After the impressive victory over Kimberley on Tuesday, the Rockets were looking to take that energy into Friday night's matchup against the visiting Nelson Leafs.  From the opening faceoff, it looked as though the local stars had a gear missing as they allowed several odd-man rushes in on Jarrod Schamerhorn.  But the Rockets netminder was equal to everything Nelson could throw at him, until defensive miscues began to run rampant.

     Before the first period ended, Nelson had built up a 3-0 lead (all tallies off the stick of Patrick Martens), making the most of the Rockets mishandling of the puck in the neutral zone.  The third goal was a shorthanded marker.

     The second period went scoreless, but the Rockets were displaying signs of getting their game together, with some crisp passing and several scoring opportunities.  Nelson goaltender Andrew Walton however, shut the door on all shots.

     In the final frame, the Rockets came out fast, and finally found the back of the cage at the 1:42 mark, when Lane Erickson finished off off play after a neat setup from Jacob Bergeron.  With less than five minutes remaining in the game, Golden pulled to within one at 3-2, as captain Darren Andre hit for his 17th goal of the season on the powerplay.  Rockets fought hard, but just couldn't find the equalizer before time expired.

     Reviewing this game, it was one contest that the Rockets should have won.  The defensive miscues in the first put them behind early.  However, in analysis, the Golden powerplay (which had no less than 10 opportunities in the game) had problems setting up all night.  The Leafs penalty-kill units were part of that factor, being very aggressive and striking for one shorthanded marker.  But the puck movement and the crisp passing just wasn't there.  You could say that we did not take advantage of our advantages.

     The club will be regrouping quickly, as they will match skills with the Chase Heat tomorrow night at the Rec Centre.