Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Cristall's efforts dampened by loss

‘We made it hard on ourselves’ – Rockets AC Derrick Martin

Nov 6, 2024 | 7:00 AM

On a night when a player reached a scoring milestone, one would only assume it came in a victory.

Forward Andrew Cristall, who earned his 300th career point in his 198th WHL game, came in a 6-5 road loss Tuesday night to the hometown Spokane Chiefs.

“When you have seen the career he has had, the longevity, the ability to stay healthy, and the ability to produce at that rate, it’s impressive,” Rockets assistant coach Derrick Martin told RocketFAN after the game. “We are proud and happy for him with 300, but wish we were celebrating two points tonight.”

Cristall earned a goal and three assists, good for third-star status, becoming just the 7th player in franchise history to attain 300 points, and reached the milestone for the first time since Tyson Baillie earned 310 points between 2011 and 2016.

“If we talk about the player this evening, we probably want more from him without the puck,” Martin said honestly. “We need more from him [in that area] from an assistant captain and someone who has played games at the NHL level. We need to be able to lean on those guys in tough moments as well, not just on the offensive side.”

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Cristall now has 7+13=20 points in just seven games since returning from the NHL training camp of the Washington Capitals. It will come as no surprise that the 19 year-old leads the WHL with an impressive 2.86 points per-game.

“It is a feat that he will be able to look back on when he has children and grandchildren and share that experience with them,” Martin commented.

In the teams fifth one-goal game of the season, with four of them ending in losses, defensive breakdowns were costly, along with penalties against a Chiefs team that owns the best home ice power play unit, which entered the game running at an efficiency rate of over 41 percent.

“We weren’t sharp early [in the second period],” Martin added. “We paid the price with some costly turnovers and then get into some selfish penalties and pay the price on the penalty kill. We came out of that period not feeling very good about ourselves.”

Down 4-2 against a team that is now 9-0-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes made for an uphill climb for a Rockets team that hadn’t played a competitive game in 10 days.

“Call it playing with fear, we just weren’t sharp, crisp and not detailed,” Martin continued. “When you leave it to chasing the game in the third period against a good hockey team that is at home, its hard and it should be hard. We made it hard on ourselves. I don’t think it was Spokane that beat us, we beat ourselves tonight.”

Max Graham had a goal and an assist while Tij Iginla and Jakub Stancl chipped in with two assists each.

“If you want to be a good team, you can’t take penalties in moments like that,” Martin said after watching the Chiefs score twice with the man advantage late in the second period. “When the calls don’t go your way, you have to be mentally strong, focused and pull towards the structure and not run away from it.

“Tonight was a case of too may people on their own page and its not a recipe for success in the best junior league in the world.”

The task doesn’t get any easier with the Saskatoon Blades coming to Prospera Place on Friday. The Blades lead the Eastern Conference in points and are coming off a one-goal win Tuesday night in Prince George.

“It is up to us to make Prospera Place a hard place for visitors to come and a place where teams don’t want to come to, and it will be a good test for our group,” Martin said.

“We better be up for it because they are a good hockey team and you need to be your best at those levels that night.”