Jessica Schwitek
reporter2@thegoldenstar.net
The Golden Rockets had a disappointing showing this weekend with two losses at home against the Fernie Ghostriders and the Kamloops Storm.
“For whatever reason, in my opinion, we were not mentally ready to play the game today,” said Head Coach Ty Davidson after the 4-1 loss to Fernie on Saturday night.
Being outshot 32-15 in the first two periods, the Rockets entered the third down by three goals. Despite a stronger third frame, which saw Golden’s only goal of the night from Marc Lepine, the Ghostriders answered back with a final power play goal with 1:21 left in the game.
“We were spectators for the most part, we were back on our heels. They were getting the lose pucks,” said Davidson.
“It was a combination of two big things. We weren’t mentally sharp, and we didn’t play with the desire or the hunger that they played with. They wanted every lose puck, every battle they seemed to win.”
The following day the puck dropped at 1 p.m., in the first afternoon game of the year. Kamloops opened up the scoring early in the game, and continued to score a total of five unanswered goals in the first two periods.
A final goal from the Storm in the third left the final score at 6-0, despite nine power play opportunities for the Rockets.
“It’s tough to win a hockey game when you don’t score a goal. We put up 35 shots, thats more than enough to generate some sort of goal,” said Davidson.
“It’s very difficult on yourself and on your goalies to depend on them to pitch a shutout every night if you can’t put the puck in the net.”
Both teams were fatigued on Sunday, Golden playing back to back and Kamloops on their third strait game, but Davidson says it was not a major factor in the outcome this weekend.
“We’re working hard, we just have to work a little bit smarter and cash in our chances,” he said.
The Rockets’ next four games will be played on the road against the Kimberley Dynamiters, the Chase Heat, a re-match against the Kamloops Storm, and the North Okanagan Knights. They will be back at home on Oct.28 to play the Sicamous Eagles at 7:30 p.m.
