Last Saturday evening saw the Golden Rockets playing host to the visiting Beaver Valley NiteHawks in KIJHL action. From the opening face-off, the southern club utilized their speed for the full sixty minutes, breezing to a convincing 7-3 win.
Golden found themselves mainly on defence in the opening period, as Beaver Valley took a 2-0 lead on goals by Brady Magarrell and Maddox Gandha, outshooting the locals 19-5.
Around the 5:00 mark, Rocket’s forward Cooper Thompson had a partial breakaway, but his shot was turned aside by the NiteHawk goaltender Preston Shumate. And, with a few minutes remaining in the period, Brett Krawchuk narrowly missed the top corner with a fine individual effort.
Just one minute into the second frame, Golden once again came close; this time, Hayden Iron Shirt broke in through centre ice. And once again, Shumate came up with a big save.
Beaver Valley would go on to score three goals in the frame, answered only by a single tally from the stick of Iron Shirt at 3:26.
Golden came out flying in the final period, closing the gap to 5-3 on the strength of Hayden Iron Shirt’s second goal of the night, along with Daniel Brown adding a singleton. But the NiteHawks answered with a pair of their own late in the game, to take the 7-3 decision.
The win put Beaver Valley back into first place in the Neil Murdoch Division, while the Rockets slipped back into fourth place in the Eddie Mountain circuit.
This weekend, the Kicking Horse crew will look to get back into the win column, with a pair of home games against Castlegar and Creston Valley at the Plywood Palace.
