With first place in the Eddie Mountain Division of the KIJHL sewn up, the Creston Valley Thunder Cats can now focus on getting ready for the playoffs.
A first-round matchup with fourth place Columbia Valley Rockies is now set. Creston, with 70 points after weekend play, has more than double the Rockies 32-point total.
Going into the Feb. 8th game against league-leading Beaver Valley Nitehawks with nothing more than pride on the line, the Thunder Cats came up on the short end of a close 2-1 match.
Two of the league’s top three teams played a scoreless first period and then traded power play goals in the middle frame. Kevan McBean opened the scoring for Beaver Valley, but Austin Anselm (Cole Arcuri and Aiden Wong) tied the game with what proved to be Creston’s only goal.
Mitch Foyle scored the eventual winner for the Nitehawks 1:32 into the third period.
Brock Lefebvre was named the T-Cats’ game star after allowing only two goals in the 30 shots. The opponents’ Tallon Kramer was a notch better, though, turning away 30 of 31 shots by Creston.
On Saturday night Creston returned to the win column with a 4-1 road victory over the Golden Rockets. Lien Miller-Jeannotte led the way with a hat trick.
Wong (Thomas Cankovic and Sebastian Kilcommons) scored the lone first period goal. Miller-Jeannotte scored twice in the second, with Jonathan Lee assisting on both. Luke Kalenuik also earned an assist on the first marker.
Miller-Jeannotte’s third goal early in the third period put the Thunder Cats up 4-0 before Levi Lambert spoiled Patrick Ostermann’s bid for a shutout with 2:27 left to play.
The Thunder Cats return to action on Friday night when they host the Columbia Valley Rockies. The Rockies host a return match on Saturday night.
It is an odd coincidence of scheduling, that has Creston and Columbia Valley facing each other in each of the final two regular season games before facing off in the first round of the playoffs on Feb. 24th, virtually ensuring that players and fans will be sick of each other by month end. By February 28th, they will have played no other teams for six games, the first two of which will be meaningless.