Kendall Stace-Smith's overtime goal handed the Prince Rupert Rampage a 5-4 win over a depleted Smithers Steelheads lineup in CIHL action on Sunday.
Stace-Smith took a feed from Rampage captain Jared Meers and backed off a Smithers defender before moving to the high slot and firing a wrist shot top shelf past Steelhead netminder Steve Andrade to earn the Rampage a split of the weekend double-header at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre.
The Rampage took an early two-goal lead after the first period on markers by Jared Davis and Mike Coolin before the Steelheads roared back to tie the game at two apiece early in the second.
The Steelheads, who were down to 12 players on Sunday, equalized the score on goals by Randall Groot and Ryan Green.
Prince Rupert re-established a two-goal lead within five minutes of the Steelhead pushback on goals by Stace-Smith and Ryan Fuzi.
Less than three minutes later however, Adam deVries, on the powerplay, pulled the Steelheads back to within one.
The Steelheads powerplay struck again at the 6:05 mark as Smithers captain Darryl Young pounced on a rebound at the side of the Rampage net to knot the game 4-4.
With about five minutes to play, Rupert's Craig Munro hammered a Steelhead forward from behind. When the dust settled from the ensuing donnybrook, Munro and two Steelheads — Ryan deVries and Cody Sutherland — were ejected leaving the Smithers club with only four extra skaters on the bench — but on a three-minute 5-on-4 man advantage. Rampage netminder Devin Gerrits made two spectacular saves during the Steelheads powerplay to send the game into overtime.
In the extra frame, Stace-Smith struck for his second goal of the game to give the Rampage a 5-4 victory.
Steelheads 2 - Rampage 1
Two second period goals by Adam deVries lifted the Steelheads to a 2-1 win over the Rampage Saturday in Prince Rupert.
Craig Munro's shorthanded goal midway through the third gave Prince Rupert life, but Steelheads netminder Tyler Perreault shut the door for the Smithers victory.