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Golden Rockets play best game of the season

The Rockets nearly pulled off the comeback win with a terrific third period Saturday night.
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The Golden Rockets celebrate a goal after nearly completing a comeback in a 5-4 loss against the Fernie Ghostriders. Dallin Cervo/Star Photo

The Golden Rockets have struggled all season to get a win and while this past weekend still resulted in a double loss, the Rockets played their best game of the season. Saturday night they nearly pulled off the comeback win with a terrific and hard fought third period.

Friday night’s game in Creston against the Thundercats didn’t go their way losing 7-1 with Simon Korol scoring the only goal for the Rockets in a game where they were out shot 55-26.

Saturday’s game against the Fernie Ghostriders started off on the right foot when Gabe Scigliano opened the scoring for the Rockets with assists by Brendan Sime-Vivian and Jordan Popoff. The Ghostriders answered right back nearly a minute later when Ethan Jang put it past Rockets goaltender Canon Whitbread to tie the game at one.

The second period the Ghostriders came out hard against the Rockets scoring four goals in the span of six and a half minutes. Grayson Neuffeld scored twice and Devyn Stewart and former Rockets player, Ryan Partaker each scored to take a 5-1 lead into the third period.

The Rockets seemed to wake up in the third period and had great offensive pressure. Jake Gudjonson scored with 12:28 to play, with assists from Garret Watson and Johnny Elias to cut the lead to 5-2. Elias got a goal himself with 6:50 to go with assists from Ryan Taylor and Gudjonson to make it 5-3. With two minutes to go in the game the Rockets pulled their goalie and continued to dominate the period as Taylor scored with 1:14 to go with assists from Gudjonson and Shawn Grobowsky to make it a one goal game. That would be as close as they would get however, as the Ghostriders would hold on to win the game 5-4.

After the game, Head Coach Jason Stephens was pleased with the third period and how the team performed. “It was a solid third period,” he said. “We were getting to pucks first and getting pucks to the net and our goal scorers scored a couple of goals to get us back into the game.

The second period is our Achilles heel. We seem to be giving up three or four goals every second period. It’s a killer”

Stephens believes this game will be a boost in the team’s confidence and is a step in the right direction. With the team now on a short Christmas break, Stephens says it’s a great time for the team to recharge, see family and get ready for the conclusion of the season.

The Rockets next home game will be Saturday December 30 against the Columbia Valley Rockies before closing out the year.