The Columbia Valley Rockies won 5-1 against the Golden Rockets at the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena on Tuesday, February 3rd.
“Other than the first period, we played a pretty good second and a third,” said Wade Dubielewicz, Rockies’ head coach. “We were able to get some good forward bounces and we were able to bury our chances. We came out on top.”
In spite of the Rockets taking a 1-0 lead during the first, when Brennan Grocock scored the Junior B team’s first power play goal, the Rockies made a triumphant comeback that began when defenceman Nigel Swab tied up the game.
“Our starts have been pretty average as of late, so it feels almost like it takes us a period to get going, but eventually it will bite you in the butt,” said Dubielewicz. “But I know we were fortunate in the first period against Golden, then took over.”
Forward Micheal Cardinal put the Rockies into the lead with a power play goal, thanks to assists from Doan Smith and Colton Sandboe.
With less than three minutes left in the first period, forward Damon Raven scored the third goal for the Rockies with help from Owen Lee, a participating midget athlete, and Colby Sherlock.
“We had Owen Lee play his second game and Evan Prosser play his first game — both played extremely well,” he said about the participating midgets. “I’m sure Evan was nervous, but he was able to play a regular first, second and third — and contribute.”
During the second, Cardinal scored an unassisted goal for the Rockies while the team was short-handed.
Then Nolan Menard, Davin Burton and Ryan St. Jean pushed the puck down to the ice, giving the Rockies their final goal and a 5-1 victory.
On Friday, February 5th, the Rockies went to the Spokane Eagles Ice Arena to compete against the Braves. On Saturday, the Junior B team competed against the Grand Forks Border Bruins at the Grand Forks Arena.
Because of The Echo’s B.C. Family Day production schedule, the results were not available before The Echo went to press.
The Rockies will be competing in an away game against the Fernie Ghostriders on Friday, February 12th and at home against the Rockets around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 13th.
When asked about how the season was shaping up, and whether or not the Rockies stand a chance in the playoffs, Dubielewicz replied: “I think we’re looking good here, but the next seven games are huge because we do want to catch Fernie to get into third place and obviously, we have to win every game and treat every game like it’s the biggest of the season. We’re treating every game like it’s a playoff game because we want to get into the third spot.”