Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Puck struggles result in OT loss

Rockets Stumble Once More, Fall to Resilient Chiefs

Nov 10, 2024 | 7:00 AM

In a win over the Saskatoon Blades Friday night, the Kelowna Rockets were a well-oiled machine.

A night later, against the Spokane Chiefs, the home team looked like it needed an oil change.

While scoring three of five times on the power play in a 6-5 overtime loss, the Rockets fought the puck all night, so battling back from a three-goal deficit and earning a single point was, in fact, a blessing.

“I thought both teams looked sluggish out of the gates,” Rockets assistant coach Derrick Martin said after the game. “I thought the game lacked emotion and intensity and as that built up, we got away from being us.”

After the two teams exchanged goals in the first period while combining for 31 shots on net, the Chiefs scored three goals, two within a span of 26 seconds and it looked liked the visitors would cruise to the win.

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“We talked about what our identity is, and I don’t think we saw a lot of that in the second period,” Martin added. “It was a lot of neutral zone hockey. We came into the third period thinking we had done enough to be in a hockey game, and credit to the guys who never quit, dug out and gave themselves a chance to win a game in overtime.”

Hiroki Gojsic would score two-third period goals, including the tying marker with four and a half minutes left in regulation time.

“It has been a tough start for him,” Martin admitted about a player who scored 21 times in his rookie season. “It was nice to see him in the third period look like the player we have in him. It is hard when you come back from an injury to overcome that mentally, and I think that was the block for him. He showed some light and at times in the third period helped carry a line and that is what we need from that player.”

Caden Price also added a pair of goals, while Andrew Cristall scored for a sixth consecutive game. Marek Rocak chipped in with a career-high four assists.

“Every point matters when you look at the standings,” Martin added about his team picking three of four on the weekend. “They earned some lucky bounces and we weren’t fortunate in that area tonight. We had pucks bounce off of us. We had pucks that were on the backside, and you think it is going to be a tap-in, and it flips off of us or they manage to get a stick onto it.

“I am still a believer in the hockey gods rewarding hard work, and we just didn’t do enough tonight to earn those opportunities.”

The Chiefs are now 3-0-0-0 against the Rockets in the seasonal series, having scored no less than five goals in all three games.

“I thought in the first game back on October 4th, they taught us a valuable lesson on playing hockey,” Martin added. “In the second and the third ones, we are a dollar short and if we clean up some plays in the front of our net, we clean up some transition stuff, we are probably talking about a different result.”

The two teams meet in January to close out the seasonal series, having met three times already in the last 37 days.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Martin said while taking a positive approach to the result.

“We did come back. We gave us an opportunity to earn a point.

“We are not sitting here satisfied with that or feeling great about it right now, but we know we can beat that team, we just haven’t yet.”