Rockies win with moments to spare
With one second left on the clock, the Rockies scored a last minute goal to break a tie against the Ghostriders last weekend.
The Columbia Valley Rockies won 6-5 against the Fernie Ghostriders at the Fernie Memorial Arena on Friday, January 8th.
“We had a big win, which is huge because we’re chasing (Fernie) in the standings,” said Rockies head coach Wade Dubielewicz on January 9th. “We scored a goal with .01 seconds left, which was nice. We went out fighting this weekend and played two good games, but we want better than this (referring to the Rockies’ loss against the Thunder Cats).”
The Rockies had a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period against Fernie, but the Ghostriders came back with two goals in the second and tied up the game.
Nick Hoobanoff broke the tie for the Rockies before the end of the second with a goal.
Luke Bellerose, a Rockies forward, brought the team into a 4-2 lead during a power play goal with assists from Micheal Cardinal and Kobe Eagletail.
But the Ghostriders bounded back during a short-handed play when Evan Reid scored an unassisted goal for his team.
The action continued when Doan Smith scored for the Rockies during a power play with an assist from Kellen Marchand, but the Ghostriders quickly tied up the game 5-5.
Eventually, defenceman Nigel Swab won the game for the Rockies with an assist from fellow defenceman Ryan St. Jean.
Thunder Cats come back from loss, edge out Rockies
In spite of a two-point lead going into the third, the Rockies’ quest for success ended abruptly at home last weekend.
The Creston Thunder Cats edged out the Columbia Valley Rockies Junior B team 6-5 at the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena on Saturday, January 9th.
“I think we got tired and started making terrible decisions defensively,” said Rockies’ head coach Wade Dubielewicz following the loss. “When that happens, you start to take straight lines in the D-zone and then you get extended so you’re chasing ’em and you get more tired, so I think we were a product of our own exhaustion.”
Thunder Cats teammates Brett Witala, assisted by Sebastien Kilcommons and Marc-Antoine Gagnon, scored the first goal of the evening early during the first, which was promptly followed up by Rockies player Nolan Menard’s unassisted goal, which made the game a tie.
Kellen Marchand scored for the Rockies during a power play with assists from Doan Smith and Ryan St. Jean shortly afterwards, but the Thunder Cats tied up the game with a power play goal before the first period came to a close.
The second period took a turn when McConnell Kimmett scored a goal for the Thunder Cats with assists from Thomas Cankovic and James Severs early on.
Then, Kellen Marchand worked with Harrison Davies and Menard to score, bringing the Rockies into a 3-3 tied score.
St. Jean brought the Rockies back into the lead with a goal and, right after, Smith scored a shorthanded goal — bringing the Rockies to a 5-3 lead at the end of the second.
But the Thunder Cats made a comeback with three goals before the end of the third and won the game.
“I guess we were too comfortable with the two-goal lead and with a team like Creston, you can never be too comfortable,” added Dubielewicz. “We had an average first, a good second and then in the third it steadily fell apart.”
The Rockies will play the Beaver Valley Nitehawks at the Eddie for the next home game on Saturday, January 23rd.
