The Smithers Steelheads got off to an inauspicious start in 2025 with losses to the Williams Lake Stampeders Jan. 4 and 5 on the road.
On Saturday night, it was all Williams Lake as the Stamps held the visitors to no goals to their seven. On Sunday it wasn't much better for Smithers as the home team put up another seven allowing only one marker for the visitors.
“It was probably our best complete game effort two games in a row,” coach Derrick Walters told Black Press Media.
“It was really good to start 2025 like that and continue our winning streak.”
In front of a large home crowd Saturday, Jan. 4 Stamps goalie Ryan Balbirnie got the shutout, leading a 7-0 win.
On Sunday, goalie Zach Straza was only a hair off in a 7-1 final. For Smithers, it was Noah Tokarchuk who scored the only goal of the weekend with helpers from Kodi Schwarz and Levi Olson halfway through the second period.
While praising both goaltenders, Walters said the defence also had a hand in the lopsided results.
“I'm happy with the goaltending and our defensive play, of course we're always pretty good at putting the puck in the net so that was nice for our guys to put up a lot of goals as well.”
The two losses put the Steelheads record at five wins and 10 losses, the only saving grace being the Nechako Northstars are lagging way behind at just one win on the season. The Vanderhoof squad would have to pull off a nearly miraculous winning streak in their five remaining games to have any chance of displacing Smithers in the playoff picture.
Meanwhile, the Hazelton Wolverines continued their hot streak by thrashing the Ice Demons in Kitimat 8-3 on Jan. 4.
Kitimat opened the scoring just one minute into the game when Zachary Quinlan capitalized on a powerplay opportunity to give the Ice Demons a 1-0 lead. Hazelton answered swiftly, with Marcus Atchison finding the back of the net at 3:16 to tie the game. The Wolverines struck again at 7:58 when Drew Fudger scored to secure a 2-1 lead by the end of the first period.
The second period saw the Wolverines dominate, scoring four unanswered goals. At 5:40, Fudger tallied his second goal of the night, extending Hazelton’s lead to 3-1. Minutes later, during a powerplay at 8:31, Fudger completed his hat trick with a precise shot. Jared Meers added to the total at 10:22, and Hunter Johnson chipped in at 12:03 to give Hazelton a commanding 6-1 advantage heading into the third period.
Kitimat managed to reduce the deficit early in the final frame, with Tanner Daum scoring at 00:17. However, Hazelton quickly responded. Drew Fudger added his fourth goal of the game at 9:36, and Meers netted his second at 13:51, sealing the 8-3 victory.
The win gives the Wolverines an 8-4-0-1 record five points ahead of the third-place Prince Rupert Rampage in the CIHL west division, but still trailing the league-leading Terrace River Kings by nine points.
With Terrace having all but clinched a bye in the first round of the playoffs, the division appears poised for a showdown between Hazelton and Prince Rupert for the third year in a row for a spot in the division championship round. Hazelton has swept both of the previous meetings.
Hazelton is in action again this weekend on Jan. 11 in Prince Rupert and Terrace is in Kitimat while Smithers has the weekend off.
The playoffs start the first week of February.
