The second win of the season ignited smiles for many fans of the Rockies last weekend.
At the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena on Sunday, September 27th, the Columbia Valley Rockies nabbed a 5-1 win against the 100 Mile House Wranglers.
“I’m really proud of these guys,” said Rockies head coach Wade Dubielewicz, noting the weekend had been full of challenging games for his team.
The Beaver Valley Nitehawks beat the Columbia Valley Rockies 5-3 at the Beaver Valley Arena in Fruitvale on Friday, September 25th.
“We just had a bad blurb in the first and it was pretty hard to come back from,” explained Dubielewicz about the loss against the Nitehawks. “I’m happy with how the game went in the second half, but when it got to 4-3, we weren’t able to get that next goal (to come back).”
The Rockies suffered their second loss of the weekend again the Creston Valley Thunder Cats, who won 3-1 against the Columbia Valley Rockies at the Johnny Bucyk Arena on Saturday, September 26th.
“I know the results weren’t there this weekend, but with the way we played, I’m really proud of these guys,” Dubielewicz added.
He is eager to see that the Rockies have begun to work together as a united team on the ice.
“It takes time,” he replied when asked about learning discipline to play a 60-minute game. “I teach the game a (different) way than kids are used to playing, so it takes a little more time for them to get it and
we’ve now put together eight straight strong periods and I’m really excited.”
He anticipates there are successes for the Rockies on the horizon.
“Most kids learn through minor hockey to play zone defense, but we play somewhat of a suffocating man-on-man system so it’s a little harder for the kids to get their brains to work that way to find the guy and stay with them because they’re used to playing a different way,” Dubielewicz said.
When asked why this method was his preference, Dubielewicz replied, “When it’s done right, you spend far less time in your defensive zone and when you spend less time in your d-zone, the less chance the puck is going to end up in the net.
“I’m really excited about (our upcoming games because) we’re going to have two good tests: Fernie and Kimberley. The things we’ve been working on and continually getting better at are going to be put to the test against both of those teams.”
The next home game for the Rockies will be against the Fernie Ghostriders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 2nd at Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena.