The Williams Lake Stampeders picked up four of a possible four points on the road this weekend, knocking off the Houston Luckies and the Omineca Ice.
Saturday both the Stamps and the Luckies gave fans at the Claude Parish Memorial Arena a game to remember.
Tied 0-0 near the midway mark of the third period Williams Lake’s Jared Kohlen was injured on an illegal hit by a Houston player.
On the ensuing power play Ryan Yaworski, on a setup from Stuart Sasges, made the Luckies pay. Yaworski’s goal at 6:35 of the third period held up as the game winner, and the Stampeders marched away with a 1-0 victory.
Williams Lake netminder Justin Foote was spectacular between the pipes in the shutout performance, said Stampeders general manager Don Hanson.
“He was on the money,” Hanson said. “He’s tough to beat when he’s hot.”
Sunday, the Stamps headed to Vanderhoof for a meeting with the Omineca Ice.
There, on the strength of two separate hat trick performances from Jason Wright and Matt Lees, Williams Lake rode off with a 12-5 win.
Also scoring for the Stampeders in the contest were Wilfred Robbins (2), Sasges (2), Tyson Hall and Nathan Zurak.
Overall, Hanson said he was pleased with the weekend’s outcome.
“It was a good trip,” he said. “The guys played excellent. We were a little bit shorthanded on Saturday but it was a heck of a game.”
Williams Lake now has eight wins and four losses on the campaign and sits second in the Central Interior Hockey League East Division. In first are the Quesnel Kangaroos (9-2-2).
Williams Lake will have an opportunity to close the distance on the division leaders this Saturday, Dec. 3 when the Kangaroos visit the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex for a date with the Stampeders.
Hanson said fans should be in for a great game and added they hope to follow in the footsteps of a Nov. 13 win over the ‘Roos.
“Our basic plan is to just keep a guy on their top scorer (Paul Girodat),” Hanson said. “That shuts them down a bit. I think we’ll have a pretty full slate of guys and it should be a good one.”
Game time is 7:30 p.m.