Last weekend, the Rockets headed south to the West Kootenay and Washington State regions of the league. The two-game road swing into the Neil Murdoch Division was an key, early test for the club, where they matched skills with Spokane Friday night and Castlegar Saturday evening. And Golden proved to be on top of their game in each contest, coming away with a pair of victories.
Friday night, the team began with a wide-open first period in the Lilac City. No less than 36 shots were fired at both goaltenders in the first twenty minutes, with the Braves’ Bronson Pankey and Rockets’ Riley Deck tested time and again. When the smoke cleared, the score was deadlocked at 1-1 with the Rockets’ Evhan Allan countering an early Spokane tally, when he connected on the powerplay for his first of the season, assisted by Easton Lee and Dominic Fiorentino.
Golden would take the lead midway through the second period on an Evan Tsadilas marker, with Chaz Jaeb and Brock McIlwain picking up helpers on the play. The Rockets would cap off the win in the final period adding another, as Brayden Bissell and Reid Ashcroft combined to setup Golden’s leading scorer Kanye Huang with his third goal of the young season. Final score was 3-1. Riley Deck turned aside 35 of 36 shots.
Saturday night, the venue shifted to Castlegar in sixty-plus minutes of grinding action on the ice. Rockets opened with a solid 2-0 lead after the first period on the strength of markers off the sticks of Cooper Thompson and Kanye Huang. Thomas Astley, Brayden Bissell and Draeden Bear each pitched in with assists.
That lead held until a mere :10 seconds into the middle frame, as the Rebels caught the Goldenites off-guard at the drop of the puck with a Jace Kramer goal.
Castlegar’s Reid Gerrand would tie things up at 2-2 early in the third period on a Rebel powerplay, and the marker seemed to signal the contest would move into a close-checking affair. The game remained deadlocked at the end of regulation time, and the 5-minute overtime session went scoreless, setting the stage for an exciting player-shootout.
And both netminders, Rockets’ Landon Garbitt and Rebels’ Haden Heide proved solid, turning aside shot after shot. It wasn’t until the fifth round of shooters that Golden’s newest acquisition Maddox Depasquale found the back of the net with the winner. Final score was 3-2. Landon Garbitt was once again sensational between the pipes for the Rockets, turning aside 46 shots.
This weekend, the club is back home at the Plywood Palace with a pair of contests. Friday night will see what promises to be an exciting rematch with the Castlegar Rebels, while Saturday will see the Creston ThunderCats in town for a key divisional matchup.
Written by Tom Stanton. Photo by Bill Pringle Photography.























