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Kambeitz sets pace as Stampeders run through Stettler

By CHARLES TWEED

There was just one game on the docket for the Stampeders last week as they travelled to Stettler to take on the Lightning Feb. 11.

With playoffs just around the corner, the Stamps were ready from the get-go in this contest.

Scott Rarick used his size and jumped all over Stettler with two goals in the first four minutes of the contest. Jared Kambeitz followed Rarick less than a minute later, with his 11th of the year.

Through one period of play it was 4-2, Ponoka.

The middle stanza turned into a defensive battle. Just one goal scored off the stick of Jordan Duthie, his eleventh, stretching the lead to three.

In the third, the Stamps got a scare. Stettler found their legs and scored the period’s first three goals to tie the game.

The team very easily could have folded considering they were outmanned — dressing only 13 skaters. But the age-old hockey belief that sometimes you’re better off playing short-handed as long as you have the right guys playing, held true.

Jordan Duthie potted his second of the contest and team-leading 12th to put the Lightning out of their misery. Jared Kambeitz added one into an empty net, his team-leading 45th point, and the Stampeders skated off Stettler’s ice with a 7-5 win.

“We had a short bench, but our main guys were back and we came out hard. Their goaltending struggled a bit off the start and the nice thing from our team is we capitalized on our opportunities,” said coach Randy Rook.

Another bright spot for the Stampeders was goaltender Bryan Zygmunt. Third on the depth chart and in his first year, Zygmunt turned aside 48 pucks and finished with a save percentage above .900.

“He (Zygmunt) played really well, he faced over 50 shots and a lot of them were really key saves at crucial moments. He really held his own. I think he was out to prove something and he did that to us coaches,” said Rook.

Ponoka has only one game left on the schedule — but it appears the schedule makers got it right — as they will face off against Blackfalds Feb. 16 in what will be a preview of the first round of the playoffs.

“I’m really looking forward to that game. And it’s going to be a tough series but if we come out flying and give 110 per cent, if we do that and stay out of the box I think we might be able to pull off an upset.”

Rook is also hoping for a large crowd to cheer the team on at the Ponoka Cultural and Recreational Complex.

“I’d like to see a great crowd out, these players have been working hard and we’ve been competitive every game. It would give them that extra boost of confidence going into the playoffs, knowing the town is behind them the whole way,” said Rook.