Golden Rockets – With a bit over two weeks remaining in the KIJHL regular season schedule, the Golden Rockets and the Creston Valley ThunderCats have been ‘leap-frogging’ over each other for the fourth and final playoff position within the Eddie Mountain Division. This battle may go down to the final weekend.
Last Friday night at the Plywood Palace, was a huge test for both teams, as they met head-to-head on Golden ice.
The Rockets started fast in this contest right from the opening face-off, hemming the opposition in their own end effectively. Creston fought back later in the period with some good scoring chances of their own. But it was Golden hitting the scoreboard first late in the frame at 18:13 when burly rearguard Maddox Depasquale’s point drive was neatly redirected home by wiry Brayden Bissell in front of the net. Cooper Thompson picked up an assist on the play as well.
In the second period, the Rockets again came out of the dressing room on fire, needing a mere:31 seconds to expand the margin to 2-0. Deegan Bert slid the puck to defenceman Stefan Bodtker, whose high wrist shot from the blue line seemed to handcuff the Creston goalie, allowing speedster Jackson Gair to pounce on the rebound.
The ThunderCats managed to cut the lead in half at 3:44 when Chase Bambrick’s hard slapshot from the left side found the top right corner of the net. However, the Rockets came roaring back just 17 seconds later, restoring the two-goal margin, with a Dominic Fiorentino marker assisted by Evan Tsadilas and Reid Ashcroft.
There was no scoring in the third period despite the high tempo of play. Both clubs created some scoring opportunities but couldn’t find the back of the net. Rocket’s netminder Landon Garbitt was outstanding late in the frame, turning aside several Creston drives from point-blank range. The final score was 3-1. Creston outshot Golden 29-27. With the impressive victory, the Rockets moved themselves a single point ahead in the standings, albeit with Creston still having a game in hand.
Saturday evening the Rockets were back on home ice, this time to match skills with division-leading Kimberley. Golden has been playing some great hockey of late, winning four out of their last six games while starting to find the scoring touch around the net. But on this date, the visitors utilized their speed for most of the contest and came away with a 5-3 win.
The opening period saw the Nitros’ offence take control early, and maintain a great deal of pressure in the Golden end. At the 4:00 mark, Kimberley’s Marcus Cyr skated in all alone on a breakaway, only to be foiled by a great save from Golden netminder Joe Verardi. At 6:22, Kimberley’s leading scorer Luke Davies made it 1-0, as he took an errant shot off the boards behind the Golden net, and fired it home on the short side. The visitors would make it 2-0 midway through the frame, with a Jake Briltz marker.
Despite being drastically outshot in the middle stanza, the Rockets struck for a pair of goals to stay in the contest. Early in the period, at 1:58, Golden speedster Brett Krawchuk was hauled down on a partial breakaway down the left wing and awarded a penalty shot. Making a slick move to the left, Krawchuk smoothly tucked the puck along the ice to the bottom corner, to get Golden on the scoreboard.
Kimberley briefly restored their two-goal margin at 6:35, with Danik Reeves finding the back of the net. However, late in the frame the Rockets struck for an Evan Tsadilas powerplay goal on a great setup from Brayden Bissell and Chase Pilling, to run the score to 3-2 after forty minutes.
In the third period, veteran Nitro forward Tristan Weill worked his way open for a pair of early goals. The Rockets countered at 7:31, with Kalix Monkman’s first KIJHL goal, as he put a great deke on the Dynamiter defence, and his quick wrist shot found the twine. But that was all the Goldenites could muster offensively in this contest, as the Kimberley defence tightened up. The final score was 5-3. The Nitros outshot the Rockets 44-19. Despite the loss, Golden netminder Joe Verardi was steady between the pipes, turning aside 39 Kimberley drives, including a third-period penalty shot.
The Golden loss, coupled with a Creston victory in Invermere the same night, moved the ThunderCats one point ahead of the Rockets in the standings.
A huge road test for the Kicking Horse crew this Friday, when they travel to Creston in yet another key matchup. Saturday evening, the Rockets are back on home ice, this time playing host to the visiting Fernie Ghostriders.
