The Columbia Valley Rockies headed out on their first multi-game road trip of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League season with the bus departing from Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena shortly after 7 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 26.

The boys spent nearly nine hours on the road before arriving at Princeton and District Arena to play the Posse. The team would like to thank one of the Rockies’ unsung heroes, driver J.C. Alacoque, for gracefully guiding the bus through the scenic B.C. highways.

Coach Darren Naylor stressed that the young men get out to a fast start, to liven up those well-bussed legs during the pre-game warm up and in the first period it appeared the Rockies had succeeded in that regard.

Brett Bjorkman opened the scoring with Reid Mitchell picking up the lone assist. After tying the score, the Posse converted two straight power play chances and took a 3 to 1 lead into the second intermission and ended up winning the contest five to two. Mattias Schmidt scored the other Rockies goal, a short-handed marker.

From there the Rockies rolled into Summerland on Saturday and proceeded to squash the Sting. Summerland scored first, but they didn’t hold the advantage for long as the Rockies scored back-to-back goals 21 seconds apart to take the lead and never looked back.

Bjorkman scored one of the best goals I have ever seen, ripping a slap shot into the top corner on a one timer from Reid Mitchell. He added another goal in the second period on a nearly identical play, but not quite as spectacular as the first. Speaking of spectacular — Rob Hutchinson got into a marathon type scrap with Kevin Anderson in the middle of the third. The epic tilt culminated in a smashing uppercut from Hutchinson that crumpled the big sting forward. Both boys had a date with a bag of ice after this one as many blows landed on the helmet and visor. Jason Diehl scored his first two goals of the season and narrowly missed a hat trick in the third. Mitchell had a whopping five assists before heading for an early shower after coming to the aid of a freshly boarded Evan Sloan and rag-dolling Sting forward Brett Knowles. The final score was six to two with the Rockies racking up a season high fifty shots.

On the injury front both David Sabey and newcomer Darryl Boldon left the game in Princeton and will miss time. Veteran Chase Steele is coming along; he’s moved from a cast into a boot and should be back on skates this week. Terry Helgason has been the subject of fun on the road trip, being armed with a blender and a straw for his meals. The well-dressed d-man will return to non-contact practice very soon.

The Rockies knocked off the Grand Forks Border Bruins 3-2 on Sunday.

And a quick scheduling note - the game on Friday, Oct. 3 is in Kimberley, not at home as I previously documented. The Rockies do in fact return to Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena the following night versus the Spokane Braves and then welcome Kimberley for real on Tuesday the seventh.