The Williams Lake Stampeders are now in a tie for first place in the Central Interior Hockey League with the Smithers Steelheads.
The Steelheads handed the Stamps its first loss of the season in Smithers Saturday in an 8-6 final dropping Williams Lake’s record to six wins and one loss.
Smithers, meanwhile, sits at six wins and two losses on its season.
Saturday, Williams Lake got on the board first with a goal from Nathan Zurak five minutes into the contest, before Smithers’ Joel Gellvear evened it up at 1-1 five minutes later.
Zurak added his second of the night moments later on a power play, before the Steelheads’ Michael Lynch and Wade Masch sent the home team up 3-2 heading into the second frame.
There, the Steelheads extended its lead following four unanswered goals from Brendan DeVries (2), Gellvear and Eric Smith, before Andrew Fisher notched the lone tally of the period for the Stampeders to put it at 7-3 heading into the third.
Williams Lake then attempted to claw its way back, lighting the lamp three times with goals from Jassi Sangha, Zach Sternberg and David Gore to put the team within one, however, Gellvear scored an unassisted marker with three minutes remaining to complete the hat trick.
David Little picked up the win between the pipes for Smithers turning aside 41 of 47 shots, while Williams Lake’s Justin Foote stopped 33 of 41 shots.
On Friday night, Fisher proved to be the hero, scoring the winning goal just three minutes into overtime to give the Stampeders a 5-4 win over the Terrace River Kings.
Willie Sellars was outstanding for Williams Lake in goal making 47 saves on 51 shots.
Gore, Sternberg and Zurak (2) also lit the lamp for the Stamps in the winning effort.
The Stampeders will now travel to Quesnel on Friday, Nov. 25, before returning home to host the fourth-place Prince Rupert Rampage (5GP, 3W, 2L) on Nov. 26 with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
