Justin Foote had a remarkable 62-save shutout performance in the third and deciding game of the CIHL East Division final at the Smithers Civic Centre Arena Sunday to lead the Williams Lake Stampeders past the Smithers Steelheads, 2-0.
The Stampeders are now guaranteed a spot to compete at the Coy Cup senior men’s provincial hockey championship in Prince Rupert in March and will meet the Kitimat Ice Demons in the CIHL playoff final beginning next Saturday in Kitimat.
The Stampeders rode into Smithers Saturday with a 1-0 series lead from the previous weekend’s 8-4 home-ice win and were looking to close out the series.
Smithers, however, had other plans. In front of a packed house at the Civic Centre Arena the Steelheads did not disappoint, evening out the series at one game a piece with a 4-1 win over the Stamps.
Backed by a strong performance from former Anaheim Duck and Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mike Wall, who calls Telkwa, B.C. his hometown, the Steelheads shut down the Williams Lake offence.
Wall made 38 saves on 39 shots while Ryan Devries, Darryl Young, Kellin Stredulinsky and Joe Karpinski found the twine on the offensive end for the Steelheads.
Scoring the lone Williams Lake goal was Jeff Gagnon near the end of the second period.
Sunday, Foote decided to one-up his counterpart at the other end of the ice.
“Foote was just unbelievable — totally unbelievable,” said Stampeders general manager Don Hanson of his netminder’s 62-save performance. “They couldn’t put anything by him.
“Sunday, it was probably our guys’ best game they played all year. They forechecked, they backchecked and it was just a real good game.”
Both of Sunday’s goals in the 2-0 win came in the second period as Wilfred Robbins and Paul Girodat lit the lamp on Wall.
The Stampeders will now head to Kitimat for game one of the best-of-three CIHL playoff final on Saturday, Feb. 19.
Games two and three will be played at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex the following weekend on Feb. 26-27.
The Ice Demons, who finished second over the regular season in the West Division, downed the first-place Prince Rupert Rampage Sunday, 4-2 in game three, to advance to the final.
