The Williams Lake Stampeders fell behind 1-0 in the Central Interior Hockey League best-of-three playoff final Saturday on home ice, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Smithers Steelheads.
Despite outshooting the Steelheads 29-18, Williams Lake wasn’t able to solve Steelheads’ netminder David Little, who made 28 saves in the win.
Mark Arnold opened the scoring for Smithers just after the one minute mark of the first period, before Williams Lake’s Matt Lees tied up the contest at 1-1 early in the second.
From there, Smithers tallied twice more with goals from Adam DeVries and Skylar Hasell, before Randall Groot closed out the scoring for the Steelheads midway through the third.
Both teams struggled on the power play with Smithers going 0-6 and Williams Lake going 0-8.
It was Williams Lake’s last home game of the season, which saw the Stamps bid farewell to their fans in front of a packed house at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
Game two and, if necessary, game three of the series go next Saturday and Sunday, respectively, in Smithers.
The winner of the CIHL playoff final will earn a berth to the Coy Cup senior men’s provincial ‘AA’ championship later in Terrace.
