ICE CHIPS: The KOOTENAY ICE enter tonight's action with a 33-28-1-2 record (19-12-1-0 at home, 14-16-0-2 on the road, 6-1 in overtime, 3-2 in shootouts)...Following tonight's contest KOOTENAY, who are 6-2-1-1 in the last ten games, will visit MEDICINE HAT March 7 before returning home to host LETHBRIDGE March 10.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: KOOTENAY is currently carrying 24 players (two goaltenders, nine defensemen and 13 forwards)...The ICE roster is made up of three 1994-born players, 11 1995-born players, three 1996-born players, five 1997-born players, and two 1998-born players...KOOTENAY has seven first-year players on its roster.
DID YOU KNOW: Forward LUKE PHILP leads the ICE in home scoring with 38 points (12-26-38)...Forward JAEDON DESCHENEAU is ranked second with 37 points (15-22-37)...KOOTENAY holds a 60-66-13-3 lifetime record versus RED DEER (33-31-8-1 at home, 27-35-5-2 on the road, 9-8-8 in overtime)...Goaltender WYATT HOFLIN made his 100th career appearance February 25 at REGINA...Forward TIM BOZON, who played in his 250th career game February 25 against the PATS, reached the 30-goal mark for the fourth consecutive season February 28 at BRANDON...BOZON and Defenseman RINAT VALIEV are both one game shy of 100 appearances in an ICE uniform…Forward JAEDON DESCHENEAU scored his third shootout winner of the season February 27 versus the WHEAT KINGS…DESCHENEAU, who has four career shootout winners, is one off the franchise record (five) held by DUSTIN SYLVESTER...Forward AUSTIN VETTERL recorded his 100th career point (assist) February 25 at REGINA...Defenseman TANNER LISHCHYNSKY scored his first goal with KOOTENAY February 24 at SWIFT CURRENT…Defenseman LENNY HACKMAN registered his first point with the ICE (assist) February 24 versus the BRONCOS...HACKMAN is two games shy of 200 career appearances…Forward LUKE PHILP is two points shy of 200 career points...Defenseman RINAT VALIEV is one appearance short of 100 career games played…KOOTENAY played three consecutive games decided by a shootout for the second time in franchise history February 24-27, posting a 2-1 record...The ICE franchise record for consecutive shootout games is four (February 1-8, 2008) in which KOOTENAY compiled a 3-1 record.
STREAKS: LUKE PHILP (5-9-14) and SAM REINHART (4-10-14) are both riding eight-game point streaks...TIM BOZON has tallied points in each of his last five games (5-2-7).
INJURY: Defenseman TANNER FAITH will be out of the ICE lineup three to five months with an upper body injury.
ONE YEAR AGO: After 64 games of the 2013-14 season the ICE were 37-23-2-2, after 65 games 37-24-2-2 and after 66 games 37-25-2-2.
DRAFTED PLAYERS: SAM REINHART - Buffalo Sabres (1st Round, 2014 NHL Draft), TIM BOZON - Montreal Canadiens (3rd Round, 2012 NHL Draft), RINAT VALIEV - Toronto Maple Leafs (3rd Round, 2014 NHL Draft), JAEDON DESCHENEAU - St. Louis Blues (5th Round, 2014 NHL Draft), TANNER FAITH – Minnesota Wild (5th Round, 2014 NHL Draft).
TONIGHT’S OFFICIALS: The Referees for tonight’s game are REID ANDERSON and CLAYTON HALL...The Linesmen are SCOTT SHARUN and MIKE ROBERTS.