The Columbia Valley Rockies hockey team finished a disappointing week with a 6-1 loss to the conference-leading Kamloops Storm October 15 at Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena. Despite a strong performance from Rockies goalie Travis Beekhuizen, who made 47 saves, the Rockies were out shot 53-27, allowing three power play goals in the loss.
“We had some good moments,” Rockies coach Marc Ward said. “Overall we didn’t play a complete game, but we did some good things.”
The Storm opened the scoring midway through the first on a power play goal by Kamloops forward Chase Edwards, and followed that up with another power play marker just over three minutes later. An unassisted goal by Kamloops defenceman Daniel Buchanan with just 11 seconds left in the first period was a potential backbreaker for the Rockies, but they battled back to score a power play goal of their own when Tyler Reay put home his team-leading fourth goal of the season past Storm goaltender Wade Moyls early in the second period.
“Our power play was very good, and created a lot of chances,” Ward said. “However, our defensive zone commitment (was lacking), and we went away from our system, which definitely cost us.”
The Rockies kept up the pressure, getting several good scoring opportunities, but were unable to capitalize, and with just over eight minutes remaining Chase Edward put home his second of the night after a brief scramble at the front of the Rockies net. An early third period goal by Kamloops all but put the game away, and the Storm’s third power play goal of the night 10 minutes later sent fans heading for the exits. The loss put the Rockies record to 0-12-0-1 for the season, following a 6-2 loss to the Creston Thunder Cats October 13, and a 8-2 loss to the Revelstoke Grizzlies October 14.
Up next on the slate is a game against the winless Grand Fork Border Bruins, who currently average over nine goals against per game.
“The Bruins are going to be just as hungry as we are, and we need to play the way we know we can,” Ward said. “We realize that we need to play a complete game and that we need to battle for 60 minutes.”