Rockies take Rockets 7-3
The quest for success in Junior B hockey led the Rockies to triumph last week in Golden.
The Columbia Valley Rockies won 7-3 against the Golden Rockets at the Golden Arena on Tuesday, February 9th.
“We went in there with the attitude that it was a must-win game, and, to be honest, it wasn’t pretty, but we sorted it out eventually and we were able to win,” said Wade Dubielewicz, Rockies’ head coach.
Forwards Doan Smith and Nick Hoobanoff put the Rockies into the lead early on when the duo scored a goal early in the first period.
However, Wesley Howerton made it a 1-1 tie for the Rockets during a power play. He had assists from his teammates, Brent Koch and Darion Nordick.
But Rockies trio Ryan St. Jean, Luke Bellerose and Nolan Menard pushed the puck down the ice — taking a 2-1 score with St. Jean’s goal.
During the second period, Kyle Rosolowski scored for the Rockets during a power play, redeeming the team and once again tying up the game 2-2.
Rockies forward Micheal Cardinal scored before the second was over, and put the Rockies into a 3-2 lead against the Rockets before his opponent, Jake Gudjonson, tied the game 3-3 with a power play goal.
But the Rockies made a comeback in the third, starting with forward Harrison Davies’ unassisted goal.
Smith scored another goal for the Rockies, thanks to assists from Cardinal and Hoobanoff. Then, Cardinal scored his second goal of the game with help from Hoobanoff and Smith.
The winning goal of the evening away game came from Rockies forward Donoven Quinten with a short-handed play on an empty net, thanks to assists from St. Jean and Cardinal.
“Our top players were the best players in the third period, and they were the ones that really made a difference,” concluded Dubielewicz.
Ghostriders defeat Rockies again
The Fernie Ghostriders defeated the Columbia Valley Rockies 3-2 at the Fernie Memorial Arena on Friday, February 12th.
During the first period, the Rockies took a 1-0 lead when defenceman Davin Burton scored the Junior B team’s first goal of the game with assists from Micheal Cardinal and Ryan St. Jean.
Ghostriders athletes Coleton Dawson and Ty Carron made it a 1-1 tie in the second before their teammate, Mitch Titus, scored another goal on a shorthanded net. Titus was assisted by Tayler Sincennes and Jeff Orser.
During the third, Alex Cheveldave scored the Ghostriders’ third goal of the game during a power play. He was assisted by Mack Differenz and Aidan Wilson.
Forward Doan Smith scored a goal for the Rockies during a power play, which brought the game to a close at 3-2.
After a close game, the Rockies put another “W” behind them at a home game last weekend.
The Columbia Valley Rockies won 4-3 against the Golden Rockets at the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena on Saturday, February 13th.
“It was a tough game for us to play after a huge game in Fernie last night,” said Wade Dubielewicz, Rockies’ head coach, speaking after the game. He believes the Rockies were emotionally deflated from the loss against Fernie. “Emotions were really high when we came back (from Fernie), so it took us about half the game to get going, but at the end of the day, we figured out a way to win.”
The Rockets got off to a flying start with a 1-0 lead against the Rockies when Ryder Pune scored the Junior B team’s first goal with assists from Riley Barnes and Kyle Rosolowski.
However, Rockies forward Nick Hoobanoff and his teammates Micheal Cardinal and Ryan St. Jean managed to tie up the game with a power play goal during the last 20 seconds of the first.
During the second, Terri Fischer-Kobes scored during a power play for the Rockets.
Nolan Menard, Harrison Davies and Kellen Marchand promptly scored, making it a 2-2 tie. Then, Menard scored once again during a power play boosting his team into a 3-2 lead.
During the third, the Rockies scored two more goals, one on a power play and another from Smith. Ryan Prue scored for the Rockets before the end of the game, but it wasn’t enough to catch up.
“Congratulations to Damon Raven for playing his 200th game as a Columbia Valley Rocky,” concluded Dubielewicz.
He is eager to see how the end of the season shapes up.
“Both games (Friday against Fernie and Saturday against Golden) look like they’re going to matter,” he said. “We’re tied with Fernie in the standings so it will take teamwork if we’re going to play in the first round (of playoffs).”
