The Creston Valley Thunder Cats are riding a bit of a cold snap to accompany the weather here in early mid-January.
The ‘Cats have found themselves on the small end of the score for the past three games, including an overtime loss to the Osoyoos Coyotes, Jan. 12, at home in the Johnny Bucyk Arena.
Creston certainly got off to a gangbusters start on Friday. Max Chakrabarti got two straight goals in the first period, the second on a power play. Bronson Seymour of the Coyotes made it 2-1, but Connor Hanna restored the two-goal lead in the final minutes of the frame. Creston put 17 first period shots on the Coyotes goalie Hayden Lee, while Osoyoos got off five on Jacob Burnside.
Osoyoos came out howling in the second period, however, notching three unanswered goals from James Poole, Rylan Konescni and Nelson Webster. Both goalies faced 12 shots in the second.
Caden Cygan scored for Osoyoos four minutes into the third, giving the Coyotes a two-goal lead, but Nikolai Morrison’s 15th of the season got Creston close at the seven-and-a-half minute mark.
Then, with only two seconds left in the game, and Burnside on the bench for the extra attacker, Stavros Koutsantonis tied it up, with an assist from Luke Chakrabarti.
And so to overtime. Both teams got off a couple of shots, but it was Jarrod Gale for Osoyoos who got one past Burnside, at 2:31 of OT.
Total shots on goal for Friday’s game were Creston 47, Osoyoos 25.
Earlier that week, on Tuesday, Jan. 9, the Fernie Ghostriders came to town for an Eddie Mountain Division match-up, seeking a little revenge for their overtime loss to the Thunder Cats the previous Friday in Fernie.
Nikolai Morrison opened the scoring in the first period just over 13 minutes in, but Cole Fournier tied it for Fernie less than a minute later on the powerplay.
With the second period underway, Fournier’s second of the game gave Fernie the lead; Stavros Koutsantonie tied it up. But Fernie responded with two straight goals, from Dayton Collier and Eric Marin, which put the Thunder Cats behind the eight-ball.
Into the third period, where Nikolai Morrison’s second of the game got Creston within one. Jacob Burnside went to the bench with with a minute and a half left, giving Creston the extra attacker, but Ben Skarsen’s empty net goal with 50 seconds left put an end to that come-back dream.
Creston looks to get their winning ways back on Friday, Jan. 19, when the division-leading Kimberley Dynamiters come to town. On Sunday, Jan. 20, the Thunder Cats are off to Golden to take on the Rockets.