Idle Terrace River Kings watch as Luckies creep closer

The Terrace River Kings, with 22 points are on top of the Central Interior Hockey League. But this past weekend they were idle and had to watch as the Houston Luckies took full advantage of two of their four games in hand, to pick up four points on the road in Williams Lake. They managed to consolidate second place with 20 points. Houston defeated the Williams Lake Stampeders 8-4 Saturday night and came back on Sunday to win 9-5 in a much closer fought game. Teams coming off big Saturday wins have been a little lackadaisical in the second games in recent weeks Houston was no exception as they fell behind in the first and were out shot by 52-31 in game two, but managed to take advantage of weaker goaltending in the Williams Lake goal and a strong performance by Don Kenzel in the Houston net to secure the two points. Goal-scoring in both games was well spread out with Derek Dinelle the only Houston players to tally twice on Saturday. Others who notched goals were Dan McQueen, Glen Kelly, Blair Dinelle, Jon Marren, Jeff Lloyd and Jarrett Anderson, while Aaron Zurak, Grant Johnson, Glen Camille and Wilfred Robbins answered for the Stampeders. Houston out shot Stampeders 50-30. It was much the same thing Sunday, as only Houston captain, James Macowichuk scored twice, while singles went to Blair Dinelle, Jarrett Anderson, Todd Learning, Noah Bell, Jon Marren, Glen Kelly and Derek Dinelle, as the whole team got into the act. Wilfred Robbins, Glen Camille, Aaron Zurak and Marlon Grunerud, with two goals, showed the Luckies that the Stampeders are still a competitive team, despite its 1-12 record. The River Kings will cool their heels again this weekend, while the Luckies host the Mackenzie Moose in a pair of games that could see the league lead change as Houston makes up two more games in hand. Meanwhile the Kitimat Ice Demons will be expecting to take points from the 100 Mile House Bears as they host the eastern team at Tamitik Saturday and Sunday. Fans should not game times are 8.00 p.m. as usual on Saturday night, but the Sunday game is an early start at 11.00 a.m. to allow the 100 Milers to get back on the road early. Both Kitimat and Houston will also be watching Smithers as they host Williams Lake in a pair at Smithers. The Steelheads will be looking for four points as well to keep the Luckies and River Kings in sight. Kitimat goes into the weekend two points behind the Steelheads, who have 15 points to Demons’ 13 points. The eastern teams, despite their low standing in the league could act as spoilers. The Bears from100 Mile House showed last week that a Saturday blowout can sting and they played well to take a 3-3 tie off the Demons, and were unlucky to lose that other point with Demons tying the game with only 27 seconds left in the third period. The round of games will be the last until December 29-30, when Terrace tangles with the Ice Demons at home on the Thursday night, and the Stampeders play a game in 100 Mile House on the Friday night, to bring the CIHL 2005 schedule to and end.

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