The Creston Valley Thunder Cats had only a slim hope of making the playoffs going into last week’s games, but losing three of four games means a last place finish is now secured in the KIJHL’s Eddie Mountain Division.
A loss against the team they were trying to catch for fourth place and a playoff spot on Feb. 5 started the downward slide. A home ice advantage wasn’t enough as the Cats went down 7-4 to the Columbia Valley Rockies.
“This was one of our most frustrating performances of the season,” head coach Josh Hepditch said on Monday. “It was a four-point game and a win would have put us in a good position to make a playoff run. And we just didn’t show up.”
Creston took a 4-3 lead into the third period, then collapsed, giving up four goals in the final frame. A two-goal performance by Joey Berget was helped by singles from Matthew Murray and Colby Livingstone proved not to be enough to keep the Cats in the playoff hunt.
In a penalty-filled third period, Columbia Valley scored two of its three goals on the power play and added an empty netter to seal the deal.
The weekend began on a brighter note as Creston started with a 6-3 win at home over the Kelowna Chiefs.
“This was the game that showed the potential our team has,” Hepditch said. "We took on one of the strongest teams in the league, played a full 60 minutes and proved what we could do when we really wanted it.”
With two goals in each period, the Cats were in complete control after giving up the first goal.
Livingstone and Jesse Collins scored in the first period, with Livingstone and Joey Berget scoring in the second to give Creston a 4-3 edge going into the third period. Tyler Akeroyd and Angus Johnston scored the final frame’s only goals.
Kelowna leads the Okanagan Division and has the second highest point total in the KIJHL.
On Saturday, the Thunder Cats took the show on the road to Golden, where the Rockets are in a tight scramble with the Fernie Ghostriders for first place in the Eddie Mountain Division.
“We came off a big emotional win against Kelowna and came out really, really flat,” the coach said. “We were still in a position to win in the third period but we came out on the wrong end.”
Creston had 2-1 and 3-2 leads in the second period but another third period collapse saw them give up five goals. Only Matti Jmaeff, with his second of the game, was able to light up the lamp in the third period. The end result was an 8-4 drubbing.
James Veitch and Akeroyd also scored for Creston in a game that saw all three starts awarded to the home team.
Creston then faced the hungry Ghostriders at home on Sunday in front of 450 fans. Fernie jumped out to a quick 3-1 first period lead, then held on during a fierce third period comeback by the Cats that saw the game even at 3-3 before Fernie power play and empty net goals sealed a win for the division frontrunners.
Collins scored for Creston in the opening period, with Trevor Hannah and Andrew Hodder scoring to make the game close in the third period.
Creston outshot Fernie 42-29. Fernie’s Braedon Monk had a game to remember, scoring four goals to lead his team to the win. Monk leads his team in scoring with 21 goals and 55 points.
“We played a pretty good game and stayed right with Fernie,” Hepditch said. “But then we had a seven-minute penalty kill in the third period that we almost killed off, then gave up a goal to fall behind. We just couldn’t find a way to get the goal we needed after that.”
Creston rounds out the season with a game in Columbia Valley on Saturday.