For opposing teams of the Okanagan Rockets, playing at the Capital News Centre has so far proven to be an exercise in futility.
With a pair of victories over the visiting North Island Silvertips on the weekend, the Rockets have pushed their home-ice record to a perfect 7-0-0 this season.
In the process, the Rockets remained at the top of the heap in the B.C. Major Midget League at 9-1-0 overall.
“To be honest, if you were writing a script, to be one point ahead of the (defending champion) Giants at this point, you couldn’t ask for much more,” said Rockets head coach Mark O’Rourke. “It’s good to be on top, but at the same time we have our work cut out for us and a lot of tough games to play. It only gets more difficult as we move along, so we’ll have to be at the top of our game.”
After a decisive 6-2 win Saturday by the Rockets, Sunday’s game at CNC was far from a sure thing.
The Rockets home-ice winning streak was threatened when the Silvertips tied up the game 2-2 early in the third period.
But Linden Hora’s second goal of the game with just 55 seconds left to play pushed Okanagan to a hard-fought 3-2 win.
Cory Santoro also scored for the Rockets, while Reid Kilburn earned his fifth win of the season in goal.
For a team that usually scores in bunches at CNC, O’Rourke said it was a good for his Rockets to win a tight, low-scoring affair.
“It was good for the guys to be in close game and to have to dig deep to win,” O’Rourke said. “In the last five minutes, we didn’t know which way the game was going to go, so to be tested and come through that, the guys showed character.”
The Rockets coped with the absence of leading scorer Tyson Jost who sat out Sunday’s game with an injury.
On Saturday, the Rockets erupted for five goals in the third period, including three in a span of just 53 seconds, to take down the Silvertips 6-2.
Jost led the attack with his ninth and 10th goals of the season and an assist, while Liam Finlay scored once and added three assists. Mitchell Oliver, Hora and Santoro also scored, while Brendan Barry improved to a perfect 4-0 to start his MML career, making 20 saves in goal.
This weekend, the Rockets head to Victoria for two games against the South Island Royals, Saturday and Sunday.
