Golden Rockets – Over the last week, the Golden Rockets came away with one narrow loss followed by one solid win, keeping pace with rival Creston Valley, albeit falling behind the ThunderCats by one point in the divisional standings.
A rare Tuesday night contest at the Plywood Palace saw the Columbia Valley Rockies in town. These two clubs have always provided fast, consistent action on the ice for hockey fans, and this game was no different.
The teams traded first-period goals, as fiery Brett Krawchuk got Golden on the board first, a tally countered in the last minute of the period by the Rockies Peter Godley.
In the early part of the middle stanza, the clubs once again traded goals when Rockets defenceman Chaz Jaeb matched a Columbia Valley marker. But the visitors would hold a slim 3-2 lead at the end of forty minutes as veteran Kobe Mason would find the back of the net.
Invermere opened up a two-goal lead at 1:44 of the final frame, and Golden fought hard to get back into the contest, but could only manage a Chase Pilling goal with just seconds left in the game.
The final score was 4-3. Shots were fairly even at 34-33 for Columbia Valley. This is the third straight game between these clubs which was decided by a single goal.
Last Saturday, the Rockets were headed west into the Bill Ohlhausen Division to match skills with the Sicamous Eagles. The Eagles are a high-scoring club currently sitting in the middle of their division. But they couldn’t match the speed of Golden on this night, as the KickingHorse crew rolled to an impressive 7-4 victory.
Brayden Bissell and Brett Krawchuk got things going in the opening period, each connecting late in the frame.
Sicamous managed to score early in the second period, before the Rockets Stefan Bodtker and Brock McIlwain replied, running the margin to 4-1 after forty minutes.
The wide-open third-period play saw both teams split no less than six goals, with the Golden markers coming off the sticks of Brock McIlwain (his 10th of the year), Chaz Jaeb and Dominic Fiorentino. Deegan Bert was the key playmaker for the Rockets on this night, picking up three assists.
The final score was 7-4. Rockets outshot the Eagles 39-26, and newly-acquired netminder Joe Verardi picked up his first win as a Rocket.
The key win for the club kept them battling with Creston for the fourth, and final playoff spot in the Eddie Mountain Division. The ThunderCats moved a single point ahead of Golden in the standings when they went to overtime against Kelowna over the weekend.
League schedulers must have known what they were doing, as this Friday at the Plywood Palace, the Rockets and ThunderCats will be meeting in what promises to be sixty minutes of fast-paced excitement. Saturday evening, Golden will be on home ice once again, this time to battle with the Kimberley Dynamiters in another key divisional matchup.
