The Golden Rockets played one of the teams best games of the season when they shut out the Kimberley Dynamiters 4-0 in Friday night Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) action.
The Rockets came out of the gates strong against Kimberley after looking sluggish in the first periods of recent games.
Bobby Kashuba scored the first goal of the night on a set up from Keith Wake and Michael Anderson. Kashuba would continue his strong play when he set up Rockets leading scorer Connor Beauchemin to give the team a 2-0 lead heading into the second period.
The Rockets netted their third goal of the night on a power play when Shane Rutherford scored his fifth goal of the season.
Wake, who scored his twentieth goal of the season, and Kashuba connected again before the end of the period to give the Rockets an insurmountable lead.
With the game out of reach heading into the third period, the game went from skill to very physical.
Kashuba completed his Gordie Howe hat trick when he got into a fight against Darren Martin a little over four minutes into the final period.
This was followed up less than 30 seconds later as Rockets enforcer Marc Lepine squared off against Aaron Shubert in a one sided scrap.
After the game head coach of the Rockets Ty Davidson talked about the way the team played and the possibility that it was a preview of the first round of the playoffs.
“At this level of hockey you are always going to have a little bit of lulls during a game. I thought in the first period Kimberley came with a little bit of a push for about five minutes but we handled it well. I don’t remember us giving up that many scoring chances,” he said.
Davidson added that he feels comfortable heading into the playoffs against any team.
“I have gone on the record saying Kimberley is a team we have had a lot of success against this year. I feel confident going into any series, against any team in this league. I have a strong belief in our group of boys and think we are going to do great things here.”
