BURSTWhat began as a low-scoring, evenly paced matchup turned into a third-period blowout, as the Smithers Steelheads overpowered the Kitimat Ice Demons 8–1 on Nov. 15 at Tamitik Arena.
Smithers broke the deadlock late in the first period when Dylan Oud opened the scoring at 12:04, assisted by Kaleb Roy and Kevin Fillier. The Ice Demons held the visitors to a single goal through the rest of the frame, but pressure continued to build in the second.
Drew Stevens doubled the lead at 13:28 of the second, and with one second left in the period, Ian Chrystal capitalized on a power play to make it 3–0. The goal came after Kitimat’s Adam Cabral was handed a five-minute boarding penalty and game misconduct at 18:00, giving Smithers an extended man advantage that carried into the third.
From there, the game tilted sharply in the Steelheads’ favour.
Just over a minute into the final frame, Riley Coish made it 4–0. Moments later, a string of penalties assessed to Wil DeJong—including spearing, instigating, fighting and a game misconduct—set the stage for back-to-back power-play goals from Ryan Green and Levi Olson, pushing the lead to 6–0.
Kitimat’s lone goal came midway through the period, as captain Derek Wakita scored on the power play at 11:23, assisted by Maddox Medeiros and Ayden Baldo.
Smithers responded with two more goals to close out the game—Kodi Schwarz at 14:53 and Chrystal’s second of the night at 18:36.
The game grew increasingly aggressive as it wore on. Kitimat finished with 71 minutes in penalties, while Smithers racked up 68 of their own.