The Columbia Valley Rockies picked up one point after a home-and-home against the Rockets. They took on their division rivals at the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena on Friday, October 10th, and then again in Golden the following night.

On Friday night, goals were exchanged by both teams early on. Early in the second, they were tied at two, then the Rockets found their firepower, scoring four unanswered goals — two of which were shorthanded.

The Rockies managed two more goals before the final buzzer, but the home team’s four goals were no match for Golden’s seven.

Scoring for the Rockies were Doan Smith, Matthew Bruyer, Ty Duncan, and Dario Piva. Assists went to Ryan Lawson, Dario Piva, Tyler Rivest, Cole Mckechney, and Jackson Oldale.

Coaches felt that some of the bigger players on the Rockies weren’t hustling in both directions, and decided to give newer skaters more ice time the following night.

Golden scored first on Saturday, but saw their lead vanish minutes later by goals from Ty Duncan and Matthew Bruyer. Assists went to Kolten Nelson, Kellen Marchand, and Joel Huber.

The Rockies took a 2-1 lead into the second period, then made it larger after Seth Bjorkman scored without any help.

“We rolled four lines and outworked them,” said general manager Ross Bidinger.

But the game didn’t end soon enough for Columbia Valley — Golden scored two goals to catch up in the third period, forcing overtime.

During the extra play, Rocket James Gaume gave his team their fourth goal and earned a sudden-death win.

Rockies goaltender Brody Nelson faced 64 shots over the course of both nights.

Columbia Valley has four points after their first ten games of the season, and find themselves at the bottom of the KIJHL standings.

“It’s gonna take hard work,” Mr. Bidinger said. “We can’t be taking too many penalties and we need to be outworking the other teams.”

The Rockies play again on Friday, October 17th in Fernie. They’ll be at home on Saturday, October 18th to take on the Summerland Steam starting at 7:30 p.m.