By Stephanie Stevens

 Ain’t nothing gonna break my stride.

The Columbia Valley Rockies seem to have found their stride and they are making the most of it.

The British Columbia Hockey Conference Junior A team was in the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena Friday, Nov. 6 and squared off with the Princeton Posse, ultimately taking the game 6-3. The game was a special Remembrance Day game, with Legion members in attendance to fly the colours and participate in the ceremonial puck drop.

“This was a big win for us,” said head coach and general manager Tucker Braund. “The race to get into the playoffs is tight for the last three teams. We have a division that has six teams and only four teams get in so every win counts. Princeton was battling for points too, having the same race on their side.”

Braund said the team continues to work on their defensive game, as well as tracking and blocking shots.

“Early in the season they (goalies) helped us stay in games and we now want to help them win games,” he said.

Starting out the Rockies tally was Cole King (assist by Trae Lees) in the first period. Second period action saw Wesley Lizotte pot a short-handed, unassisted goal, followed by Jesse Doel with another unassisted effort.

The third period saw Ryker Klassen (Evin Bossel and Cooper Barclay), Meric Poncelet (Harrison Todd) and again Klassen (Bossel and Barclay) bring the game home.

Rookie Klassen was first star of the game and was all smiles after the win.

“It was a good night tonight,” he said. “It felt really good out there, the boys were moving the puck around, moving their feet… it’s a big team win.”

Klassen said the focus on conditioning is definitely a factor, as is seeing the team as a whole rather than in parts.

“We are taking a big jump in our D-zone, playing a lot better, and definitely more connected as a team,” Klassen said.

Netminder Joshua Nuttal stopped 33 of 36 shots on goal and said he also feels the shift in how the team is coming together.

“The boys are helping out so much,” he said. “Every night they are blocking shots, boxing guys out and making my job seem easy. When we do that, it leads to offence and offence leads to wins, it’s all connected.”

The full effort Nuttall said he is seeing is something the coaching staff has been working hard on.

“We challenged our defence to let in less goals, which isn’t strictly on the goalie,” said assistant coach Brandon Robinson. “Tonight Ez (Siemens) had a couple big ones, Oliver (Legrandeur) had a couple, Jack (Deglow) had some.”

Robinson added that the focus cannot just be on scoring.

“The forwards are buying in too,” he said. “It’s nice to keep scoring, but if we let in less goals we are going to win a lot more games.”

The team gelling is a vital component and Robinson is pleased with that progress as well.

“The locker room vibe is really good, I think they are starting to really buy into the messaging and how we want to play,” he said.

“Sometimes when you have a lot of young guys coming in from different coaches it can be hard to really gel, but we are finally starting to see that.”

“We are pretty tight knit group in here,” said Klassen. “We are only going to go up from here.”

The team is away the next two weekends (Nov. 13, 14, 15 against Nelson Leafs, Grand Forks Border Bruins and Beaver Valley Nite Hawks respectively), then Nov. 20 in Quesnel and Nov. 21 in Williams Lake.

They are back home in the Eddie Nov. 27 against the Fernie Ghostriders.

Lead image: Royal Canadian Legion Windermere District Branch No. 71 President Jennifer Lindal performs the ceremonial puck drop with Alex Westlund of the Posse and Cole King of the Rockies. Photos by Erin McCarthy

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