Tuesday, December 7th, 2021 Kimberley 3 Rockets 2
Rockets were back on the road in Kimberley Tuesday evening for the second of three consecutive games against the rival Dynamiters. The Nitros were looking to gain ground in the standings on first place Columbia Valley, while the Golden stars were striving to keep pace with the ThunderCats and Ghostriders.
A much more improved contest from the Rockets bench in this game from the weekend matchup, as the team tightened-up defensively and created many more scoring opportunities.
Before a weekday crowd of over 500, the clubs were deadlocked at 2-2 after the opening twenty minutes of play. Rocket’s Alexander Johnson found the back of the net, and hit for his first goal of the season, after finishing off a good three-way play from Will Vernon and Nicolas Regan.
The Kimberley power play seemed to pick up where they left off from Saturday, tying the game at 1-1 just three minutes later. The teams traded goals in the remainder of the period, with Kade Cochlan neatly setting-up Brydon Foster for his ninth tally of the campaign.
No scoring in the middle frame as both teams buckled down defensively. Rockets got into some penalty trouble in the final portion of the period, including a two-minute 5-on-3 Kimberley man-advantage with four minutes left. But the Golden penalty-kill units (backed by the great net minding of Michael O’Sullivan) stymied every Nitro attack.
The winning goal for Kimberley came at the 3:12 mark of the third period. Rockets had a brief powerplay opportunity midway through the frame, but couldn’t connect for the equalizer.
Final score was 3-2 for the Dynamiters. Rockets took seven of the ten penalties called in the contest.
