By Stephanie Stevens

Boom boom boom indeed.

The final two regular season games for the Columbia Valley Rockies were both against the Golden Rockets, and while the Friday, Feb. 16 home game was a runaway win for the boys, they had to earn their stripes the following night in the Golden barn.

Friday night scoring was opened up in the first period by Carter Velker (assist from Bryan Kim), followed by Ben Sharp (assists from Justin King and Carter Krause), an unassisted effort from Paddy Donahue. Johnny Lozeman closed out the first with one more (assists from Teo Fath and Jamieson Franz).

The second period saw Kim pot another (assists from Velker and Wyatt Wurtz) and the third saw Lozeman step up again (assists from Franz and Fath) and Wurtz got the last goal of the game (assists from Sharp and Luke Hamilton).

Netminder Nate Glenn stopped 24 of 25 shots on goal.

“I was happy with both games,” said head coach Tayler Sincennes. “I thought we did a good job building momentum heading into the post season. The year has been a long grind at times so we are very excited for the playoffs to get kicked off next weekend.”

Assistant coach Tanner Wit echoed Sincennes’ sentiments, especially “starting off very strong in front of a great pre-playoff crowd.

“It’s always nice to put some of our offense on display in front of the support we get. Nate Glenn was solid this weekend once again which will be integral in our playoff push. Saturday’s game was a nice finish to the regular season focusing on good habits and playing within our systems.”

Associate coach Tucker Braund noted that the team is feeling their groove again at the right time.

“The team has been working hard to dial in the details and putting in the effort that can make those details shown,” he said. “Saturday night was a tough task. Golden was playing their last game of the season (no playoffs for them) they had a really good crowd and they were amped up to try and get a win.”

The first period saw Kobe Mason (assists from Velker and Kim) and Kade Cohlan (assist from Wurtz) beat the Golden goalie, but the Rockets played hard and the game went into overtime.

“We slipped a bit in the second period and late in the third to let them tie it up,” said Braund. “But our trade deadline acquisition Nathan Kaye (Moose) came up huge in overtime which really got everyone amped up on the win.”

“It was a storybook ending to have Nathan Kaye score the overtime winner against his former team in his last regular season game in the KIJHL,” said Wit. Franz and Kim assisted in the game winning goal.

Braund said it was a nice way to finish the regular season, and the truly hard work begins this week for playoffs.

“We are excited about our young team going into the first round we want to go and stir the pot for sure… and I think we have the team to do it with,” he said.

The third place Rockies will be in Kimberley Friday and Saturday for their first two Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoff games for the Eddie Mountain Division against the second place Dynamiters.

Games three and four will be in Invermere at the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena Monday, Feb. 26 and Tuesday Feb 27 with the final game (if needed) on Feb. 29 in Kimberley.

Lead image: The Rockies now head south to Kimberley to begin the KIJHL playoffs against their powerful southern rivals, the Dynamiters. Stephanie Stevens photos

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