Wolverines rise in standings with win over Terrace

Published 12:30 pm Monday, November 10, 2025

The Hazelton Wolverines edged the defending champion Terrace River Kings out of second place in the Central Interior Hockey League with a commanding 8-4 win last weekend.

Fresh off back-to-back losses on Nov. 8 and 9, Hazelton marched into Terrace’s barn on a mission with Jordan Thomas, Ethan Browne, and Daniel Kenaghan banging in markers in the first period. Terrace would get one back making the score 3-1 at the end of 20 minutes.

The Wolverines came out firing again in the second frame, knocking in two more at 1:19 (Sean Maktaak) and 1:26 (Jonah Bevington), before Browne made it 5-1.

Terrace clawed back a couple, to make it 5-3 going into the final period.

Just five minutes into the third, Browne managed to complete the hat trick and Kernaghan added his second of the night to give the Wolverines a commanding 8-3 lead.

A late Terrace goal was far too little, too late for the home team.

The previous weekend, Hazelton came up short in back-to-back road games, with a 9–7 loss to the Williams Lake Stampeders on Nov. 8 before falling 6–4 to the Quesnel Kangaroos the following night.

Friday’s game in Williams Lake was a high-scoring, back-and-forth contest at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex. Hazelton struck first just two minutes in with a goal from Kernaghan, assisted by Tanner Wort. They went up 2-0 at 6:22 on a goal by Bevington.

But the Stamps answered quickly and forcefully, scoring four straight goals to take a 4–2 lead into the first intermission.

Early in the second frame, Bevington cut the lead by one with his second of the game, but a few minutes later the Wolverines were penalized for too many players on the ice. Williams Lake converted on the resulting power play and added another goal a minute later to put the visitors in a 6-3 hole.

The Wolverines battled back with markers from Dawson McKenzie and Ilijah Colina — cutting the deficit to 6–5 by the end of 40 minutes.

Williams Lake added three more goals in the third making the lead an insurmountable 9-5 despite a late rally by the visitors. Colina scored his second of the night at 16:16, followed shortly by a power-play goal from Wort after Stampeders goaltender Ryan Balbirnie was called for roughing.

The next night in Quesnel, the Wolverines again found themselves in a tightly contested game — this time one marked by a volatile second period.

Quesnel opened the scoring at 6:05 of the first, with Eli Jarvis finishing a play from Alessio Tomassetti and Brody Dale. Hazelton responded at 11:12 with a goal from Ethan Browne to tie the game 1–1.

The first half of the second period was volatile with several penalties for roughing assessed on both sides. The penalty-killers were solid, though, until a high-sticking call put the Roos’ Tanner Cochrane in the box. Hazelton took advantage, pulling ahead on the power play with a goal from McKenzie at 11:06. Less than a minute later, Bevington added another, giving the Wolverines a 3–1 lead.

Quesnel responded with three unanswered goals in the last five minutes of the frame, giving the Kangaroos a brief 4–3 lead before McKenzie replied just 19 seconds later with his second of the night, tying the game 4–4.

The Roos’ Alessio Tomassetti restored Quesnel’s lead halfway through the third with an unassisted goal and sealed the win with an empty-netter at 19:32.

Quesnel now leads the league with 14 points through eight games, holding a 7–2 record.

Hazelton sits in second place with 11 points through eight, followed by Terrace in third with nine points from seven games.

Prince Rupert and Williams Lake are tied at eight points each, placing fourth and fifth, respectively, as the Rampage have two games in hand over the Stampeders.

Smithers holds sixth place with four points, while Kitimat rounds out the standings without a win so far this season.