Smithers Win Double Header in Kitimat

The Steelheads won 8-7 in a thrilling shoot-out on Saturday night, followed by a dominating 4-1 win on Sunday.
(November 22nd/23rd)

Steelheads were missing players for Saturday's game and even more on Sunday, but still the Fish still turned the Ice Demons into Ice Worms, the Fish's favorite food.

On Saturday:

First game the Mighty Demons didn’t know what hit them. A Young Steelheads team with skill, heart and determination skated on the ice. The Demons didn’t touch the puck until 16:30 of the period. Vilness, Demons goalie had to make two incredible save on two breakaways within the first two minutess of the game.

The Demons settled down and realized that if they had any chance to win this weekend, they would have to do a little more then what they have been doing against the west teams.  One of the strengths for the Demons is there face-offs. They controlled most of the face-offs for both games, however, controlling the puck is one of the Steelhead’s strengths and the Steelheads didn’t give the Demons time to control the puck.

Going into the second, the Demons had a two goal lead, but this turned out not to be indicative of the game; maybe this is what Papa Hewey meant by “Puck Luck”. The puck luck continued into the second period as the Demons scored their third goal of the game. 

Then, the hard work and the extra effort by the Steelheads, who wouldn’t give up, started to pay off. Fans were treated to two highly skilled teams in end to end action, which could potentially be a preview of the CIHL finals.  Steelheads scored their first goal at the end of a power play, and the Demons answered back with the same. Next came a seven minute nightmare for the Demons, puck luck, as the Fish scored five goals in a row… oops.  

Before the period ended, the Demons scored two more times on the power play ending the period in a 6-6 tie. In the second, ten goals were scored in an electrifying Steelhead comeback.

The third period was end to end, even-steven hockey; Demons won the face-offs, Steelheads won the puck. Deba, for the Fish and Vilness, for the Demons made some incredible saves. I think Papa Hewey should be looking for another shot-on-goal counter who can keep counting when he runs out of toes and fingers.  

Steelheads scored on their second power play of the night, to regain the lead at 5:58. A miss handled puck in the corner resulted in a break away short handed goal by the Demons with only 12 seconds left to tie the game at 7-7.  On to a shoot out.

First round of the shootout saw Steelhead’s Randall Groot fake the Demon’s goalie out for a spotless goal. Blaine Markwart for Kitimat extended the pressure by scoring on Deba. Then, Matt Arnold gave the Steelheads a 2-1 advantage by undressing the goalie with beautiful stick handling and dumping it in behind Vilness. Terry Whelans, up next for the Demons missed the net, leaving the advantage to the Steelheads.

Third round in the shoot out and Ian Smith’s attempt was blocked by Vilness, giving the Demons one last chance with Derek Wakita.  Wakita failed to beat the Smithers goalie’s quick reflexes and the Steelheads roared onto the ice to meet Deba for the victory.

First period goals:
Demons, 1st goal: C. Hewitson (T. Whelan, B. Markwart)
Demons, 2nd goal: A. Baldo (J. Mildenberger, P. Plant)

Second period goals:
Demons 3rd goal: T. Whelan (C. Hewitson, D. Wilson)
Steelheads 1st goal and 1 of three points for the night Tyler Pederson (Randle Groot, Darnel Calfa)
Demons 4th goal: D. Wakita (D. Wilson, C. Hewitson)
5 goals in a row for the Fish:
2nd goal Tyler Pederson ( Ty Koldyk, Eric Smith )
3rd goal and a 4 point night, Ian Smith (Ty Koldyk, Tyler Pederson)
4th goal scored by Randal Groot (Darnel Calfa, Ian Smith)
5th goal scored by Dallas Anderson (Nathan Skubovious, Ian Smith)
6th goal scored by and second of the night Ian smith (Colin Lloyd)
Demons 5th goal scored by N. Markowski (T. Whelan, J. Mildenberger)
Demons tying goal scored by G. Saby (B. Hanson, T. Bossence)
6-6 after two periods.
3rd period goals scored by Colin Lloyd (Dallas Anderson)
Demons tying goal (7th) scored by I. Coleman (J. Mildenberger, T. Bossence)

Shoot out:
Steelheads - Randle Groot - Scored    
Demons - Blair Markwart - Scored
Steelheads - Matt Arnold - Scored
Demons - Terry Whelan  -  Missed
Steelheads - Ian  Smith  -  Missed  
Demons - Derrick Wakita - Missed
 Steelheads win:    8 - 7

On Sunday:

Puck Luck #2

A hard hitting fast game with both teams finishing their checks. The ref, Steve Bell, let the teams play, deciding the game for themselves and doing a great job.

For two and half periods, it was all Steelheads and just like the first game, the Demons won the face-offs, the Fish won the puck and they won it with plain and simple hard work.  The Demons came on with seven minutes left in the game, scoring one out of the 20 shots on goal in the last 5 minutes. They just couldn’t put the puck past Deba. Puck Luck, or did Papa Hewey mean Pot Luck?

Thanks to the strenuous energy the D-men for the Fish provided, the Demons didn’t have the time that they needed to handle the puck in order to get a good shot on net. A total team effort.

The Steelheads first goal was scored at 17:22 of the second period, by Tyler Pederson, unassisted. The Steelheads’ second goal was scored by Mike Verticchio (Colin Lloyd, Randal Groot).  The Fish’s third goal in the third was scored by Darryl Young (Russ Blanchard). The Demons only goal was scored by C. Hewitson (J. baker, I. Coleman). The Steelheads’ final goal was by scored by Darryl Young, his second of the game,  unassisted.

Steelheads win 4 - 1

  The Steelheads' next games are against East division rivals in Vanderhoof, the Omineca Ice, on Nov 29th and 30th. Their next home game is Dec. 6th against the Omineca Ice.