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Posted 2010-09-02 by Webmaster. - Nitros kick off exhibition play with a bang
Nitros to face the Thunder Cats in KIJHL First Round
Nitros Clinch Third Place
The Kimberley Dynamiters clinched third place in the tough Eddie Mountain Division over the weekend with a pair of victories over the Columbia Valley Rockies and Golden Rockets.
On Friday night the Nitros battled the pesky Rockies in Invermere, coming away with a 5 - 4 overtime win. Matt Foster scored three goals including the overtime winner. Other goals came from Mike Nelson and J.T. Ward. Mike Smith earned the victory in the Nitros net.
On Saturday, the Nitros dropped a 4 - 2 decsion to the arch rival Golden Rockets at the Plywood Palace in Golden.
Scoring in the loss for the Nitros were Brett Luker and Corey Allen.
And finally on Sunday, the Dynamiters showed good character in a 5 - 2 decision on the Rockets at the Civic Centre to secure the third place playoff spot. Captain Corey Allen picked up the Hat Trick, while Brennan Romanovitch scored a pair.
Tory Caldwell picked up the victory.
More information to follow on all three games. Box scores can be seen at www.kijhl.com
Mason Spear (left) helps Corey Allen celebrate his game-winning, second-period goal against the Golden Rockets last night at the Civic CentreDynamiters secure third place on last day
February 15,2010
Photo and story courtesy of Matt Coxford - Bulletin / Townsman SportsThe Kimberley Dynamiters waited until the last day to do it, but they were able to secure third place in the division.
They struck a convincing 5-2 victory over the Golden Rockets last night, thus leapfrogging them in the standings and avoiding a first-round matchup with the Fernie Ghostriders.
“It went to the final game, Game 50, and had to play our hearts out — and we did,” said captain Corey Allen, whose hat trick was complemented by two goals from Brennan Romanovitch.
Kimberley had held third place in the Eddie Mountain circuit overnight Friday after beating the Columbia Valley Rockies in double overtime, but the Rockets took that spot back by defeating the Nitros 4-2 on Saturday.
Because Golden held the tiebreaker (more victories), Kimberley had to win Sunday’s game in regulation to avoid a fourth-place finish.
Head coach Kevin MacKay was impressed with the way his club did just that.
“The guys really came to play, and you could kind of sense that coming into the game,” he said. “It was pretty quiet. When everyone got to the rink, it was business. If we play like we did (Sunday in the playoffs) I think we can do some damage.”
They’ll find out Friday night, when Game 1 against the Thundercats gets underway in Creston.
Last night’s game was stalled for 50 minutes because power issues prevented all the Civic Centre lights from being turned on.
The delay didn’t seem to affect Kimberley too much, as they used their team speed to good effect early.
Allen opened scoring 11 minutes in, taking Thierry Martine’s pass at the top of the crease and firing it past Spenser Wong.
Golden evened it up after a fortuitous bounce off the end boards. Goalie Tory Caldwell was looking for the puck to his right. Alas, it was to his left, where Stefan Jensen dove and swept it into the unprotected cage.
Kimberley got the lead back by period’s end. Matt Foster led a breakout from his end, lugging the puck deep into the Golden zone before feeding to Romanovitch; he, in turn, cut cross-crease and netted his 17th of the campaign.
Proceedings got owly early in the second period, with Golden taking liberties and Kimberley getting caught retaliating.
It led to two consecutive 5-on-3s for the Rockets. Brett McKernon struck on the second one.
MacKay said 20-year-olds Foster, J.T. Ward and Adam Taylor helped keep the bench calm while the calls were going against them.
“At the start of the year, we would have blown up in a situation like that, but we’ve got some guys on the bench that are really mature,” said the coach.
“We had to get through that as a team,” offered Allen, who had been assessed a double minor getting back at Travis Herlein after the Golden captain knocked him into the boards from behind.
“Any individual stuff there wasn’t going to happen. I took a penalty there and they scored. I had to come back out there and try to pick my team up again.”
He did just that, popping in a loose puck on a power play at 8:15.
“It’s like you made up for your mistake, and you helped your team out,” said Allen. “You don’t ever want to let your team down in a game like that. It was good to help out that way.”
Romanovitch scored through a screen at 18:56, while Allen’s powerplay shot along the ice at 12:45 of the third closed out scoring.
Tory Caldwell only had to make 16 saves to secure the victory. One of his best came in the last minute, when he got post-to-post to glove Zachary Baba’s one-timer off the rush.
“We kept the guys to the outside, we were getting into the lanes,” said Allen. “When they did get the shots, we were tying up their sticks in front of the net so they weren’t able to get the rebound. Tory played a great game keeping his rebounds in tight.”
On Saturday in Golden, the Rockets took a couple of first-period leads, as Jensen scored on either side of Allen’s goal at 15:29.
Brett Luker’s fourth of the year was the only goal in the middle frame.
The teams remained even until midway through the third, when Baba put the host club on top. Keith Wake closed out scoring five minutes later.
Caldwell made 23 saves for Kimberley; Spenser Wong stopped 21 shots at the other end.
On Friday in Invermere, the Nitros cut it close, playing from behind for most of the first period, and needing a goal in the last five minutes to send the game into overtime.
Foster completed a hat trick in the second overtime; Mike Nelson and Ward also scored.
Michael Smith had to stop 31 shots to lead Kimberley to victory. Jeff Magee made the same number of saves.
“Going against Columbia Valley, they’re one of the worst teams in the league and we kind of went in there lackadaisical and they came to play,” said Allen. “Luckily we came out with the two points in double overtime, so thank God.”
KIJHL - Eddie Mountain Division Semi Finals
Tentative Schedule - Best of seven series
Game #1 Friday Feb 19 @ Creston - John Bucyk Arena
Game #2 Saturday Feb 20 @ Creston - John Bucyk Arena
Game #3 Monday Feb 22 - Kimberley Civic Centre
Game #4 Tuesday Feb 23 - Kimberley Civic Centre
Game #5 Thursday Feb 25 @ Creston - John Bucyk Arena
Game #6 Friday Feb 26 - Kimberley Civic Centre
Game #7 Saturday Feb 27 @ Creston - John Bucyk Arena
all 7:30 pm starts
The Big Bang Progressive 50 / 50 DRAW
The draw was made in front of a pretty good Sunday evening crowd at the Kimberley Civic Centre. The winner of the draw was Brent Spice of Calgary.
Thank to everyone for supporting our draw. It was very exciting!
The Nitros give a big shout out to the Management and Staff of Mark Creek and Overwaitea for their support this season.
We would also like to thank Darlene Heinrich for coordinating the Big Bang Progressive 50/50 draw!
Official Coachlines of the Kimberley DynamitersPlease click on the Sponsor logos located on each edge of this Home Page to visit our local Nitros supporters
