Demons hold off the Luckies to take west

In what was dubbed the best two way game of the season, the Kitimat Ice Demons fought off the determined Houston Luckies to win 5-3 in the third game of the CIHL first round playoff series.
Houston had set the scene with a 4-3 win on home ice on February 3, but the Demons cancelled that out Saturday with a 6-4 win to set up Sunday’s decider.
The Luckies had not come this far to quit and showed how determined they were to put the Demons away with a goal in the first minute of the game, by Blair Lefebvre, who was a thorn in the Demons’ side all series.
Steve Little and Derek Dinelle, assisted on the goal with only 21 seconds gone in the game.
But it only took the Demons one minute and 10 seconds to get that goal back, Jeff Mildenberger scoring with a “seeing eye” shot down the middle that Luckies goaltender Don Kenzel likely never saw. Assists went to Terry Whelan and Ian Coleman.
 That was all the scoring in the first, as the teams settled in for a hard battle with some big hits and some hard skating. This was the game the fans had waited for and they roared support for their Demons throughout.
Houston out-shot the Demons 13-7, but Jamie Moran was having his best game of the season, after the first minute goal.
Two goals by the Demons in the second period allowed Kitimat to take a 3-2 margin to the locker room at the end of the second.
Demons regained the lead after three minutes on a nice backhander by captain Chris Vilness, assisted by Bossence and Terry Whelan.
Blair Lefebvre, with his fifth of the double-header, evened it up again with a big crowd in Moran’s crease and the goalie screened by big Dave Wilejto.
The Ice Demons got that one back on a power play as Blaine Markwart and Hewitson combined to set up Mildenberger for his second goal which hit someone and eluded Kenzel.
Again Houston out-shot the Demons 15-10 in the period.
In the third Demons added two goals, one a shorthanded breakaway by Markwart after Hewitson cleared the puck up-ice on the penalty kill. Markwart buried his patented top corner bullet and Demons were up 4-2.
Markwart combined with Mildenberger to give the Demons the insurance goal they needed although Alonzo Slaney, who played a gritty game with a hip injury, scored a power play goal with three minutes remaining (Blair Dinelle and Jeff Lloyd).
But, the Luckies were tiring and Demons just played the puck around to limit shots as they eked out the rest of the time before pouring on to the ice to congratulate Moran, who stopped 15 of 16 Luckies shots in the third, many of them on their two late power plays.
On Saturday night the game itself turned out much as anticipated as the Ice Demons used speed and a hard forecheck to force the Luckies into errors.
At about the six-minute mark, on a power play with James Mackowichuk in the box for slashing, Markwart whipped the puck into the net on a cross-crease rebound from Hewitson.
But as quickly as the Demons fans were on their feet, referee Steve Bell waved the goal off and sent Demons’ Coleman to the penalty box for roughing with Luckies Glen Kelly after Kenzel was flattened.
About a minute later Daniel Mayer was rewarded for the continuous Demon pressure on the Luckies’ goal, when he snapped a shot behind Kenzel with Mackowichuk still in the box. Assists went to Geoff Morgan and Mildenberger.
But it only took about a minute before the Luckies tied the score on a rare first period foray up the ice and Lefebvre, to the left of goaltender Brett Vilness, converted along the ice on a nice forecheck puck recovery play by Slaney.
It was only the Luckies third shot on goal, with Demons having had 16 at the other end.
The Demons went back to applying the pressure off the ensuing face-off and Mayer sent Derek Wakita in alone and he backhanded a quick one to restore the Demons’ lead within 46 seconds.
But again the Luckies came right back and a defensive turnover right at the blue line allowed Lefebvre to flip a spinning puck at Vilness, who wasn’t expecting it and saw it drop into the net behind him,
Demons came right back with three minutes remaining when Coleman snapped home a pass from Markwart that gave Kenzel no chance to make a save. An assist went to Hewitson on the tic-tac-toe play.
 Just 23 seconds later Lefebvre was awarded a penalty shot after being tripped coming in alone on Vilness but the goaltender made up for missing the flip shot from the blue line by stopping Lefebvre cleanly.
But just when it looked like Demons were going to take a 3-2 lead out of the period, the fast-skating Lefebvre again got behind the defense and put a shot into Vilness’ pads. The goalie, sliding backwards into the net took the puck with him with only one second to go to the buzzer.
 So the teams started the second period tied at 3-3 and while the Luckies stepped up the pace a bit, they were still being outworked, with the Demons picking up a goal by Markwart (unassisted) after Markwart, Coleman and Hewitson came in hard on goal three times on one fast shift and making it 5-3 a minute later when Whelan got a clean high shot behind Kenzel after being sent in by Doug Wilson.
Wilson was having a big game and, energized by the goal, he scored one of his own nine minutes later carrying the puck down the right wing and coming out from the corner to put the rebound on his first shot behind Kenzel. Jeff Baker earned an assist on the play.
 Luckies got that one back less than half a minute later, Kelly finishing off a good passing play by Jon Marren and Blair Dinelle.
The two teams went to the locker rooms at the end of the period with the Demons up 6-4.
The third period produced some exciting hockey, but no scoring although the Luckies pulled out all the stops – and Kenzel for the last minute – but Vilness made up for his shaky first period with 13 good stops.
 The Williams Lake Stampeders hosted the Omenica Ice and despite being shorthanded with only 12 players, the Ice came within one second of forcing a third game.
But Williams Lake tied it at 3-3 in the final second of the game and went on to notch the winner, by Nathan Zurak, with less than three minutes to play in the second overtime period.
The Stamps will travel to Kitimat this Saturday, February 17, for a single game at Tamitik Arena and Kitimat will travel to Williams Lake the following Saturday for one or two games to decide the Kal Tire Cup winner. 
The Ice Demons are the defending champions.
In what was dubbed the best two way game of the season, the Kitimat Ice Demons fought off the determined Houston Luckies to win 5-3 in the third game of the CIHL first round playoff series.
Houston had set the scene with a 4-3 win on home ice on February 3, but the Demons cancelled that out Saturday with a 6-4 win to set up Sunday’s decider.
The Luckies had not come this far to quit and showed how determined they were to put the Demons away with a goal in the first minute of the game, by Blair Lefebvre, who was a thorn in the Demons’ side all series.
Steve Little and Derek Dinelle, assisted on the goal with only 21 seconds gone in the game.
But it only took the Demons one minute and 10 seconds to get that goal back, Jeff Mildenberger scoring with a “seeing eye” shot down the middle that Luckies goaltender Don Kenzel likely never saw. Assists went to Terry Whelan and Ian Coleman.
 That was all the scoring in the first, as the teams settled in for a hard battle with some big hits and some hard skating. This was the game the fans had waited for and they roared support for their Demons throughout.
Houston out-shot the Demons 13-7, but Jamie Moran was having his best game of the season, after the first minute goal.
Two goals by the Demons in the second period allowed Kitimat to take a 3-2 margin to the locker room at the end of the second.
Demons regained the lead after three minutes on a nice backhander by captain Chris Vilness, assisted by Bossence and Terry Whelan.
Blair Lefebvre, with his fifth of the double-header, evened it up again with a big crowd in Moran’s crease and the goalie screened by big Dave Wilejto.
The Ice Demons got that one back on a power play as Blaine Markwart and Hewitson combined to set up Mildenberger for his second goal which hit someone and eluded Kenzel.
Again Houston out-shot the Demons 15-10 in the period.
In the third Demons added two goals, one a shorthanded breakaway by Markwart after Hewitson cleared the puck up-ice on the penalty kill. Markwart buried his patented top corner bullet and Demons were up 4-2.
Markwart combined with Mildenberger to give the Demons the insurance goal they needed although Alonzo Slaney, who played a gritty game with a hip injury, scored a power play goal with three minutes remaining (Blair Dinelle and Jeff Lloyd).
But, the Luckies were tiring and Demons just played the puck around to limit shots as they eked out the rest of the time before pouring on to the ice to congratulate Moran, who stopped 15 of 16 Luckies shots in the third, many of them on their two late power plays.
On Saturday night the game itself turned out much as anticipated as the Ice Demons used speed and a hard forecheck to force the Luckies into errors.
At about the six-minute mark, on a power play with James Mackowichuk in the box for slashing, Markwart whipped the puck into the net on a cross-crease rebound from Hewitson.
But as quickly as the Demons fans were on their feet, referee Steve Bell waved the goal off and sent Demons’ Coleman to the penalty box for roughing with Luckies Glen Kelly after Kenzel was flattened.
About a minute later Daniel Mayer was rewarded for the continuous Demon pressure on the Luckies’ goal, when he snapped a shot behind Kenzel with Mackowichuk still in the box. Assists went to Geoff Morgan and Mildenberger.
But it only took about a minute before the Luckies tied the score on a rare first period foray up the ice and Lefebvre, to the left of goaltender Brett Vilness, converted along the ice on a nice forecheck puck recovery play by Slaney.
It was only the Luckies third shot on goal, with Demons having had 16 at the other end.
The Demons went back to applying the pressure off the ensuing face-off and Mayer sent Derek Wakita in alone and he backhanded a quick one to restore the Demons’ lead within 46 seconds.
But again the Luckies came right back and a defensive turnover right at the blue line allowed Lefebvre to flip a spinning puck at Vilness, who wasn’t expecting it and saw it drop into the net behind him,
Demons came right back with three minutes remaining when Coleman snapped home a pass from Markwart that gave Kenzel no chance to make a save. An assist went to Hewitson on the tic-tac-toe play.
 Just 23 seconds later Lefebvre was awarded a penalty shot after being tripped coming in alone on Vilness but the goaltender made up for missing the flip shot from the blue line by stopping Lefebvre cleanly.
But just when it looked like Demons were going to take a 3-2 lead out of the period, the fast-skating Lefebvre again got behind the defense and put a shot into Vilness’ pads. The goalie, sliding backwards into the net took the puck with him with only one second to go to the buzzer.
 So the teams started the second period tied at 3-3 and while the Luckies stepped up the pace a bit, they were still being outworked, with the Demons picking up a goal by Markwart (unassisted) after Markwart, Coleman and Hewitson came in hard on goal three times on one fast shift and making it 5-3 a minute later when Whelan got a clean high shot behind Kenzel after being sent in by Doug Wilson.
Wilson was having a big game and, energized by the goal, he scored one of his own nine minutes later carrying the puck down the right wing and coming out from the corner to put the rebound on his first shot behind Kenzel. Jeff Baker earned an assist on the play.
 Luckies got that one back less than half a minute later, Kelly finishing off a good passing play by Jon Marren and Blair Dinelle.
The two teams went to the locker rooms at the end of the period with the Demons up 6-4.
The third period produced some exciting hockey, but no scoring although the Luckies pulled out all the stops – and Kenzel for the last minute – but Vilness made up for his shaky first period with 13 good stops.
 The Williams Lake Stampeders hosted the Omenica Ice and despite being shorthanded with only 12 players, the Ice came within one second of forcing a third game.
But Williams Lake tied it at 3-3 in the final second of the game and went on to notch the winner, by Nathan Zurak, with less than three minutes to play in the second overtime period.
The Stamps will travel to Kitimat this Saturday, February 17, for a single game at Tamitik Arena and Kitimat will travel to Williams Lake the following Saturday for one or two games to decide the Kal Tire Cup winner. 
The Ice Demons are the defending champions.