Thunder Cats Too Much for Rockies

Stephen Hynes strong play of late resulted in another goal

The Creston Valley Thunder Cats rolled into Invermere for a Saturday night tilt with the Rockies and filled the net four times in the first period en route to an 8-2 romp over the Rockies.

Columbia Valley goalie Jeff Magee faced a barrage of shots all game long, but 19 alone in the first period as the Cats scored at 6:51, 5:14, 3:22 (on the power play) and with just 29 seconds to play in the period to build a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Midway through the second, the Rockies power play got the home team on the board, Stephen Hynes scoring from Sean Leslie and Tye Moses. Creston answered back with two goals in the final 1:24 of the period. After 40 minutes, it was 6-1.

The Rockies Pizzeria power play gave away more dough when Julian Fraser scored from Mike Vaughan at 6:24 to make it 6-2, but the Thunder Cats replied again with two more before the final buzzer sounded to end the game.

The Rockies were two-for-six on the power play, the Thunder Cats one-for-four.

Chris Matheson backed up Magee as Cam Dagg sat out his one game suspension for crossing the opposition blue line in a rare punch up between goalies in Kimberley last week.

Chad Katunar stopped 21 of 23 in the Creston net, coming off a big win in Golden the night before when he was equally brilliant, stopping 39 of 40.

The Rockies next home game will be their final one for the season, against the Kimberley Dynamiters on February 12. The 50/50 pot will be huge (I bet over $500) and it will be your last chance to see the Rockies play until September.

Huge thanks go out to all our sponsors, volunteers and dedicated fans that have stuck with us for this rebuilding season.

See you at the rink!