In sports, sometimes it just isn’t your night. The Creston Valley Thunder Cats had that experience in a 4-1 loss to the Columbia Valley Rockies on Tuesday night.
With three players out with suspensions from Saturday’s slugfest in Kimberley, including number one goaltender Levi Mitchell, the Thunder Cats just couldn’t get more than one puck behind the Rockies’ Joshua King. King faced 46 shots, 15 in each of the first two periods and 16 in the final 20 minutes, to earn the game’s Home Star nod.
Joshua Antunes opened the scoring for the home team, but Justen James (Liam Plunkett and Dylan Rantucci) evened the score at 1-1 after one period of play.
After a scoreless second, Tyler Nypower and Chase Hawkins put the Rockies up 3-1 before Antunes salted away the game with an empty-netter.
Columbia Valley took two of only three minor penalties on a night that was much tamer than the spectacle in Kimberley three nights earlier.
Also missing from the Creston lineup while serving suspensions were Carlson Small and Austin Canete.
The Thunder Cats return to action on Saturday night in Golden against the struggling Rockets. Tuesday, December 5th promises to be an interesting match-up when the division-leading Kimberley Dynamiters arrive in Creston to resume their rivalry with the Thunder Cats.