They may be neighbours, but there certainly wasn’t any love lost when the Williams Lake Stampeders took on the Lac la Hache Tomahawks in Central Interior Hockey League action Saturday night.
Brimming with fans cheering for both teams, the tone was set in the first period of play with hard hits delivered by both teams at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
Williams Lake Stampeders’ forward Matt Lees opened up the score eight minutes into the game assisted by Nathan Zurak, before the Tomahawks answered back five minutes later with a goal by Walter Schmidt assisted by Wilfred Robbins.
Lees retaliated with a power play goal in the last minute of play in the first period assisted by Caleb Roy and Stuart Sasges.
The Stamps opened up scoring again four minutes into the second period with a goal from Kurtis Bond assisted by Dylan Richardson.
The Tomahawks kept the Stamps on their toes to make it 3-2 with a goal from Wilfred Robbins on a power play assisted by Kyle Crump and Anthony Sellars, which was followed up by a goal for Williams Lake Stampeders Andrew Fisher on a power play, assisted by Stuart Sasges and Aaron Zurak.
The third period saw the Tomahawks deliver three more goals by Robbins, Sellars and Schmidt while the Stamps scored four goals by Nathan Zurak, David Gore and two by Lees, one an empty netter in the last minute of play.
Final score for the game was 8-5 for the Stamps.
Both teams recorded 16 minutes of penalties during the game, most of which were called in the first and second periods.
The Stamps currently sit first in the league and first in the east division with a record of six wins and no losses.
Stampeders’ netminder Richard Ward notched the win, stopping 25 of 30 shots he faced, while Lac La Hache’s Willie Sellars turned aside 27 of 35 attempts in the losing efforts.
Next game for the Williams Lake Stampeders is this Saturday night, Nov. 8, against the Prince Rupert Rampage. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. at the CMRC.