The Golden Rockets came away with a single point in last weekend’s two-game home stand. The club was looking to secure their first home ice win of the season, but the opposition proved tough.
Friday evening the Plywood Palace was packed full of excitement from beginning to end, as a good hometown crowd witnessed the anticipated rematch between the Rockets and the visiting Castlegar Rebels. Just six days prior, Golden travelled to the southern centre, and came away with a 3-2 victory that needed a player shootout to decide a winner.
Key the movie sequel last night. The script was a bit varied in this contest, but the plot followed along similar lines, requiring more than the sixty minutes of regulation time.
The teams traded first period goals, with Golden’s talented forward Brayden Bissell getting things going at 2:43 with a solid wristshot from the left wing, after teammates Brock McIlwain and Reid Ashcroft had worked the puck free. That lead held until a Josh Hogman powerplay goal for the Rebels at 16:16.
Rockets were forced to play a man-short early in the middle stanza, and the penalty-kill unit was strong, not allowing a shot on goal. However, at 6:20, the southerners moved in front on a Ben Filippone snapshot, and extended the margin to 3-1 with their second powerplay tally off the stick of Reid Gerrand.
In the final period the Rockets began to apply pressure deep into the Castlegar end, battling to close the margin. And the hard work paid off, as the local stars connected for a pair of markers in just :47 seconds late in the frame. At 15:06 rookie forward Kaden Berry struck for his first goal of the year, banging home a rebound off a hard point shot from Chaz Jaeb. Then, less than a minute later, Golden captain Evan Tsadilas combined with Brock McIlwain and Dominic Fiorentino to tie the game at 3-3. The two clubs once again needed extra time to close out the contest.
The 5-minute overtime session solved little, although with less than one minute remaining Rockets’ Draeden Bear almost ended the game with a hard drive from the left circle, which just trickled past the far goalpost and stayed out.
In the resultant player shootout, both netminders, Castlegar’s Haden Heide and Golden’s Riley Deck were simply outstanding. It wasn’t until the eighth round of shooters that the Rebels Josh Hogman’s hard shot to the bottom right corner proved to be the winner. Final score was 4-3.
Saturday night the Rockets just couldn’t find their game against the Creston Valley ThunderCats. The visitors had things going their way for most of the evening, rolling to a lopsided 6-1 win. After Creston moved into an early 1-0 lead, Golden briefly tied things up midway through the second period on Jackson Gair’s first tally of the season. From then on, the TCats stormed the Rockets net striking no less than five times, adding three goals in the middle period and a pair in the final frame. Dryden Harding and Berkley Gross led the opposition attack with three points each. Despite the loss, Golden netminder Landon Garbitt brought the local fans to their feet on several occasions, including stopping no less than three separate Creston breakaways.
The KickingHorse stars will be back on the road for the next three contests. This weekend, the team journeys west to battle the Merritt Centennials Oct.18th and the Kelowna Chiefs Oct.19th. Tuesday, Oct.22nd will see a rematch with these same ThunderCats at the Johnny Bucyk Arena in Creston.
Next home action for Golden will be Saturday, Oct.26th when the speedy Spokane Braves will visit, followed on Sunday Oct.27th in an afternoon matchup with the Quesnel River Rush starting at 2:00pm.
Written by Tom Stanton.
