The Smithers Steelheads will be hoping for a repeat of last weekend when they hit the ice at the Smithers Civic Centre Arena this Saturday. Last weekend, the Steelheads travelled to Houston for the first game in a best-of-three series in the first round of CIHL playoffs.
Even without Ryan Devries and Brendan Hutchinson on the ice, the Steelheads took care of business, with Dennis Olson and Joe Karpinski scoring a goal each in the first period. Matt Arnold picked up a third goal in the third period, for a 3-0 win in the first game of the series.
“When we can go into the other team’s barn, down the two best defencemen in the league, and still win, it says a lot about the depth of our team,” said coach Gord Young.
Saturday the Steelheads will be at home, with the game starting at 7:30 p.m. If Smithers wins, they’ll move on to the next round of playoffs. If Houston wins, the series will go to a tie-breaker on Sunday, in Smithers at 1 p.m. The winner will face the top team in a series between the Burns Lake Braves and the Williams Lake Stampeders.
Young said the Steelheads are ready for Saturday’s game.
“They’re very motivated and focused. The guys definitely want to take it to the next level,” he said.