Creston’s Brodie Ryan put his name into the KIJHL record book in the Thunder Cats’ 8-1 drubbing of the Grand Forks Border Bruins on Friday night.
Ryan scored six seconds into the game from Tyler Witzke, tying the league record and setting the table for the visiting team to feast on the host team. Buoyed by the early goal, the T-Cats poured 33 shots on goal in the opening frame and came away with a 2-0 lead. Ronnie Wilkie (Justen James and Liam Plunkett) also scored.
Creston broke through in a big way in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals. Plunket (James), Mitchell Wolfe (Bryce Sturm and Conor Monaghan), Wilkie (James and Plunkett) and Ryan again, this time on the power play, from Plunkett and Dylan Rantucci, gave the Thunder Cats a 6-0 lead after 40 minutes.
An unusual short-handed goal 11 seconds into the final period broke Levi Mitchell’s shot at a shutout.
But Colton Witter (Austin Canete and Carson Small) and Wilkie, with his hat-trick marker (Plunkett and James), finished off the scoring.
Plunkett had another outstanding game, earning the Home Star honour and finishing with five points, vaulting into the league’s Top 5 scorers.
“Mitchell Wolfe had a strong game, played physical in the defensive zone and had about 10 shots from the blueline in the offensive zone, getting rewarded with a goal,” Thunder Cat coach Jeff Tobin said on Sunday. “I thought that the players were keeping each other accountable for the whole game and didn’t start cheating to the offensive side of the puck later in the game.
“Again between the pipes, Levi Mitchell had another strong performance and should’ve had a shutout. Grand Forks scored on one of the weirdest goals I’ve ever seen in hockey. With the ice not totally settled to start the third period, the puck randomly stopped in a puddle near the goal crease with Mitchell already sliding to where he expected the puck to go.”
The blowout on the road must have convinced the Creston team that hosting the Spokane Braves the next night would be a piece of cake. Spokane does, after all, have the KIJHL’s third worst record.
Witzke (Ryan and Monaghan) gave the home side a 1-0 lead, but Elliot Piourde scored twice to give the Braves a 2-1 edge after 20 minutes.
A stronger effort in the second period led to four straight goals for Creston. Sturm (Small), Wilkie (Plunkett and James), Sturm again (Small and Monaghan) and Dylan Rantucci (Small and Monaghan) on the power play, put the Thunder Cats into a 5-2 lead. But former T-Cat Paxton Malone scored late in the frame to narrow the margin to two goals.
Piourde gave Creston a scare by scoring with 1:10 left in regulation, but Spokane failed to complete the rally and headed back home with a 5-4 loss.
Jaysen MacLean backstopped the win, turning aside 32 of the 36 shots he faced.
“It was a trap game for us, I think after the previous nights performance we just thought things would come easy and Spokane would lay down for us,” Tobin said. “They used their speed to create scoring chances and kept us on our heels. Bryce Sturm played well and got two goals in the game. I was disappointed that we allowed a goal with two minutes less in every period of the game. By the end of the game we were just glad to pick up the two points and move on from it.
“We got our four points from the weekend that we needed to keep pace with Kimberley.”
With that four points, Creston is now six points behind the division-leading Dynamiters, and have a game in hand.
The Thunder Cats have an all-East Kootenay weekend ahead. They host the Fernie Ghostriders on Friday night and then return to Kimberley for another game against the Dynamiters on Saturday night.