The 2012/13 Royal LePAGE Midget Tyees placement round schedule brought the Tyees to Powell River for a Saturday afternoon match up against the Kings.
The game started with the Tyees still looking for their land legs as Powell River came at them hard and physical, outshooting and outplaying the Tyees.
Goalie Riley Mathieson was sharp, keeping the Kings off the scoreboard and in spite of a number of power play opportunities, the Tyees didn’t create much in the way of scoring chances in the first.
Early in the second, on a Kings roughing penalty, Gavin Rauser scored off a nice feed to put the Tyees on the board.
Even though Powell River continued with their aggressive play and gave Campbell River several power plays, the Tyees couldn’t make them pay.
As it often happens, a call went the other way and Powell River made no mistake tying the game at one after the second.
Again in the third, against the flow of penalties, Powell River got another chance on the powerplay and a nice deflection from a point shot put the Kings up 2-1.
The Tyees made a good push for the last half of the third but in spite of some good opportunities they could not get the equalizer, leaving the final score 2-1 Kings.
Sunday the Tyees were at home hosting the Juan de Fuca Grizzlies.
Both teams started the game tentatively feeling each other out until the 10 minute mark when a Grizzly came quickly off the bench on a line change to create a two-on-one.
A quick shot and the visitors were up one nil. A minute into the second, on a quick pass out from behind the net, third year player Tyler Clark knotted the score at one apiece.
However Juan de Fuca quickly replied on a turnover in the slot, putting the Grizzlies ahead again. Penalty shots are somewhat rare but both teams were awarded one in the second period.
The Juan de Fuca goalie turned aside the Tyee shooter.
And then later in the period Tyee goalie Colton Thompson made a great stick save to hold the deficit to one.
The momentum seemed to move towards the Tyees after that save with Campbell River heavily outshooting the visitors.
With four minutes to go in the second on some hard digging along the boards by Kurtis Scriba, Scriba made a quick pass out to a wide open Rauser who made no mistake burying the puck to tie the score.
The third period had the Tyees pushing hard and on a power play Rauser notched his second of the game, with the lone assist going to Cole Rennie, putting the Tyees ahead.
However Juan de Fuca got it back on a breakaway tying the game at three.
When the final buzzer sounded the Tyees outshot the Grizzlies 39-15, the score tied at three.
Coach Aaron Robertson was pleased with the bounce back effort Sunday after the lackluster game in Powell River the previous day.
“The boys realize that if we bring the effort to every game we play, the results will be there,” Robertson said.
“It was tough to end that game with a tie, but we were happy with the effort.”
The last placement game is Oct. 13, 4 p.m. at Rod Brind’Amour Arena against Victoria Racquet Club.
The Royal LePAGE Midget Tyees will be participating in the Comox Thanksgiving Invitational tournament this weekend and face teams from the Island and Lower Mainland.
Check on the Campbell River Minor Hockey website for scores and game info: campbellriverminorhockey.com