With two decisive, home-ice wins against the Steelheads Saturday, Jan. 13 and Sunday, Jan. 14 the Williams Lake Stampeders are feeling optimistic about the rest of the season.
“It’s a big one for us,” said Stamps head coach Derrick Walters after Saturday evening’s 12-4 win.
He said if they won Sunday it would secure first place in the division.
Sunday saw the Stamps win 6-4.
Walters said the team put in a complete effort for Saturday night’s game.
“We did let up a little bit in the third period. It was a bit difficult. We want to keep the same mentality going through, but have fun at the same time and take one game at a time.”
Some of the Stamps’ top players are out with injuries, giving some of the other players the opportunity to succeed, he added.
“I’m pretty proud of their effort.”
Walters noted Kaleb Boyle has been out since Thanksgiving weekend when they played in Quesnel. Corbin Marcotte, Brendan Pigeon and Dayton Long are also presently off with injuries.
“We are down a few guys so it’s really good to see everybody step up and play together. It feels pretty good. I’m happy how it turned out today,” he said.
Scoring the only goal in the first period was Markus Myatovic for the Stamps.
In the second period the Stamps eight goals were scored by Andrew Hodder, Cory Loring, Jaydon Merritt, who got three goals, Nick Fadanza and Cam Flinton.
Scoring for the Steelheads in the second period was Noah Tokorchuck.
In the third period, the Steelheads came back with three goals delivered by Brendan Moore, Payton Davis and Kodi Schwarz.
For the Stamps Foerster scored twice - once unassisted - and Ethan Smid got the Stamps’ 12th goal within the final seconds of the game.
Sunday’s 6-4 win was a closer contest.
In the first period, Foerster, Flinton and Fidanza scored for the Stamps, while Moore scored for the Steelheads. Merritt got one goal for the Stamps in the second period, while Jeremy Lagler and Schwarz got two for Steelheads.
Foerster scored again in the third period as did Fidanza while Tokarchuck scored for the Steelheads.
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