Over the last three weeks, the Rockets have been on fire, slowly climbing the divisional standings and sporting six wins in their last seven games.
From the opening face-offs in each contest, Golden has been skating hard, combining offensive pressure with great defensive work and solid netminding.
Coming off the heels of a 5-4 shootout win against the Fernie Ghostriders, the local stars were playing host to the visiting Merritt Centennials at the Plywood Palace last Saturday.
Wide-open play in the first period resulted in a total of five goals between the two clubs. The Rockets made the most of their chances, as they moved into a quick 4-1 lead. Dawson Butler opened the scoring at 9:03, when Jackson Gair intercepted a bad Merritt clearing pass, and neatly fed the puck to the front, where Butler made a neat deke on the opposition goalie. Three minutes later, Jackson Roberts scored his third goal of the season on the power play.
Golden would go ahead 3-0 just two minutes later, with some great passing deep in the Merritt end, which saw Brett Krawchuk finding the top corner with a perfect snapshot. The two squads would trade goals late in the frame. The Centennials’ Noah Lawless would get his team on the board at 15:26, but that goal was quickly countered with Hayden Iron Shirt’s 11th tally of the year before the period ended.
Merritt came to life in the middle stanza, firing home three successive markers to deadlock the game at 4-4.
And as the third period progressed, the visitors managed to move into the lead with a Callum MacLean goal six minutes in. But the Rockets were not to be denied in this contest, as they came storming back to strike for a pair of late-period tallies.
At 14:35, Jackson Roberts batted home a loose puck in front to draw Golden even.
And then, with three minutes remaining in regulation time, Brayden Bissell scored the winner with a great backhand shot to the top corner.
Final score was 6-5. Merritt outshot Golden 34-29. Rockets goaltender Nick Kotai, making his first start for the club since arriving from the Humboldt Broncos, was solid in net all game, making several sparkling saves.
The KickingHorse crew will be on the road this weekend, with stops in Kamloops on Friday and Chase on Saturday. Next home game for Golden is slated for Friday, Dec.19th, versus Kimberley.
