Last weekend, a key home-and-home matchup with the Fernie Ghostriders brought plenty of high-end KIJHL action to the ice in both locations. And when it was over, the southerners came away with a pair of narrow wins.
Friday night’s opener at the Plywood Palace was a fans’ delight directly from the opening face-off. Fernie hit the scoreboard first midway through the opening period, when Caden Fournier redirected a screened point shot to the back of the net. Rockets would tie the score with three minutes left in the frame, as Brett Krawchuk grabbed a loose puck, sped down the right wing boards and fed a perfect cross-ice pass to Reid Ashcroft whose one-timer found the twine. Golden nearly moved into the lead in the dying seconds, when Kanye Huang neatly poke-checked the puck away from the Fernie defence and went in all alone. A great save by Riders’ Becker in the net kept the score tied at 1-1.
No scoring in the middle stanza, thanks to some great work by the Rockets’ penalty-kill units. Golden was forced to play shorthanded for much of the first ten minutes, being assessed a trio of consecutive minor penalties.
Halfway through the final frame, the Rockets once again nearly broke the tie, as the line of Kanye Huang, Draeden Bear and Deegan Bert flew into the Fernie end of the ice, and a quick three-way passing play just failed to connect. It would be the Ghostriders moving into the lead at 14:17 on a Keegan Fellows marker, after taking advantage of a broken play at the Golden blue line.
That lead held until 17:59, when Rocket forward Cooper Thompson brought the hometown crowd to its feet. After taking a solid pass from teammate Maddox Depasquale just over centre ice, the high-flying Thompson worked his way around the Fernie defence, and sent a bullet wristshot to the top corner, tying the game at 2-2.
In the extra session, the visitors wasted little time finding the winner just :25 seconds in, with Riley Enns hitting for his 11th goal of the year. Final score was 3-2.
Saturday evening in Fernie, the two clubs were once again battling stride-for-stride for the entire sixty minutes. Picking up where he left off the previous night, Ghostriders’ Riley Enns opened the scoring late in the first period. Fernie would add to the margin early in the second period, with Keegan Fellows finding the range for the second time in two nights. Golden’s rugged defenceman Maddox Depasquale would cut the lead in half with just seconds remaining in the frame, hitting for his first KIJHL goal on the powerplay.
But that was all the Rockets could muster in this one, as the third period went scoreless and the Ghostriders hung on for the 2-1 victory.
As the regular season schedule marks the halfway point, Rockets find themselves in fifth place in the tough Eddie Mountain Division, just a few points out of a playoff spot. The club remains highly-competitive each and every game. And, once the offensive numbers begin to improve, a climb up the standings will follow swiftly.
Rockets will be back on home ice this Friday, when they will host the visiting Columbia Valley Rockies.
Written by Tom Stanton.
