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Rockets get Steam-rolled

The Rockets ended the team's "Family Weekend" on a sour note with a disappointing loss to the Summerland Steam.
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Rockets forward Tanner Wit draws a penalty during second period action of the club's disappointing 5-2 loss to the Summerland Steam.

Perhaps it was the afternoon start time. Or maybe the team's "family" weekend and visiting parents and siblings simply provided too many distractions. Maybe their opposition, the Summerland Steam, was just simply better on this day. Regardless, head coach Ty Davidson was none too pleased following his team's 5-2 loss.

"Matinee, parent's weekend, you can take all the excuses in the world but at the end of the day you're here to play hockey and you have to get yourself ready to play," Davidson said.

The game looked like it might get out of hand early.

Less than four minutes in, Jack Mills gave the Steam a quick power play goal on a tip-in that left Rockets netminder Mitchell Privett with little chance for a save.

The Steam added two more goals before the period was half over and Davidson called a timeout and yanked Privett in favour of Magnus Viberg.

"That wasn't on him, I was just trying to get the team going," Davidson explained.

Soon after that, a big 5-on-3 kill seemed to give the Rockets some life. Zack Finlay built on that momentum when he finished off a nifty saucer pass from Brennan Fuoco for a power play goal late in the first.

After witnessing a nasty shot to the head against Tanner Wit, Tanner Watt went after Steam defenceman Calvin Hadley late in the period, earning himself an instigator and a game misconduct.

The Rockets were once again forced to kill off a 5-on-3, this time to open the second. Viberg and the PK unit were up the task again and the game seemed well within reach for Golden.

Steam rookie Cole Woodliffe, however, put a damper on the notion of a comeback with a goal 7:38 into the second period and he all but wrapped things up 12 minutes later when he notched his second of the game to give Summerland a 5-1 lead.

Cole Mckechney scored a power play goal midway through the third, but the Rockets were unable to mount anything further.

Viberg kept the Rockets closer than they deserved to be with a fantastic effort while stopping 31 of the 33 shots he faced.

The loss marked the end of a lengthy stretch of home games (minus one road game in Invermere) dating back to the beginning of the month.

On a whole, you'd have to call the home stand a success as Golden has taken 5 of the 7 they've played thus far in October.

The Rockets will now hit the road for their next seven.

Next weekend, they'll take on the Beaver Valley Nitehawks Friday night, the Nelson Leafs on Saturday and finish up with the Castegar Rebels on Sunday.

The club's next home game isn't until Nov. 14 against the Fernie Ghostriders.