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Steamboat Springs — Friday night games on the road used to be the bane of the Chix with Stix' existence, but it appears they have broken the curse.

The Steamboat Springs women's hockey team scored a 4-0 victory against the Denver Bandits on Friday night at the South Suburban Ice Arena.

The Chix opened on the offensive against the Bandits' newly recruited goalkeeper Mallory Most, who turned away several of the Chix' attacks until late in the first period.

Jen Travis set up the attack and found center Holly Curtiss in the slot, who took the initial shot. Winger Riley Polumbus knocked in the bouncing rebound with a backhand, giving the Chix the advantage.

In spite of battling the flu all week, Chix' net minder Nikki Knoebel was up to the challenge and turned away several Bandit attempts including several short-handed situations.

The game took its final turn just 29 seconds into the third period when Curtiss won her own faceoff, catching both defenders off guard for an unassisted breakaway goal. Less than three minutes later, the Chix offense set up as Lee Cox passed to Sue Heineke in the corner. Heineke passed it to Curtiss in the slot who one-timed it in the net.

The Bandits were unable to extinguish the Chix or Curtiss' fire. With four minutes left in the game, Travis found Polumbus behind the goal to set up another quick shot in front to give Curtiss the hat trick.

Coach Tim Shorland recognized his team for its victory over the Bandits, their second win in a row against a team from the A2 division, a step above the Chix' B1 division in the Women's Association of Colorado Hockey league.

Shorland stressed the effort in the game as well as in their victory the week before against another A2 team, the Synergy.

"You've worked on this for years and it's finally paying off," said Shorland.

Saturday night, the Chix met up with their division rival, the Clash, at the Foothills Ice Arena. The Clash and Chix met twice earlier this season at Howelsen Ice Arena and both games were forced into overtime, yielding a tie and a loss for the Chix.

Gliding on autopilot from their win the night before, the Chix did not enter the game with the same rage. However, they took the early lead and held on for a 3-2 win.

Just past the halfway mark in the season, the Chix are 5-2-2 in the B1 division (7-3-2 overall). They still have yet to meet three teams in their division, including their next home-game opponent, Fatty's Fury from Breckenridge, set for 4 p.m. Feb. 16.