The Kootenay Ice had to hit the ground running during exhibition play over the weekend.

They saw their first pre-season action at a tournament hosted by the Tri-City Americans, compiling a 0-3 record against teams that had played up to a half dozen exhibition games already.

?In the tunnel, I saw the opposing coaches talking about alternating their power play and just talking about schemes,? said head coach Kris Knoblauch. ?We hadn?t even considered introducing power play because we only had two days? practice; there were other things we touched on. We have a lot of teaching to do to catch up with the other teams, which is fine.?

Playing in Sunday?s tournament capper, the Ice were tied going into each intermission, but the host Tri-City Americans scored a late power play goal and an empty netter to win 5-3.

The Ice dropped their previous two games by 6-2 scores, to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday and the Portland Winter Hawks on Saturday.

As the scores would indicate, Knoblauch said the Ice got better as the weekend progressed.

?So many guys had their best game on Sunday, and I think a lot of that had to do with our older guys being our best players,? said Knoblauch. ?It?s true in the regular season: you win when your best players are your best players. We got better over the weekend because on Sunday, our older guys were our best players.?

Jagger Dirk, Levi Cable and Colby Cave (with his second of the tournament) provided Kootenay?s goals, while the team?s veterans brought the grit and made plays happen.

?The older guys were playing a lot more physical, and I think that made the younger guys feel a lot more comfortable,? said Knoblauch. ?It?s pretty tough for the young guys to be coming in and making plays and initiating the play, but we?re looking at them to be good support players, so when our older guys played well our younger guys did a good job being support players.?

Jesse Ismond, Joe Antilla and Eric Benoit accounted for Kootenay?s other goals over the weekend.

The rookie goalies saw the bulk of action, each getting in a pair of half games. Mackenzie Skapski made 36 saves on 41 shots, while Brett Teskey stopped 31 of 34.

Returning veterans Todd Mathews (15-19) and Nathan Lieuwen (13-16) each saw about a half hour of ice time.

Knoblauch said taking part in the Red Lion Hotels Pre-Season Tournament for the first time was useful for the Ice.

?I think it?s a good setup: you get to see different teams. We play Red Deer eight times during the year ? we don?t have to play them two more times in exhibition,? he said. ?We got to play some different teams and we played in one centre.?

SICK BAY

Injury bug has stricken the Ice, who entered the weekend with a pair of players already sidelined: Brendan Hurley (concussion) and Ryan Bloom (back).

Defenceman Jeff Hubic and Benoit, a forward, both suffered concussions against Portland (the latter for a hit from behind) while centre Elgin Pearce came out of Sunday?s game worse for wear.

Knoblauch said Pearce had a ?rough game? against Tri-City, both in terms of his own physical play, and the abuse his body wound up taking.

?His visor cut him, and he was limping to the bus because I think he blocked a shot,? said Knoblauch. ?He?s pretty banged up.?

Pearce has a few days before the Ice get back at it, hosting the Americans on Thursday night at the Rec Plex.

The Ice will have an active recovery day today, with an instruction-heavy practice.

Bloom won?t be there, as he is scheduled to have an MRI on his back in Calgary.