Weekend of Crazy Eights, as winners Kitimat, Smithers and Williams Lake all put eight goals past the opposition

No matter what game you watched in the Central Interior Hockey League this past Saturday night, you got to see the winners notch eight goals – as the Kitimat Ice Demons in the West Division rebounded from two losses at home last weekend, with a strong game to hammer the Terrace River Kings 6-1. The same score held up in Vanderhoof as the traveling Smithers Steelheads took advantage of some undisciplined play by the Omineca Ice, to win 8-1 and the Williams Lake Stampeders skated into the tight confines of the Hazelton Arena to take an 8-3 victory off the still winless Hazelton Wolverines. On Sunday, the Stampeders put another eight on the board - but then pushed hard to keep up the momentum - but they were unable to score an even more decisive victory over the struggling Wolverines. The score was 8-3 with two minutes left in the third period and that’s where it wound up as final. The Steeelheads came up against a more formidable Ice team and the score seemed to mount goal by goal, 2-2, 3-3, 6-6, as the two sides hit the net freely. For a time it looked like the Ice would be able to hold on for a victory as they led 7-6, with about seven minutes left in the third. But, again, the Steelheads surged back with two make it 8-7, leaving the fans on the edge of their seats. But that was how it finished as the Steelheads keep rolling, with four points in each of the last two weekends, to lift them into second place in the Division, with 14 points from only nine games. The double-header win by the Stampeders changed the standings significantly in the Eastern Division as the idle Houston Luckies dropped out of first place below both Williams Lake and Smithers. Williams Lake is now in first pace with 15 points from 12 wins and are a goal behind the Ice Demons in goals scored with 69. Demons eight goal win brought their total to 70. However the Stamps have 52 goals against, compared with the Demons’ 32. The Ice Demons remain well out in front in the West Division, and the league, with 21 points from 13 games. This coming weekend in the West Division, the Ice Demons return to Prince Rupert for a single game against the Rampage. In the East, the Smithers Steelheads resume their battle with the Omineca Ice in the friendlier confines of the Smithers Arena. Houston Luckies are idle again until the 13th when they take on the Ice, who will again be on the road.