The Golden Rockets split their weekend with a win and a loss, keeping them firmly in the middle spot in the Eddie Mountain Division.
The weekend began with a tough loss to division rivals, the Fernie Ghostriders. Despite outshooting the Ghostriders 45 to 18, Fernie walked away with two points, from a 3-2 win.
Fernie struck first with an unassisted goal from Josh Kluck halfway through the first period. They stretched it to a two-goal lead early in the second with a goal from Derek Chudyk.
The Rockets fought back hard, getting their first goal of the game off the stick of Brandon Shirley later in the second.
Things got heated in the final frame with a long list of penalties from both teams, including fighting majors for Golden’s Brett Hanna and Fernie’s Josh Kluck. The Ghostriders were able to capitalize, scoring a power-play goal early in the third.
The Rockets gave a strong final push, bringing them within one goal of tying the game with a Blake Roney goal. But after an interference penalty called on Michael Anderson with less than a minute left in the game, leaving the Rockets down one man, they were unable to push it to overtime.
The Rockets travelled to Invermere the following night to face off against the Columbia Valley Rockies. Golden picked up a goal in each of the first two periods, both from Josh Jewell, giving them a comfortable lead heading into the third.
By the mid-point of the third period they lost that lead after the Rockies tied it up at 2-2.
The Rockets fought back and regained their lead. Blake Roney scored with 6:35 left in the game, assisted by teammate Connor Beauchemin. And Brandon Shirley scored the final goal of the game, with the assist going to Matt McMath, making it a 4-2 victory for Golden.
The Rockets play their next three games on the road, and will be back in town to play the Summerland Steam on Friday Nov. 16, and the Nelson Leafs on Saturday Nov. 17.
