The North Dundas Rockets travelled to Vankleek Hill on Sat., Oct. 7, to take on the Cougars in the NCJHL. The Rockets’ Alternate Captain Shawn Simms (13) scored two goals and picked up an assist to help the Rockets propel past the Cougars 5-4. Simms scored the game winner on a penalty shot with just two seconds remaining in the game.    O’Donohue photo

Jeff Moore
Record Staff
VANKLEEK HILL — The North Dundas Rockets had just a single game this weekend as they travelled to Vankleek Hill to take on the Cougars.

Rockets 5 Cougars 4
The North Dundas Rockets travelled to the Vankleek Hill Arena to take on the Cougars on Sat., Oct. 7, in the NCJHL. The Rockets went into the game with a 2-1 record after defeating the Cumberland Bandits 2-0 in their previous outing. The Cougars were coming off an 11-1 thrashing of the expansion Bytown Royals the previous night and looked to carry some of that momentum forward.

The two teams battled to a scoreless opening period but the Rockets opened the scoring when newcomer, Connor Roth sniped one at 4:20 of the second period from Landon Veenstra and Brad Stitt on the power play.

The Cougars answered with two goals at 9:36 and 11:09 to take a 2-1 lead. The Rockets knotted the game at two when Shawn Simms snapped one home from Roth and Bryden Van Kessel with just 1:15 remaining in the middle frame.

The teams took a two-all draw into the second intermission. The Rockets made it 3-2 just 30 seconds into the third period as Veenstra powered one to the back of the net from Roth and made it 4-2 at 3:50 when Roth scored his second of the night from Simms and Veenstra.

The Cougars got back in the game at 9:15 to make it 4-3. The Cougars tied the game at four at 16:12. The Rockets’ Simms was awarded a penalty shot after a player put their hand on the puck in the crease and he made no mistake blasting one to the back of cage with just two seconds remaining in the game.

The Rockets killed the two seconds off for a 5-4 victory moving to 3-1 on the season good enough for a two-way tie for second place. Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal was Jason Buma.

Up next:
Fri., Oct. 13, at 8:30 p.m., Rockets vs. Jets, Larry Robinson Arena, Metcalfe; Rockets’ home opener – Sat., Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m., vs. Blackburn Inferno, Chesterville Arena.