Three wins on the weekend helped the Creston Valley Thunder Cats to reach second place in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s Eddie Mountain Division, a position they haven’t seen yet this season.
After Sunday’s game, the Thunder Cats had 47 points, placing them one point ahead of the Kimberley Dynamiters and two ahead of the Golden Rockets. The Fernie Ghostriders continue to lead the division with 59 points, while the Columbia Valley Rockies trail with 20.
The positioning could easily change, though, with the Thunder Cats slated to play tonight in Kimberley.
“It’s a big game for us,” said head coach Jeff Dubois. “I’m sure they’ve identified it as a big game as well.”
Friday’s 5-2 win over the visiting Columbia Valley Rockies got off to a slow start he said, with a goal by Carson Cartwright tying the score in the middle of the first period.
“My feeling was we were kind of pacing ourselves, knowing it was the start of a long weekend,” said Dubois.
Cartwright earned a hat trick, scoring twice more in the second period, once on a power play, for a 3-2 lead by the end of the second period, which held until Ryley Bosman scored at 9:07 in the third. Justin Post added a fifth goal with seven seconds remaining.
With a total of seven points between them in that game, Dubois remains impressed with the line of Cartwright, Alec Wilkinson and Kyle Richter.
“Since the end of November, they’ve been the guys that we’ve counted on on the offensive side for sure,” he said.
The Thunder Cats played in Fernie on Saturday, edging the Ghostriders 4-3 in their last game there in the regular season.
“We wanted to show not just that we can play some good hockey, but take a lead and hold on to that lead,” said Dubois.
The Thunder Cats were down 2-1 after a first-period goal by Marcel Fuchs, and although neither team scored in the second, Creston outshot Fernie 17-3.
A third-period power-play goal by Fernie was answered with three power-play goals by Creston’s Nicholas Kovacik, Austin Steger and Richter, giving goalie Brock Lefebvre his first win in Fernie.
“It was a good character-building performance and a chance to prove to ourselves that we’re right there with top teams in the league,” said Dubois.
The Princeton Posse, in third in the Okanagan Division with 40 points, visited Creston on Sunday, losing 2-1 to the Thunder Cats.
The Posse scored their only goal five minutes into the first period.
“We let them dictate the tempo in first period,” said Dubois. “We were surprised how aggressive and physical they were.”
The Thunder Cats took control in the second period, with Connor Ward and Richter each scoring a power-play goal.
Goalie Mitchell Martell limiting Princeton’s scoring chances was the key to the win, said Dubois, as were the penalty-killing contributions of Marcel Fuchs and Ward during eight minutes of the third period.
“We’ve had our ups and downs killing penalties this year, but we’re getting to the point where we’re real comfortable with that group doing that job,” said Dubois.
This weekend, the Thunder Cats play two divisional games, hosting Fernie on Friday and Golden on Saturday.
“We’ve been good against [Fernie] so far at home,” said Dubois. “I’m sure they’ll be looking to even it up from us winning at their place.”
This will be the first time Creston has hosted the Rockets since September, and with only a couple of points separating the teams, the game is a big deal.
“We’ve got a lot of games over the next three weeks where playoff positioning can go one way or the other based on one night’s work,” said Dubois.
