A 15-day Christmas break didn’t slow down the Creston Valley Thunder Cats — in the four games following their time off, the Eddie Mountain Division-leading Thunder Cats lost only one game, scoring a total of 25 goals in one away and three home games.
Having only a single practice prior to the Dec. 30 game against the Kimberley Dynamiters, “we had a pretty slow start to the game, but got better as the game went on,” said head coach Josh Hepditch.
A goal by Carson Cartwright tied the score 1-1 after the first period, but the Thunder Cats were still down 4-2 after an unassisted goal by Maverick Lynes in the second. Only Thunder Cat Brandon Formosa scored in the third period, resulting in a 4-3 loss — despite 46 shots on the Kimberley goal.
“Their goaltender played extremely well, and made some unbelievable saves,” said Hepditch. “It was the best goalie performance I’ve seen this year.”
With three post-holiday wins, the Dynamiters are closing the gap on the Thunder Cats, sitting five points behind with 43, followed closely by the Fernie Ghostriders, with 40.
The Thunder Cats had a better showing in the next night’s game hosting the Ghostriders — Fernie’s fourth game in four days — which they won 7-2.
“We wanted to try and get those points and get our spread a little bit higher,” said Hepditch. “They had the mindset to throw everything at the net and found a way to score some goals.”
Logan Styler, Formosa (power play) and Justin Post scored the first three goals for the Thunder Cats, followed by two from the Ghostriders before the end of the first period. Styler and Connor Ward each scored in the second period, with Ethan Rusnack and Marcel Fuchs scoring in the third.
“Getting into third period, we had a good lead and you could tell they were low on energy and jump,” said Hepditch.
Friday’s game in Invermere saw the Thunder Cats score seven goals in one game again, this time defeating the Columbia Valley Rockies 7-1.
“We kind of went in with the mindset that if the season were to end today, that’s who we play in playoffs,” said Hepditch. “They came out strong in the first period, and we matched their intensity and sort of upped it.”
The game was scoreless until 9:20 in the first period, when Matti Jmaeff scored on a power play, followed by Trevor Hanna (power play) and Ward (unassisted). Lynes and Styler scored in the second period, and in the third, both scored again after a Rockies goal.
Styler earned three points in that game, having assisted with Jmaeff’s first-period goal.
“He’s been doing very good offensively, and we think we can get more out of him, and he’s starting to show that now,” said Hepditch.
Timely saves — 23 in all — from goalie Kyle Michalovsky also helped the Thunder Cats achieve that victory.
On Saturday, the 100 Mile House Wranglers visited Creston for a game the Thunder Cats won 8-1, their second win over the South Cariboo team. Despite the high score, the win required a lot of effort.
“That was probably the hardest another team has come in and played us in a while,” said Hepditch. “They were definitely ready to come in and get two points.”
Styler scored within the first minute, and Hanna followed suit before the Wranglers scored their only goal. Goals from Colby Livingstone (power play) and Jaymes Veitch brought the score to 4-1 by the end of the first period. In the second period, Formosa and Lynes each added a goal, while Cartwright and Hanna did the same in the third.
Formosa, Collins and Styler each earned three points in the game, while Michalovsky again proved valuable, stopping 31 shots by the Wranglers. The 17-year-old goalie is now ranked seventh in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
“We definitely had a good team effort in that game,” said Hepditch. “We kept up our pace and they slowly dropped off.”
This weekend, the Thunder Cats play three games, visiting the Rockies on Friday, hosting the Revelstoke Grizzlies on Saturday and visiting the Spokane Braves on Sunday.
“It’s never easy to go there and win,” said Hepditch of the Rockies, who hold fourth place in the division. “They’ve got a team that plays hard. If we don’t show up, any team can win any night.”
Saturday’s game will be the Thunder Cats’ second against the Grizzlies, whom they beat 11-2 in November.
“We beat them pretty good up in their arena,” said Hepditch. “We’re definitely going to need good effort to beat them.”
As the third game in a three-game weekend, Hepditch expects Sunday’s game against the Braves to be a tough one.
“They’re battling with Grand Forks for the final spot [in the Neil Murdoch Division],” said Hepditch.