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KITIMAT WINS IT'S 2ND COY CUP!
Coy Cup stays in the CIHL as Demons repeat in thriller with Fort St. John Flyers

What a season the CIHL…with the Kitimat Ice Demons unseated as league champions by the Houston Luckies for the first time in four seasons……then the fourth-place finishing Ice Demons finally got their act together and came back to win the CIHL playoffs in four straight and move on to repeat as Provincial champions with a thrilling win in the final of the Coy Cup on their home ice in Kitimat.
CIHL President Bill Blacklock looks on as BCAHA President Bob James presents the 2006 Coy Cup.
This is all good news for the CIHL. There was, as expected quite a bit more parity in the regular season, with good showings from the Houston Luckies, the Terrace River Kings and the Smithers Steelheads. Eastern teams, the Williams Lake Stampeders and the 100 Mile House Bears faded at the end of the season while the three western league leaders were all hit by late injuries in the closing weeks of the season and playoffs.

The Ice Demons from Kitimat, who suffered some key player losses earlier in the season, couldn't get fit enough early enough to challenge for the Lightning Cup, but roared back in the playoffs to down the Luckies in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile the Kings were holding on strong to edge out the Smithers Steelheads in the third of the three-set playoffs, first round. The River Kings lost some manpower in the final games of the season and couldn't get enough replacements, losing two straight in the finals to the peaking Ice Demons, who claimed the Kal Tire Cup, in a wild finish on Terrace Ice.
Houston Luckies, clearly disappointed by falling short in the playoffs after being so strong all season, took a run at the Coy Cup backdoor, but could not get enough traveling players to properly challenge the Fort St. John Flyers of the North Peace Hockey League in the qualifier in Fort St. John.

Meanwhile, the vaunted Chilliwack Royals, heavily favored because of their huge available player base in the lower mainland, ran into the same trouble as the Luckies, when they couldn't ice all the players they wanted in Port Hardy for their qualifying series.

They went on to lose two straight to the combo from Port Hardy, Port Alice, Port McNeill and Powell River, which was determined to make up for two finals losses in the Coy Cup over the past two seasons.