Stamps and Luckies take “first blood” in round one playoff openers in CIHL

Both of the first place finishers in the east and west divisions of the Central Interior Hockey league fell behind in the opening period of their separate first round playoffs this past weekend. Both teams came back in the second period, but while the Lightening Cup winners and east division champion Williams Lake Stampeders came back to win 6-4 over the Omenica Ice, the west division leaders, Kitimat Ice Demons, stumbled in the third period and allowed the Houston Luckies to regain the lead and scratch out a hard fought 4-3 home ice win. Three goals by Francis Johnson led the Stamps to victory, while Blair Dinelle, with two goals and assist, including the winning marker, led the way for the Luckies. Williams Lake’s road win puts them in a strong position to carry the first round with a second win on home ice in either of the remaining two round one games on home ice. A lengthy controversy about game time Saturday has been settled and the Ice and Stamps will take the ice at 3.00 p.m. on Saturday in Williams Lake, with a third game if necessary on Sunday. The Ice Demons and Luckies will also clash again on Saturday, at 8.00 p.m. at Tamitik Arena in Kitimat, where the Ice Demons have been strong this season. Demons will need a Saturday night win to carry the series to the best of three Sunday at 1 p.m. Demons, defending champions in the CIHL in each of the two past seasons have gone on to win the Provincial Senior AA championship Coy Cup in the past two seasons. Just to qualify to compete in the Coy Cup in Rossland in March, the Demons will have to win both games against the Houston Luckies. The CIHL champion and runner up qualify for the Coy Cup, but clearly, the winning CIHL team can be expected to carry an advantage to the C competition. Neither Houston nor the Demons met the Williams Lake Stampeders in the regular season. But Demons took three of four games from the Omenica Ice in interdivision competition, while the Luckies beat Vanderhoof twice at home and lost one and tied one in Vanderhoof, so there will be a lot of interest in the final round, no matter which teams emerge from the weekend showdowns.