The Creston Valley Thunder Cats brought their A game to the KIJHL’s action this weekend, dumping the Golden Rockets 5-1 Sunday, Oct. 29, at the Johnny Bucyk, but getting edged in overtime two nights earlier against the red hot Columbia Valley Rockies in Invermere.
On Friday, Oct. 27, the ‘Cats fought their way back from a two goal deficit against the Rockies, who had taken a first period lead on goals from Tysin Mulligan and Teo Faith. But only 24 seconds into the second frame, Simon Hamilton got Creston on the board, and Lucas Hughes tied it seven minutes later.
Luke Hamilton got the lead back for the Rockies near the 15 minute mark of the second, but Max Chakrabarti, with his first of the season, evened the scored for Creston in the third.
And so to overtime, and Carter Velker’s goal for Columbia Valley which ended the affair.
It was a tight-fought game throughout — Creston outshot their opponents, putting 36 on goalie Jaiden Jakubowski, while the Rockies got 33 shots on Jacob Burnside in net for Creston. The Rockies got four power play opportunities, but the ‘Cats killed them all off. Creston was likewise unsuccessful on their two power plays.
It was the Thunder Cats’ first overtime loss of the season, giving them one point for the standings.
Back home in Creston on Sunday, the Thunder Cats vented some frustration on the Golden Rockets, who are sitting in the basement of the Eddie Mountain Division.
Nikolai Morrison opened the scoring (his first of the season), with assists from Brendan Kindlein and Luke Chakrabarti — the only marker of the first period.
Kindlein and Tyson Tokarz made it 3-0 Creston in the second.
Kade Cochlan got the Rockets on the board 41 seconds into the third, but two unanswered goals from Tyler Schmideder (his second of the season) and Luke Chakrabarti (his 11th) put paid to any thoughts of a Golden comeback.
The Rockets actually outshot Creston, but Dario Cantini stopped 30 aof the 31 shots he faced. Kaeden Serpa, in net for Golden, faced 28 shots, stopping 23.
Once again, penalty killing squads were strong on a busy night — Creston players were sent to the box eight times, Golden six times. These included 10-minute misconducts assigned to Stavros Koutsantonis (Creston) and Brandon Spilchen (Golden) in the second).
The three-point weekend keeps the Thunder Cats in fourth place in the Eddie Mountain Division with 14 points, at 12-6-4-1-1, ahead of the Golden Rockets and making ground on Kimberley and Fernie (12-8-4-0-0, for 16 points). Columbia Valley leads the Division with 21 points.
The Creston Thunder Cats have a busy weekend coming up, with games on the road in Grand Forks (Friday, Nov. 3) and Kimberley (Saturday, Nov. 4). They are back at the Johnny Bucyk in Creston on Sunday, November 5, to face the Kelowna Chiefs.
