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Rockies halt cold start with three straight wins
By Stephanie Stevens
By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.
Shakespeare wasn’t referring to hockey when he penned those lines, but if he had been, he would use the modern version of the word to describe the impressive turnaround of the Columbia Valley Rockies in the past three games.
The British Columbia Hockey Conference (BCHC) team had been struggling with one win so far this season, but the Oct. 16 win over Summerland in the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena seemed to be the turning point and this past weekend, the hometown boys brought home two more wins, and they were wicked indeed.
Saturday, Oct. 24’s home game against the Grand Forks Border Bruins was fast paced, intense and boasted 91 penalty minutes (49 for the Bruins, 42 for the Rockies).
The Bruins opened things up a little over five minutes in and were answered shortly by Meric Poncelet (assist by Parker Cutts). The Bruins got another in around the 11-minute mark, but Danil Timchuk (Cooper Barclay and Ryker Klassen) tied it up to end the first two all.
The second period saw goals from Graydon Proctor (Wesley Lizotte and Ezra Siemens) and Evin Bossel (Cutts and Poncelet). The Bruins got one more past goalie Joshua Nuttall and the second ended 3-2 for the Rockies.
Third period action saw three more shots get past Nuttall, but Cole King (Trae Lees), Nolan Torhjelm (unassisted), Cooper Barclay (Bossel and Oliver Legrandeur) and Lees (King and Cole) wrapped up an 8-6 win.
Nuttal stopped 30 of 36 shots. The Rockies outshot the Bruins sending 52 pucks toward the Grand Forks netminder.
After the Saturday game, team captain Chance Cole said it feels like the team has finally put the right pieces together.
“We are really starting to figure things out as a team,” said Cole. “A lot of different guys were scoring tonight, which is really good, and it was a big team win. I think we are turning in the right direction, big time. We just keep have to keep doing the simple things that work for us.”
Assistant captain Trae Lees had similar sentiments.
“The season had kind of a shaky start but I feel like we’ve gotten back into the swing of things,” he said. “A lot of both older guys and younger guys are really stepping up. And we are starting to figure out our defensive zone. We weren’t blocking shots before, but a lot of the guys getting in front of shots and helping our goalie.”
Sunday saw the Kamloops Storm in the Eddie and while the Storm gave it a go, the game ended 8-5 in favour of the Rockies.
Scoring was opened by the Storm, but the Rockies kept the pressure on and answered goal for goal. Poncelet (Siemens), some slick puck handling by Todd Harrison (Poncelet) and another from Bossel (Barclay and Proctor) ended the first with a 3-2 lead.
Torhjelm (Harrison Todd and Cutts), Keaton Thompson (unassisted), Cole (Torhjelm and Timchuck) and Legrandeur (Lees) all beat the Storm goalie to end the second 7-4.
The third saw one more from Kamloops, but Cutts (Todd and Torhjelm) finished things off with one last puck in the net.
Nuttal stopped 33 of 38 shots on goal.
Tucker Braund, Rockies’ head coach and general manager, said the past three games have felt like the turning of the tide.
“We’re scoring goals and it’s exciting hockey to watch,” Braund said. “The guys are buying into what we’re teaching them. They are getting into better shape conditioning wise and that allows us to play the way we want to play for 60 minutes.
“We’ve worked hard on our D-zone coverage, getting the puck out of our zone as quick as we can so we play with it in the offensive zone, which is more fun. We are blocking more shots too, which is so good. It helps out goalie out a lot.”
The boys are headed to Grand Forks on Oct. 31 and then Nelson Nov. 1 for away games. They are back home in the Eddie November 6 when they take on the Princeton Posse. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
Braund was all smiles after the Sunday win.
“Two on the weekend, three in a row… we like the direction we’re going.”
Lead image: Parker Cutts
Photos by Erin McCarthy
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