After anihilating the Golden Rockets 7-0 the previous game, the Dynamiters came into Tuesday, Dec. 7’s game with perhaps a bit too much confidence, and though they didn’t play their best hockey of the year, they managed to come away with a 3-2 win.
“They [Golden] worked a lot harder and they were a better team tonight than they were on Saturday for sure,” head coach, general manager Derek Stuart said.
“We were terrible tonight, but I was just saying to one of my coaches, we were due for a bad game. We’ve been playing really well lately and every once in a while it’s going to happen. Especially as it’s hard for teenagers to get the mindset to get up for a team that we dominated three days ago but they have to learn how to do that, because Golden came out strong and made it a very close game.”
Golden was clearly keen to right some wrongs after Saturday’s shutout, and came out swinging, opening the scoring early in the first and putting up more shots on goal than Kimberley, at least for the first part of the game.
Cam Reid scored shortly after, his first goal since coming back to the Dynamiters after a stint with the Cranbrook Bucks.
“It’s just nice to be back,” Reid said post-game. “It’s a lot of old memories coming back to me and it’s nice to just be able play again since I wasn’t playing too much in Cranbrook, it’s great to come back and be able to control a little bit.”
Reid said his time with the Bucks taught him a lot about the game. He’s able to be more composed and be more of a leader on the ice, in addition to the boost in skills he got as well.
“All the boys in the room are excited to get out there, they just sometimes can get a little crazy, so gotta keep control, but everyone’s good in there, and takes their own role seriously,” Reid said.
Stuart is definitely happy to have Reid back on the roster.
“Cam — I keep pumping his tires — but he’s been the best player on the ice maybe every game except once since he’s been back,” Stuart said. “We expect that and we’re just looking for him to get better and better and he’s definitely helping out our team, especially in calming things down and making the right play.”
Evan Murray, who lives just down the street from Reid and was born and raised in Marysville, got to play his first official game with the Dynamiters and rose to the occasion in fine form.
A Kimberley Dynamiters affiliate player, the 16-year-old had played a couple of exhibition games with the Dynamiters previously, but was thrilled to play his first regular season game in front of fans, after growing up going to games at the Civic Centre his whole life.
“It was good, a great experience to get out there and feel the puck, it felt good,” Murray said. “It was a huge step to be able to get in the action and I felt really good about tonight.”
He plans to progress through the levels of hockey, with the goal of playing Junior A and then college hockey eventually.
“Evan played a few exhibition games with us and he struggled for sure, but tonight he was great,” Stuart said. “We were very impressed, we weren’t sure what we were going to get from him, we haven’t been able to have too many affiliates up to practice just with the conflicting schedules and whatnot, but Evan was fantastic tonight. Very, very impressed and he’s a lot better player than he was in exhibition with us.”
Despite not playing their best, it demonstrated that the team is coming into their own, as they were able to come away with the win and put up nearly twice as many shots on goal as their opponent.
“Wasn’t our best game, but good teams find a way to get it done,” Reid said.
Columbia Valley is still technically number one in the Eddie Mountain Division with 31 points, but Kimberley is just one point behind with two games in hand. They were also fourth in the KIJHL week nine power rankings, ahead of Columbia Valley.
Stuart simply encouraged them to forget Tuesday’s game, reset and get ready for Thursday’s practice, before they play Golden yet again, on Friday, Dec. 10. They then take on Columbia Valley at the Civic Centre on Saturday, Dec. 11.
paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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