Nathan Zurak and Kurtis Bond both had two goals and two assists to lead the Williams Lake Stampeders to a 10-5 road victory over the Quesnel Kangaroos Feb. 6 to go up 1-0 in the Central Interior Hockey League East Division playoff final.
Games two and three of the best-of-five series take place this weekend in Williams Lake at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex and a weekend sweep would propel the Stampeders into the CIHL playoff final.
On Saturday, Williams Lake’s Evan Fuller opened the scoring with an unassisted marker, before Quesnel’s Ryan Hanes knotted it up at 1-1 just seven minutes into the contest.
Stamps’ forward Matt Lees retaliated with two goals of his own to send Williams Lake into the second frame up 3-1.
The Kangaroos’ Mike Kalusny put it within one early in the period, but Francis Johnson gave Williams Lake back its two-goal lead. Quesnel’s Tommy Grant and Williams Lake’s Matt Stang then traded tallies to give the Stampeders a 5-3 lead heading into the final frame.
From there, Williams Lake opened up its offence as Stang added his second, Bond notched his two goals, as did Zurak, for a five-goal period. Justin Fulton and Ryan Skinner scored two for Quesnel in the third.
Justin Foote made 31 saves in the winning effort, while Richard Ward turned aside 35 of 45 shots on the other end.
Stampeders president Marko Zurak said he’s hoping the team can close it out this weekend with home-ice advantage and will then set its sights on the CIHL final, where the team has a chance to automatically qualify for the Coy Cup senior men’s provincial AA championship should a certain scenario present itself.
In the West Divsion, both the Smithers Steelheads and the Terrace River Kings swept the Kitimat Ice Demons and the Prince Rupert Rampage, respectively, and will square off in game one of their best-of-five divisional final this Saturday in Terrace.
Should Terrace advance to the CIHL final, the Stampeders will earn an automatic berth to the Coy Cup, regardless of the series outcome, as Terrace is the host team and automatically qualifies.
Game time Saturday in Williams Lake is 7:30 p.m. Puck drop Sunday goes at 1:30 p.m.