Fraser Valley Rush 5-4 on Sunday in Fort St. James.
The BC Elite Hockey League game was supposed to be held outside at the Ernie Sam Memorial Arena as part of Winter Classic weekend. Unfortunately, warming temperatures made the ice surface unplayable and the contest had to be moved to the Forum.
In a back-and-forth affair that looked like it might be headed for overtime, Keagan Goulet scored the winner for the Northern Capitals with 3:37 left on the clock. The goal was her second of the game.
Goulet’s first goal came with 5:09 left in the second period while her team was on a power play. That marker put the Capitals up 4-1 but, before the middle frame was done, the Rush got power-play strikes from Gillian Lapierre and Leah Barnard to draw within one.
Aynsley D’Ottavio then pulled the Rush into a tie with 8:01 left to go in the third period.
Ella Boon of the Capitals scored the only goal of the first period, a power-play marker about four minutes before the buzzer.
Early in the second, Hailey Armstrong and Brooklyn Hutchings extended the Northern Capitals’ lead to 3-0 before Vienna Rubin finally got the Rush on the board. Goulet’s power-play goal set the stage for the dramatics that followed.
In the victory, Armstrong had the one goal and assisted on the other four.
Sierra Eagles was the winning goaltender and Rebecca Noble took the loss.
Sunday’s win gave the Caps a weekend split with the Rush. The teams also played on Saturday at the Vanderhoof Arena and the Rush won that one 4-1. The Rush went up 3-1 on an empty-netter by Rubin with 1:57 to play and then got another goal from Barnard before time expired.
Rubin opened the scoring early in the first period but Rachel Loewen pulled the Capitals even with a power-play marker. Solana Cooper then netted her own power-play goal and the Rush had a 2-1 lead. The score stayed that way until Rubin hit the empty net in the third.
Goaltender Clara Juca earned the win and Karsyn Niven took the loss.
The Rush and Capitals sit first and second respectively in the division standings. With the weekend results, the Rush are now 19-2-1-0 and the Caps are 15-6-0-3. Both Rush losses have come at the hands of the Capitals.
The next scheduled games for the Caps are Feb. 5-6 in Chemainus against the Vancouver Island Seals.
