Beyond the Blue Line
By Stephanie Stevens
Two overtime games for the Columbia Valley Rockies last weekend saw good effort and excellent goaltending.
Friday Oct. 27 saw the Creston Valley Thundercats in the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena, but despite a tight game, the ‘Cats’ went home without the win.
Head coach and General Manager Taylor Sincennes said the home team showed resilience in both games, ultimately grabbing three of four division points.
Friday scoring was opened up in the first period by #14 Tysin Mulligan (assists from #12 Kaelen Shelton and #9 Carter Velker), followed up by #8 Theo Fath, unassisted.
Second period scoring was courtesy of #24 Luke Hamilton (assists from #19 Johnny Lozeman and #11 Wyatt Wurtz).
The winning overtime goal was scored by Velker (assists by #5 Jamieson Franz and Mulligan).
While Saturday’s away game in Kimberley was ultimately an overtime loss for the Rockies, Sincennes said the team proved their mettle clawing their way back into the game with only five minutes left.
Scoring in the first was #10 Oleg Bitus (assists from Wurtz and #18 Maxence Guay) and scoring the late third period comeback goals were Shelton (assists from Mulligan and #28 Paddy Donahue) and #16 Gage Sather (unassisted).
“We had really good goaltending performances in both games,” Sincennes noted.
Minding the net for the Friday game was #1 Jaiden Jakubowski and between the pipes in Kimberley Saturday was #30 Nate Glenn.
The Rockies are back in Eddie Mountian Memorial Arena this Friday, Nov. 3 against the Nelson Leafs.
On Saturday, Nov. 4 the Castlegar Rebels will try their luck against the Rockies in the hometown barn.
