Beyond the Blue Line
By Stephanie Stevens
Rockies, Rockies everywhere.
The Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena saw Columbia Valley Rockies hockey action from morning to night last weekend.
The Windermere Valley Minor Hockey League Under 13 Rockies hosted several teams from the East Kootenay Minor Hockey Association in the 2023/24 tiering tournament.
The weekend was less about winning (though the junior Rockies team did win all four games they played, one in Canal Flats and three in the home barn) and more about sorting the various teams into divisions to determine who will play whom in this season’s competitive league games.
Friday and Saturday evening (Oct. 20 and 21) saw the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Junior A Rockies hosting first the Grand Forks Border Bruins and then the Summerland Steam the following night.
Despite all previous meetups seeing the Rockies beat the Bruins, the Rockies had a tough time scoring, and according to head coach and general manager Taylor Sincennes, some undisciplined penalties cost the team the game.
The goals scored in the 4-2 loss were courtesy of #14 Tysin Mulligan in the first (assists from #24 Luke Hamilton and #7 Danny Schmirler) and an unassisted goal by Schmirler in the second.
But the team turned it around for Saturday when the Steam rolled in, resulting in a shutout.
“We played really well from start to finish,” said Sincennes. “We created tons of offensive opportunities and defended really well, only giving up 15 shots.”
Starting out the scoring in the first was #8 Theo Fath (assists from #29 Carter Krause and #24 Luke Hamilton), Mulligan in the second (assist by #9 Carter Velker), and #22 Kobe Mason started off the third period with an unassisted goal and #12 Kaelen Shelton made it four (assists courtesy of Mulligan and Velker).
Between the pipes for the shutout game was #1 Jaiden Jakubowski.
The Rockies are back home in the Eddie on Friday, Oct. 27 and away in Kimberley Oct. 28.