CIHL round one opening games all go as predicted

All four first round, game one, playoff games in the CIHL went pretty much as predicted Saturday, as the top place traveling teams all won handily - with perhaps the only surprise being the scoring gap between the Burns Lake Braves and the visiting Coy Cup champion Williams Lake Stampeders, who cruised to a 9-5 win. However, East Division leading Houston Luckies ran up a good score, 12-1 over the last place Omineca Ice, while the league-leading Kitimat Ice Demons threw 66 shots at overwhelmed Hazelton Wolverines goaltender, Cory Croft, on their way to an efficient 7-1 road win, in the cramped confines of the Hazelton arena. In Prince Rupert the Rampage proved feisty, but the visiting Smithers Steelheads rolled over the Rampage 5-3, with the aid of two power-play goals. Denis Olson and Matt Arnold staked the steelheads to a 2-1 lead at the end of the first, with Darryl Young and Stu Barnes adding goals in the first two minutes of the second, to take most of the air out of the rowdy Rupert crowd. Rob Miller got one back for the Rampage, but Dan Dykens cancelled that one out before the end of the second, to restore a three goal lead for the visitors and Miller got the only goal of the third as the Rampage tried to battle back. Smithers out-shot the Rampage 35-33 in the game. In Hazelton, the Ice Demons opened up a three goal lead in a 26 shot barrage in the opening period with scores from Daniel Mayer, Jeff Baker and Geoff Morgan (pp). Curtis Cardinal got one back for Hazelton in the second, but that was answered by Derek Wakita to make it 4-1 at the end of the second. In the third Demons had goals from Dave Venman, Jeff Baker, his second of the game, and Terry Helgason. In Burns Lake, Stampeders' Francis Johnson had a goal and four assists, Gilbert Robins had two goals and one assist and Wilfred Robbins had two goals and four assists as the "usual suspects" ran up some points in the game and showed they will continue to be a force in the playoffs..