The Swan Valley Stampeders drop a 5-2 decision on home ice to the Selkirk Steelers.
The Stampeders showed very little signs of rust as the puck dropped tonight, returning to the ice for the first time since December 20th. The Stamps forecheck was on full display in the opening frame with continued pressure in the offensive zone. Swan opened the scoring at 6:08 as Trevor Mann snapped home his 12th of the season. Selkirk answered back when Ethan Eang scored his 1st of the year that beat Brett Evans at 11:11. Connor Navrot regained the lead for the Stampeders on a unassisted short handed breakaway goal at 15:59. The Stampeders headed to the dressing room after 20 minutes up 2-1 and leading in the shot count 12-8.
Swan continued to pressure in the middle frame but couldn’t find the back of the net as Hayden Dola shut the door. Nico Labossiere tied the game at 11:03 and just 39 seconds later Selkirk took a 3-2 lead as Connor Barley picked up his 28th of the year. The Stamps found themselves trailing after 40 minutes of play and tied 17-17 in shots.
The 3rd period was back and forth action between the two clubs as neither team could solve either goaltender. Selkirk added 2 empty net goals at 18:57 by Carter Barley and another at 19:32 by Connor Barley and the Steelers went on to win 5-2. Final shots were 30-25 in favour of Swan.
Next action for the Stampeders will be this Sunday December 7th when the OCN Blizzard are in town. Game time is 7:30pm.