It was an important weekend for the Storm.
They were looking for a bounce back performance Friday, after being handed their first loss of the season the week before, and on Sunday afternoon they were up against southern rivals, the Victoria Cougars.
And bounce back they did. They would capture three out of a possible four points on the weekend.
General manager and head coach Lee Stone knows from experience the Cougars are a tough opponent, especially at home.
“It’s always a hard game down at the Arch,” Stone said. “They play a strong game and it certainly looks like they have a little bit more offensive punch than they had last year.”
The Cougars have averaged six goals per game this season.
The Storm blasted out of the gate strong and before the first 20 minutes were completed they sported a 3-0 edge, all three goals coming in less than two minutes.
Kobe Oishi opened the scoring at 9:22 from Brett Witala and Joe Gage. Eighteen seconds later, Alex Rosolowsky made it 2-0 on an unassisted goal.
At 11:12, the familiar combination of Josh Coblenz from Colin Blake and Alex Brewer struck.
In the second, Nathan Looysen and the Cougars came out flying scoring three times; Looysen finding the net twice and assisting on Cody Hodges goal.
Campbell River captain, Gage Colpron scored from Christian Brandt and Oishi and by period’s end, the 2014-15 VIJHL champions owned a slim 4-3 lead.
Victoria would tie it up in the third frame. Two periods of overtime would solve nothing and the top two teams in the VIJHL would have to settle for a tie.
On Friday, the Oceanside Generals were at the Brindy and they didn’t look like a team at the bottom of the standings. They came out hard and by the third period it had turned into a rather nasty affair.
The Generals had the edge of play in the first period but by the middle of the second, the Storm had taken over. In the space of six minutes the home team had put themselves on top of a 3-0 score line on a pair of goals from Coblenz and one from Blake.
Midway through the third period, a line brawl resulted in the ejection of several players and subsequent league suspensions.
Storm player Keenan Scardina and Generals forward Ethan Sundstrum each received a one-game suspension for their roles in the brawl, while Campbell River’s Reece Costain will sit out six games for leaving the penalty box during an altercation.
The two teams traded goals in the third, Witala for Campbell River and Jordan Bautista for Oceanside, resulting in a 4-1 Storm victory.
After the weekend, Campbell River sits atop the North division with a 6-1-1 record.
Their next action is a home date against the Kerry Park Islanders on Friday.