BURSTThe Kitimat Ice Demons remain winless this season following a 6–1 loss to the Smithers Steelheads on Jan. 17 at Tamitik Arena. Kitimat was held scoreless until the final minutes of the third period, while Smithers built a commanding lead across all three frames.
Smithers opened the scoring early in the first with a power-play goal at 7:27, when Brendan Moore converted on assists from Kodi Schwarz and Jonathan Creswell. Less than a minute later, Jeremy Chadsey added a second goal to make it 2–0.
A roughing penalty at 14:15 put Kitimat back on the defensive, and Smithers capitalized again on the man advantage at 16:09. Creswell scored with assists from Ethan Perry and Schwarz.
The Steelheads kept the pressure on through the second period, with Creswell netting his second of the night at 10:25 to extend the lead to 4–0.
Kitimat’s lone goal came at 14:12 of the third, when captain Derek Wakita found the net off a setup from Tayden Fowler-McNab. By then, Smithers had already added two more — an unassisted goal from Kaleb Roy at 5:29 and a finish from Ryan Green at 6:55, assisted by Jesse Clarke.
A flurry of penalties at 7:21, including a major for cross-checking and multiple fighting majors, resulted in ejections for Kitimat’s Jonathan Aiken and Dawson Slaney, along with Smithers’ Devon Booth and Levi Olson. Chadsey was later handed a double minor for kneeing, but Kitimat couldn’t take advantage.
Kitimat remains at the bottom of the CIHL standings and continues to search for its first win of the season. Smithers sits just above them in sixth place with nine points. Terrace leads the league with 25 points, followed by Hazelton with 23 and Quesnel at 22.