Jamie Moran shut-out over Smithers keeps the Kitimat Ice Demons in front of the pack in the CIHL

Saturday's confrontation between the two top teams in the CIHL West Division lived up to its pre-game hype as one of the better games of the season so far. But a superior shut-out performance by league-leading goaltender, Jamie Moran was the highlight. Smithers came into Tamitik looking sharp, short a few players and with their usual fast skating, capable game, a team with lots of scoring punch, but they couldn't put the puck behind Moran all night long. Smithers' goalie, Tyler Perreault did well to shut down a potent Kitimat attack in the first period, when the Steelheads gave up five power plays, yet Kitimat couldn't get one past him. The Demons out-shot the Steelheads 16-7 in the period as Perreault kept them in the game. That is until, with just a couple of minutes left in the period Perreault left his net to control a Kitimat shoot-in from Terry Helgason that had been waved off for icing. Perreault, however stumbled and mishandled the puck and went down leaving a juicy open net, with the puck spinning in the crease as Demons' leading scorer, Ian Coleman, charged in for the tap-in go-ahead goal. Ice Demons took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission. In the second, it was the Demons getting into penalty trouble, taking four in the period, opening the door for the Smithers power play, including a late five on three. But Moran showed why he is best in the league, just not letting anything in as he flashed a fast glove hand several times and using stick and blocker to deflect pucks to his defense in the corners. Despite long periods in the Ice Demons end, the Steelheads only mustered 12 direct shots on Moran, while the Demons also garnered 12 shots in the scoreless period. Much to their fans' relief, Kitimat added to its lead in the third as they rallied the skills for a much more effective period. With only six minutes gone by Kory Finn re-directed a Geoff Morgan shot between the Perrault's legs and that was the game as the Demons defense and Moran shut the door. The win extended the Demons' lead in the Division to 17 points, while the Steelheads loss combined with the Rampage win, leap-frogged the Rampage into second place, with 13 points. The Rampage and the Demons meet again in Kitimat on Saturday Dec. 5. In other games, the Prince Rupert Rampage found Terrace capable of responding to a challenge after they built a 3-0 lead on goals by Mino Verde, Rob Millar and John Hunt. That crumpled to 3-2...as Terrace battled back with goals by Calen Findlay and an unassisted individual effort by Steve Cullis, but a Travis Helland goal restored the two goal lead, to 4-2, mid-way through the third and Terrace stayed mired in last place in the West Division - looking at possible elimination from the playoffs. In the East the Houston Luckies hosted an under-manned Omineca Ice team and handled them fairly efficiently, 5-2, for an important home ice victory. Even wit the short bench, the Ice extended the Luckies at different times during the game and Don Kenzle had to make some good saves. Blair and Derek Dinelle, along with Mike Mackay piled up the points Saturday night. Luckies also won the matinee game on Sunday by a score of 7-2. That game featured seven power-play goals, so the refs had a busy night. There were gross misconduct penalties to players on both sides in both games - so no love was lost, but some games will be lost, which could be costly to the Houston effort to get higher in the standings. This week-end, the Ice Demons will be on the road, visiting the Hazelton Wolverines, who will be looking for some pay-back after getting hammered 15-1 by the Demons just a week ago. In other games this week-end the Smithers Steelheads will be in Hockeyille to face the Terrace River Kings, which could be a bitter double-header match-up, with Terrace in desperate need of a win - while the Houston Luckies are in Burns Lake for a single Saturday night game. The recently-idle Williams Lake Stampeders will head to Vanderhoof for a double header with the Omineca Ice, that could be the defining point of the Stampeders' season.