The Creston Valley Thunder Cats are moving closer to securing the top spot in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s Eddie Mountain Division.
Two wins on the weekend brought their total points to 62, while the Fernie Ghostriders’ single win helped them edge one point ahead of the Kimberley Dynamiters, in third place with 47 points after two losses.
The weekend started with a 7-4 win over the visiting Ghostriders on Friday. Three goals, by Logan Styler, Maverick Lynes (power play) and Matti Jmaeff, gave the Thunder Cats a 3-1 lead by the end of the first period.
“That was one of our stronger first periods we’ve had in a while,” said head coach Josh Hepditch.
The second period started with a Fernie goal, but Creston pulled farther ahead with goals by Trevor Hanna, Connor Ward and Carson Cartwright.
“We set ourselves up quite nicely going into the third,” said Hepditch.
In the third period, Ward scored an unassisted goal at 13:23, but the Creston team racking up 14 penalty minutes allowed the Ghostriders to score two more goals after outshooting the Thunder Cats 17-8.
“Thankfully, we got out of it,” said Hepditch. “Obviously, we need to be disciplined. We can’t be killing 14 minutes, especially in one period.”
He credited goaltender Kyle Michalovsky with part of the team’s success — he stopped 38 Fernie shots — as well as the second line of Styler, Cartwright and Jmaeff, who earned 10 points between them.
On Saturday, the Thunder Cats visited the Castlegar Rebels, earning a 3-1 win to add a 10th game to their winning streak. It got off to a slow start, however, with the Neil Murdoch Division’s third-place team outshooting Creston 14-4 in the first period.
“We were a little bit intimidated, and back on our heels a little bit,” said Hepditch. “They’re a hard, intense team.”
Connor Kidd scored on a power play with 18 seconds left in the first period, with Jmaeff scoring in the second and Brandon Formosa scoring in the third before the Rebels answered back with a single goal.
“We kept getting better as the game went on,” said Hepditch. “I don’t think they had enough gas to keep up with us.”
On Tuesday, the Thunder Cats were scheduled to take on the Beaver Valley Nitehawks (details were unavailable at press time), and are visiting Fernie tonight, a game that will be well-fought, with both teams aiming for the division’s first place.
“They've been playing extremely well,” said Hepditch. “Last weekend, they played better than to allow seven goals.”
And on Friday, the Castlegar Rebels will visit Creston for a game that should be exciting for fans to watch.
“They’re fighting for a playoff position,” said Hepditch. “They’re not guaranteed anything yet.
“They’re going be coming over here looking for redemption. We’re looking forward to keeping the momentum we have at home. With only five home games left in the season, we want to make this an intimidating place to play.”