As the KIJHL season starts to display signs of winding down, there are several squads throughout the league buckling down to grab playoff spots in each division. None of which is more important than our own Golden Rockets against the Creston Valley ThunderCats.
At the start of last weekend’s play, both of these clubs were deadlocked for the fourth (and final) playoff spot in the Eddie Mountain Division with just a dozen games to play on the regular season schedule. Friday’s contest was the preverbial “four-point game”, as the teams hit the ice. And the Rockets were ready, particularly fiery forward Brock McIlwain.
From the opening face-off the local squad took charge quickly, and hit the scoreboard first at 7:57, as Jackson Gair and Deegan Bert combined to neatly feed the puck to McIlwain in the slot, who slid the puck along the ice to the back of the net. However, Creston would tie things up at 11:19 when veteran Liam Munro was left all alone in front of the Golden goal.
Five minutes later, the visitors would sneak into a brief lead with a Dryden Harding marker on a failed Golden clearing attempt. But the locals managed to bounce back with a little over one minute left in the period. Once again Deegan Bert and Jackson Gair worked their magic to slide the puck to Brock McIlwain in front, and a quick wristshot evened things on the scoreboard.
Early in the middle frame, Creston started battling back and created a couple of good scoring chances, but Rocket netminder Landon Garbitt was equal to the task. The only tally of the period came at 17:11, as Reid Ashcroft grabbed a loose puck on the left wing and fed a smooth pass to Deegan Bert, who made no mistake with his quick shot past the ThunderCat goaltender. Evan Tsadilas helped out on the play with the second assist. Golden would take over much of the play for the remainder of the period, drastically outshooting Creston by a wide margin.
Play was fairly balanced in the final period, as the ThunderCats looked for the equalizer. However, Rocket’s defence held solidly, keeping opposition snipers at bay. Golden would add an empty-net goal at 19:31, as most fittingly Brock McIlwain topped off a terrific game with his hat-trick goal. Final score was 4-2. Rockets outshot Creston 39-25.
Saturday’s matchup with the visiting 100 Mile House Wranglers was the next key game for the Rockets. The Wranglers lead the pack in the Doug Birks Division, six points ahead of Kamloops. They were licking their wounds from an 8-3 loss to Columbia Valley the night before in Invermere, and were looking to rebound. The Rockets were seeking their third win in a row, and put some more distance between themselves and Creston in the standings.
As it unfolded, the visitors had things pretty much their own way for most of the contest, as they built up a big 6-1 lead after two periods. The lone Golden marker came off the stick of Rocket’s leading scorer Brayden Bissell, who converted a pass from Stefan Bodtker late in the frame.
A bit of an hockey oddity in the middle stanza at the Plywood Palace, as a pair of the Wrangler goals in a bit over one minute were recorded by speedster Nash Hilworth, both on unassisted, shorthanded breakaways.
Rockets started to get back into the game in the early part of the final period, striking for three tallies before the midway mark. Brock McIlwain got things going, followed quickly with two sharp goals from skilled forward Chase Pilling, to run the score to 6-4 with ten minutes remaining.
But a powerplay goal and an empty-netter sealed the game for the visitors. Final score was 8-4. Golden outshot the Wranglers 38-33.
Rockets played host to Columbia Valley last Tuesday, in another key divisional contest. No info at press time. The club will be on the road to Sicamous this Saturday, to battle with the Eagles.
Written by Tom Stanton
