The Williams Lake Stampeders exploded for five second-period goals Thursday night to defeat the Kelowna Sparta 6-4 in both teams’ third and final game of the Coy Cup Senior Men’s AA Hockey Championship round robin.
The win solidifies the Stampeders as the second-place round robin finisher, while the Sparta wound up third, setting up a Coy Cup semifinal rematch between the two teams tomorrow night to decide who will advance to take on the round robin’s first-place team, the Dawson Creek Canucks.
The Canucks handed the Central Interior Hockey League champion Terrace River Kings their third straight loss of the tournament in a 8-0 drubbing earlier in the evening at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex in Williams Lake.
The winner of tomorrow’s round robin will face the Canucks on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Coy Cup championship.
Thursday, Williams Lake fell behind 2-0 after the first period, before Mark Bouchard, David Gore, Ian O’Brien, Andrew Fisher and Nathan Zurak all lit the lamp for the Stamps to take a 5-3 lead into the final frame.
There, Justin Bond — the game’s MVP for the Stamps with a goal and an assist — tallied to finish off the Stamps’ offence for the night in the 6-4 victory.
Williams Lake’s Willie Sellars picked up the win between the pipes for the Stamps, while another Williams Lake goaltender, Matt Brenner, was in action for the Sparta.
With the win, the Stampeders finished the three-game round robin with two wins and a tie, picking up wins over the River Kings and the Sparta, and tying the Canucks, 2-2, Wednesday night.
The Canucks will receive a bye to the Coy Cup final, despite also finishing with two wins and a tie, due to having the best goal average between the two teams — determined by dividing the total number of goals for and against into the total number of goals for.
Puck drop is 8 p.m. for Friday’s semifinal between the Stampeders and the Sparta.