With the Kitimat Ice Demons and the Omenica Ice both off to good starts in the first weekend of this season’s CIHL action, and holding leads in their separate divisions, the Houston Luckies will be out to unseat the Ice at the top in the east when they host Williams Lake Stampeders at the Claude Parrish Arena this Saturday and Sunday. The Stamps on the other hand need at least a split in Houston to avoid dropping to an unaccustomed bottom spot with more games played than Smithers Steelheads.
The Ice Demons meanwhile can extend their lead to five points with a victory over the Hazelton Wolverines in a single west division game in Hazelton. The Wolverines will be going all out in the opener because they don’t want to be looking up the division standings all season.
With the Terrace River Kings-Prince Rupert Rampage game postponed due to lack of ice at Terrace, a win for the Wolverines could move them into second place in the division, somewhere they’ve never been.
With Kitimat in Prince Rupert for the Rampage’s home opener next week (Oct. 11), Terrace hosting Hazelton and the Stampeders back in Vanderhoof for stage 3 of their “war,” if the “rich get richer,” there could be a very big points spread in the league very early in the season if expectations of improvement in Terrace, Hazelton and Williams Lake don’t pan out rapidly.
| East Division |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
P |
W |
L |
SOL |
GF |
GA |
Pts |
| Omenica |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
9 |
4 |
| Houston |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
5 |
2 |
| Smithers |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
0 |
| Williams Lake |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
9 |
14 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| West Division |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Kitimat |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
4 |
| Prince Rupert |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
1 |
| Terrace |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Hazelton |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prince Rupert Rampage blown out 10-0 by Demons but win back credibility with Sunday 2-1 shoot-out loss
|
Defending CIHL and Coy Cup champions, the Kitimat Ice Demons, gave the new Prince Rupert Rampage, a hard-to-take welcome to the league Saturday night, blowing them out 10-0. But Rupert came back a bit in the Sunday game, taking a point from a 1-1 tie, but eventually losing 2-1, in a shootout.
For Rampage goaltenders, Dylan Sidoni and Keith Movold, it was two different stories after both held the Demons to a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period. On Saturday, the Demons rallied and buried Sidoni with six goals in the second period and three more in the third for the 10-0 win. Movold, however, got a lot more support from a much-more-determined defensive core Sunday. Movold stopped 49 of 50 shots while Demons' goaltender Brett Vilness, saw only nine shots total in the game, but watched helplessly as one was re-directed into the net by former Demon, Colt Stave to tie the game with only four minutes left.
Rampage's Stava and the Ice Demons Derek Wakita exchanged goals in the shootout, which involved a total of 12 shooters before Kitimat winger Mike Fisk shot a hard low drive behind Movold to win the game, 2-1 for the defending champions.
It was an exciting finale and a win for the Demons was well deserved. But Prince Rupert extending the game to a tie and a shoot-out serves notice that Prince Rupert won't be a walkover.
However, after the Saturday blow-out, the Rampage returned to Prince Rupert satisfied with a couple of goals and their first point in the CIHL from Sunday's game.
In Smithers on Saturday night the Houston Luckies-Smithers Steelheads rivalry resumed, this time with both teams laboring in the CIHL East Division. The Luckies emerged from the barn-burner, with a close 6-5 win, promising a hard series between these two teams over the remainder of the season.
In Smithers, the Houston Luckies had enough muscle and effort to edge the Smithers Steelheads by a score of 6-5 in a close game that showed the battle of the Bulkley Valley has just shifted to the East Division. Smithers took a couple of undisciplined penalties, which could have cost them the game, according to captain Dennis Olson. But, according to Luckies coach, Shane Brienen, there was not enough effort expended by the Luckies and he wants to see more physical play.
Don Kenzle was unanimously the best player in the game and frustrated the Steelheads shooters.
Smithers struck first with Mike Verticcio starting where he left off last year, but John Marren eclipsed that goal and Blair Dinelle gave the Luckies the lead.
That was tied by Olson with five minutes left in the first and looked good until Noah Bell sneaked one just before the intermission to restore the Luckies' lead. The two teams traded goals in the second and with three minutes left Darnell Caifa tied the game for the Steelheads. That effort was negated, with just seven left in the period Glen Kelly again allowed the Luckies to taker a lead to the dressing room. Early in the third period, Caifa scored his second goal of the game in alone on Kenzle to tie the game at five.
However, about this time, Smithers ran into penalty trouble and Houston capitalized on a 5-on-3, with Kelly scoring again in what would hold up as the winning goal.
In Vanderhoof, the Omenica Ice hockey team players transcended some domestic problems and focused on the games sufficiently to beat the Williams Lake Stampeders by a score of 7-3 Saturday night and to hold on for a 7-6 win in the Sunday afternoon game when Williams Lake put on a tougher showing.
The Stampeders fell behind in the first, as Paul Girodat opened the scoring for the Ice at just over a minute into the period. Justin Weber and Brent McIsaac added goals, putting the Ice up 3-0 at the end of one.
The Stampeders rallied and found some offense in the second, with Francis Johnson and Nathan Zurak both finding the twine, but couldn't capitalize on a number of other power play opportunities.
Shaun Fomenoff, Joel Boythencho and Tyler Walsh put the Ice up 6-2 after two periods of play, scoring less than three minutes apart mid-way through the period.
In the third, Zurak got the Stamps going again but Walsh negated that goal again for the Ice, earning a 7-3 victory for the Omineca club. Eighteen-year-old goaltender Paul Simoes claimed his first victory in between the pipes for the Ice.
In the second game the Stampeders looked a lot sharper but still fell short, dropping the closer game 7-6. Fomenoff opened the scoring for the Ice in the first, but the Stamps' answered back with two from Johnson and Rob Herrick. However, the lead was short-lived as Justin Weber tied the game at two before heading into the intermission.
In the second, the Stamps' scored four times with goals from Jason Wright, Zurak, Mike Kohlen and Johnson. The Ice tallied two, giving the Stampeders a 6-5 advantage heading into the third. However, Simoes held the Stamps' scoreless in the third, with the Ice potting twices on Stamp's goaltender Richard Ward, coming from Dave Boon and Derryl Gagnon.
Again, the key to the game for the Ice this time was silencing the Stampeders' powerplay, as penalties leaned heavily in the Stampeders' favour.
Two new faces were welcomed to the Stamps over the weekend, as Phil Simoes and Kent Courage - formerly of the Ice - joined the Stampeders.
The Stampeders head to Houston for two more back-to-back games against the Luckies on Oct. 4 and Oct. 5 where they hope to claim their first win of the season.
The Omineca Ice had an upset in coaching staff this weekend when Chris Reed and Jim Reed both resigned. Two Ice players were released on Saturday night and suited up with the opposition Williams Lake Stampeders for Sunday's game.
In other games Kitimat will be in Hazelton for the Wolverines opener but the opening game in Terrace, vs the Prince Rupert Rampage, has been postponed to lack of ice.
|
