Golden Rockets Sneak Past the Kamloops Storm

3 Goals from POMMELS Turns the Trick

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Spencer Pommells was the difference as the Kamloops Storm dropped a 3-2 double-overtime decision to the Golden Rockets. Pommells, the 19-year-old forward of the Rockets collected hat-trick.


The Storm had a two-goal performance from Bevin Ollek, his second 2 goal game in a row at home.

The game was rather a defensive yawner for about 45 minutes. The goaltenders were rarely tested and when they were, they could see the puck to make the easy save. Even though Kamloops out shot Golden 40-31, Storm goaltender, Anthony Manfredi seemed to have the more difficult saves than counterpart Spenser Wong.

The crack officiating crew took control of the game early. It seemed that they were intent on stealing the show (which they did for 45 minutes because the teams couldn't muster up any excitement). The clamp came down early in often from face-off toss outs to weak penalty calls.
I was starting to think it was a girls game but then re-thought... the girls are allowed to play rougher than this.

Brady Fuller, a newcomer to the Storm saw some quality time for the first 5 minutes of the game and showed that he belongs. Unfortunately, he got called for a hit-from-behind (bogus) and got tossed from the game. It happened right in front of our broadcast booth and it was apparent that he should have gotten an elbowing penalty, or at worst, a hit to the head with a 10 minute misconduct... but the ref made the call from the other side of the ice and saw what he wanted to see.

Another oddity of the game was the amount of times Kamloops players lost their edge and fell for no apparent reason. It must have happened close to a half-dozen times. They may want to check their skate sharpening technique. It even cost them the first goal when Brett Defrias was trying to bring the puck out of his own zone, lost an edge along with the puck which created a 2-on-1 with Pommells and Herlein. A little give and go and the puck was behind Manfredi.

The two teams went into the third period scoreless when the Rockets turned on the right light at 5:08 of the third period with Spencer Pommells scoring his fourth of the season.
The Storm tied up the game tied the game with Ollek’s sixth of the season. Tyler Jackson and Dylan Becker collected the assists on the goal. Ollek would give the Storm their first lead of the night when he let a high slap shot fly from inside the blue line, which caught Rockets goalie Spenser Wong off guard.

The Rockets would tie the game up at 15:46 with Pommells scoring his second of the night. Rylee Orr and Stefan Jensen collected the assists.

Anthony Manfredi was in goal for the loss.

The Storm travels to Revelstoke Saturday night for the first game of a home-and-home doubleheader with the Grizzlies. Game time is 7 p.m with the game being broadcast on kijhl.com.
The Grizzles will be in Kamloops Sunday at 2 p.m. for a rematch.

Box Scores

Kamloops Storm Grounds Golden Rockets

Jake Young Scores Hatrick in Lopsided Win!

After a sloppy and boring first period where both teams and the crowd needed a wake-up call, the Kamloops Storm scored 5 goals in the 2nd period of last night's game to bury the Golden Rockets.

The first period may have been the sloppiest period of hockey we have seen all season with both teams showing very little in continuity, crispness and accuracy. One of the people in the crowd observed that Kamloops completed two passes in a row only twice in the opening frame. Never the less, the game was tied 2-2 going into the 2nd.
Cody Cringan scored both Golden goals in the first period, the first goal coming at only 0:55 sec of the period. The puck was shot in along the glass when the puck caremed off a glass support to the crease where Kamloops goaltender, Tory Caldwell attempted to cover up the puck. Apparently, the puck was still visible and a sharp and persistent Cringan poked at it until it slipped quietly into the net.
A few minutes later, with Scott Kirkam in the the box for hooking, Lundy Treneman worked his penalty killing magic by stripping the puck from a Rocket defender and went in on a 2-on-0 breakaway with... the hottest sniper in the league right now, Jassi Sangha... fed him the puck and Sangha had no problem burying the biscuit to tie the scored at one.
At 16:53 with Golden on the power play, Cringan scored his second of the period with a quick blast from the left side circle, beating Caldwell cleanly.
Golden forward Luke Rasmussen took a penalty for tripping with only 5 seconds left with the faceoff in the Golden end. This ended up being the "TSN turning point" of the evening as Sangha stepped into the circle, won the faceoff back to Cody Lockwood who fed Jamie Galbraith who let the quick shot go. Sangha, drifting back toward the net took Galbraith's shot in his body or off his stick and the puck went into the net with literally no time left on the clock to tie the score at 2.
From then on, it was all Kamloops, particularly in the 2nd period.
Jake Young started his assault on the evening on a nice feed from Jose Reyes with a laser beam over the shoulder of Rockets goaltender Edwin Weightman. A minute later, Todd Stephenson, the Australian National Team junior benefited from some hard work by David Gore and a sweet pass from Sangha to quickly put Kamloops up 4-2.
The buzz was starting.
Then it was Young getting his second of the evening at 6:28 of the 2nd period on the power play, assisted by Treneman and Lockwood.
Josh Caron scored his first goal of the season when he took advantage of some sloppy play by Golden in their own zone by driving the net and finishing off another sweet feed by Sangha at 14:35. David Gore completed the 2nd period assault by the Storm on the power play with assists from Treneman and Mike Hanes.

With the score under control Kamloops coach Ed Patterson started giving more ice time to his 3rd and 4th lines who matched up well with whatever Golden through at them and Tory Caldwell stood tall in the nets to stop some pretty good opportunities by the Rockets as they tried to make a game of it.
Young capped off his evening with his hat-trick goal at 7:55 on a 2 on 1 pass from Reyes, again a wristed laser beam over the shoulder of Weightman to make the score an unsurmountable 6 goal advantage.

Young ended up being 1st star with 3 goals and one assist.
Sangha had a 4 point game with 2 goals and 2 assists to garner 2nd star honours.
And Cody Cringan, with his 2 goals in the 1st period, captured the 3rd star position.

With the win, Kamloops ties Princeton for bottom spot in the competitive Eddy Mountain - West Division with 12 points on a 6-6 record, but only 4 points behind division leading Summerland who lost a squeaker to Revelostoke last night.

Be sure to tune in for tonight's game or make your way to the MacPark Sports Centre here in Kamloops for a showdown of last years Division finalists, the Revelstoke Grizzlies. Game time is 7pm and we will be broadcasting the game with play-by-play video streaming for your enjoyment.