Beyond the Blue Line

By Stephanie Stevens

Hard work, a strong team mindset and a whole lotta heart paid off in spades for the Columbia Valley Rockies last weekend. 

The team’s first round in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) playoff series had the Rockies, sitting third in the Eddie Mountain Division, winning two games against second place Fernie Ghostriders. 

“We are obviously really happy going into their rink and coming out with two wins early in the series,” said head coach Tayler Sincennes. “Our specialty teams were excellent in both games. Early in game one we killed off two five on threes and that really grabbed us some momentum in that game. Our powerplay went 3/4 and helped win us the game.”

Scoring in the Friday, Feb. 28 game was Lukas Masters (assist by Noah Asmundson) in the first, and in the second period Ethan Cerone (unassisted), Peter Godley (Wyatt Wurtz) and Carter Velker (Asmundson) all found their mark. Velker (Jack Thorne) stepped up again in the third period to end the game 5-3.

Goalie Hunter Arntsen stopped 41 of 44 shots on goal.

The following night included what associate coach Tucker Braund called “one of the wildest third periods” he has ever seen.

“With the five-minute major penalty to Jonah (Fornier) they could have put us away on the powerplay and they did get one, but our penalty kill (pk) has been great and we scored a short-handed goal to tie it. Then us scoring with one second left was just wild.”

“Saturday night we played better; we generated way more chances and defended excellently,” said Sincennes. “Again our pk did a great job killing off a five-minute major in the third period and our powerplay went 2/3. We still have a lot of work to do to win this series, but we have set ourselves up really well coming back to play at the Eddie in games three and four.”

The score remained 1-0 for the ‘Riders into the third period, but Ashton Sledz (Kobe Mason and Wurtz) found the net early in, followed by Teo Fath (Wurtz). The game looked to head into overtime but with one second left on the clock, Velker put one more past the Fernie goalie unassisted to win the game 3-2.

“Going into this playoff series, we knew it was going to be a grind,” said Velker. “The atmosphere is definitely different in the post season: there’s a lot more intensity and I feel like as a group we’ve been really good at embracing it. Winning both away games this weekend was huge for us. Playing on the road in an environment like Fernie in the playoffs is never easy, but we knew if we stuck to our game, we could take control of the series early. These wins are important, but we know we still have a job to do.”

On the Saturday night winning goal, Velker said it was an incredible feeling.

“The energy from the team was unreal,” he said. “Everyone was pushing until the final whistle, and you could just feel the belief we had throughout that game. To score a goal like that in a high-pressure moment felt amazing … it’s a goal you imagine as a young kid scoring at the buzzer. As a team we have a lot of momentum right now and we are looking to carry that into these next games.”

At press time the Rockies were heading into games three and four at home in Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena, and if necessary will be in Fernie on Friday, March 7, home again March 8, and should the series go right to seven games they will play the final in Fernie on Monday, March 10.

Carter Velker of the Rockies scored his share of goals last weekend.
PHOTO STEPHANIE STEVENS