The CIHL playoffs will be underway this weekend, with the Smithers Steelheads going up against the Williams Lake Stampeders. For Head Coach Dave Tucker, this season is viewed as a building year for the club. The Steelheads are looking to build their program up to their 2011-12 status, who ended the season with a Coy Cup win.
“We’re learning what we have and although it wasn’t a great season in terms of wins and losses, it was a good season in terms of building our program a little bit. Williams Lake is a great team. They are structured and they have great talent. We’re up against a very good opponent.”
For Tucker, he knows that the odds are not in their favour coming into the playoffs with a 6-12-0 record, good for 6th in the league. But for now, it’s a fresh sheet of ice with a new opportunity, with a lot of new players.
“I don’t know if it would be realistic to not see ourselves as the underdog,” he said. “I would think everyone in the league expects Williams Lake to come away as the victor. But again, crazy things happen in the playoffs and we’re not walking into the arena thinking that we’re up against an insurmountable opponent,” Smithers has also not won a playoff game since the 2016-17 season. “Obviously you look at the records and they speak for themselves, but there’s still a game to be played.”
Despite being the lower seed, the Steelheads will be starting the playoffs on home ice, followed by at least one game in Williams Lake. If the best-of-three series goes to a third game, Williams Lake will host the tie-breaker. It’s an out of ordinary start for a playoff format compared to many leagues around the nation, but Tucker and the steelheads will take the outcome as it is.
“I think you could look at it that way if you’re looking for an advantage,” said Tucker. “You got your first game at home and if you’re a good home team, you win one and then the pressure goes to the team with two games at home where they’ll have to win back-to-back. I think that is one advantage to the three game format and having games on both sites.”
Looking forward, the Steelheads will look to build upon this year, and find themselves in the top half of the league next year. The team is bigger than it was last year in terms of quantity, and the team has acquired a number of younger players.
“The league is interesting, because you have top four teams in Terrace, Quesnel, Williams Lake and Hazelton and then you have [Prince] Rupert, us, Kitimat and Nechako. Our goal for next year is to be above the Rupert squad. They’re a good solid team and organization and for next year we’re looking to be ahead of them and keep working our way up to that top four.”
The Prince Rupert Rampage finished just above the Steelheads, with an 8-8-2 record. They will also be the host of the 2025 Coy Cup.
The Steelheads will host the Williams Lake Stampeders this Saturday for game 1 of the CIHL playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Exactly one week later, the two teams will head to Williams Lake to face off for game 2.