Rockies players celebrate after forward Jonah Fournier (26) scores against the Golden Rockets to put the Rockies up 4-1.
Week 17 wraps up with the Rockies going a perfect 3-0 with a win against Creston Valley, and two wins coming from a home at home series against Golden over the weekend.
The Rockies started the week against the Creston Valley Thundercats on February 1st where they came out to a hot start scoring twice within the first 5 minutes of the game to go up 2-0. Defenceman Dylan Malarchuk (19) scored his 11th of the year, and Max Kathol (10) scored his 5th. After giving up a late goal in the first period, Creston tied the game up three minutes into the second. Reed Sparrow (7) then gave the Rockies a 3-2 lead by scoring on the powerplay from Colby Phillips (14) and Dylan Malarchuk (19). Creston once again fought back just after the powerplay goal by Sparrow to tie things up at 3. There was only one goal scored in the third period, and that goal came off of Reed Sparrow’s (7) stick with assists from forwards Kyran Gromnisky (25) and Max Kathol (10).
The Rockies then traveled to Golden on February 4th to take on Golden for the first of two games against them over the weekend. The Rockies’ leading Scorer Kayde Kinaschuk (29) got the scoring started late in the first period before scoring again midway through the second to put the Rockies up 2-0 going into the third. Golden cut the Rockies’ lead in half on a power play goal at 9:50 of the third, but Colby Phillips (14) quickly regained the two-goal cushion just 34 seconds later on a goal assisted by Dylan Malarchuk (19) and Nicholas Rogalsky (8). Kayde Kinaschuk (29) then sealed the Rockies’ win with a power play goal at 18:18 of the third period as the boys marched home with the 4-1 victory. Goaltender Grady Nicholas (33) finished the game with a stellar 0.968 save percentage stopping 30 of 31 shots he faced.
Eddie Mountain Memorial arena in Invermere was then scheduled to host a rare matinee matchup between the Rockies and the Golden Rockets on Sunday February 6th. Trevor Ebling (16) quickly opened the scoring at 1:53 of the first period before Kyran Gromnisky (26) padded the lead to 2 on the powerplay at 8:17. After a shot was blocked in the Rockies zone, a misplaced puck found its way to a Golden player, and they cut the lead to 2-1 at 13:35 of the first. Near the tail end of the first period, defenceman Jakob McLean (12) scored his 12th of the season to put the Rockies back up by two. The second period started with a very similar pattern as the first. Forward Jonah Fournier (26) got things going at 0:31 before Kayde Kinaschuk (29) scored a powerplay marker at 11:35. Golden then came back to score at 14:53 before Forward Max Kathol (10) brought the score to 6-2 on a great shorthanded opportunity. Period three saw both teams trade goals before Dylan Malarchuk scored the final goal at 9:11 to put the Rockies up 8-3.
Forward Jonah Fournier (26) shoots the puck on a breakaway at the Golden net.
As of February 6th, the Columbia Valley Rockies sit first in the Eddie Mountain Division with a 28-8-2-1 record good for 59 points. They are currently three points up on the second place Kimberley Dynamiters, and 17 points up on the third place Fernie Ghostriders.
Week 18 only sees the Rockies playing one game at home against the Kimberley Dynamiters on Friday February 11th.
