Creston Valley Thunder Cats have advanced to the second round in the KIJHL playoffs by completing a four game sweep of the Columbia Valley Rockies on Tuesday night.
An opening goal by Liam Plunkett and a pair by Paxton Malone gave Creston a 3-0 lead after one period of play in Invermere. Columbia Valley narrowed the margin when Cooper Krauss and Ryan Skytt scored the only goals in the second period.
In the final frame, the Rockies’ Kyler Shmigelsky tied the game early, but Justen James scored the game winner with 11:15 left to play in regulation time. Grant Iles put the game away with an empty netter with 13 seconds remaining.
Red-hot Thomas Cankovic earned four assists and leads the KIJHL in playoff scoring. Brock Lefebvre stopped 38 of 41 shots for his fourth playoff win in a row.
Creston now awaits the winner of the Kimberley Dynamiters-Fernie Ghostriders series, which is now tied 2-2 after Kimberley’s 3-2 win in Fernie last night.