The Williams Lake Stampeders and the Quesnel Kangaroos will resume their heated rivalry in the East Division semifinal of the Central Interior Hockey League playoffs.
The Stampeders wrapped up their best-of-three series with the Lac La Hache Tomahawks Saturday in Williams Lake posting a 7-3 win after squeaking out a 5-4 victory in game one in Lac La Hache.
Quesnel, after dropping game one to the Houston Luckies, battled back to win both their second and third playoff matchups.
Saturday, both the Tomahawks and the Stampeders traded scoring opportunities in the first period, before regular season league-leading scorer Nathan Zurak beat Lac La Hache goaltender Willie Sellars with 10 seconds left in the frame to put his squad up 1-0.
Williams Lake expanded its lead to 3-0 in the second period after Jassi Sangha and Tyrel Lucas both tallied.
Lac La Hache got on the board in the third when Kevin McNab fooled Stampeders' netminder Justin Foote just three minutes into frame, before Sangha and Greg Nickel answered back for the Stampeders to go up 5-1.
Donovan Nicholas added an even-strength marker, plus a power play tally later in the period, but Matt Lees and David Gore, scoring into an empty net, capped off the 7-3 victory.
Williams Lake is now preparing to travel to Quesnel this weekend for game one in the best-of-three semifinal. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Quesnel Twin Ice Arenas.
The series then resumes next Saturday, Feb. 15, in Williams Lake with game two, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex, before game three, if necessary, follows Sunday. Puck drop Sunday, Feb. 16, if required, is 1:30 p.m.
In the West Division semifinal the Smithers Steelheads will take on the Terrace River Kings.
Smithers beat Kitimat in two games straight, while Terrace advanced after a 7-1 win Sunday in its game three series with the Prince Rupert Rampage.