The Kootenay ICE were involved in history on Saturday as they played in Spokane in the 1st ever WHL Outdoor Game.
The ICE will remember it for all the wrong reasons as they lost 11-2.
Elgin Pearce and Joe Antilla had the ICE goals.
It seemed like the ICE were trying to enjoy the novelty of the Outdoor Game and still try to treat it like a regular game. Before the game was 13 minutes old they were down 4-0.
It's debatable how much the Chiefs benefited from having a practice on the outdoor rink on Thursday. You have to think the ICE would have been more prepared with at least 1 practice. Especially the goalies who seem to struggle to see the puck and how to play their angles.
How strange was it to see the players with eye black?
How much were the Chiefs distracted during Friday's game in Cranbrook knowing what was happening on Saturday?
The 9-goal margin was the 2nd worst for the club since they moved to Cranbrook. On March 12th 1999 they lost 11-0 in Brandon.
Luke Paulsen left the game after getting elbowed in the head and Joey Leach left the game with a sore foot after blocking a shot.
The ICE did not score a powerplay goal and that ended their streak at 13 consecutive games with a PPG.
My thanx to Spokane's Jay Stewart who all week long made sure my broadcast booth had everything I needed. The former Chiefs play-by-play announcer has been on the office staff since leaving the radio gig and knows what us announcers require.
During the game he kept me up to date with the goals, assists and penalties with hand written notes. He knew the PA announcements were impossible to understand in the radio booth.
Plus he did all this will wearing a Tuxedo.
Also, thanx to our Off The Net feature where I receive emails during the broadcast, I was made aware that the Shaw broadcast was not working.
No one from the WHL or TV staff let me know any details to help with your inquiries.
Again, Jay Stewart found the information I needed and said there was a satellite link problem.
After the broadcast was done, I saw a WHL press release saying it would be re-broadcast later. I felt bad I didn't have the information earlier.
Why wouldn't the TV people think to let us know the information? One Shaw TV person before the game said "Have fun with your broadcast. No one will be listening as this game is on Shaw TV, ha ha ha." I took the comment as a light hearted joke with no ill intent as I'm sure was intended. But, Saturday was a reminder of the power of radio.
Overall a busy weekend as we did over 20 interviews for the 2 games.
During the weekend the teams combined for 21 goals and 12 fights.