Rockets oust Eagles, move on to NCJHL championship

Rockets’ GM and Coaches recognized
The North Dundas Rockets had a record-setting season in wins and points as they finished in second place in the NCJHL. The Rockets went 22-10-1 for 44 points in 33 games and placed second in goals scored with 186 goals. The NCJHL named Nick Paas and Lenard McLean as the Co-coaches of the 2017-18 season and the Rockets’ General Manager, Rod Sadler was named Executive of the Year. Presenting the awards was the Rockets’ President and Co-owner, Kevin Byers (right) and appearing in the photo with Sadler is his son Carter.     Courtesy photo

Jeff Moore
Record Staff
St. ISIDORE — The North Dundas Rockets had a busy week of playoff hockey as they travelled to St. Isidore on Tuesday night for Game 3 and Thursday night for Game 4 and back to Chesterville for Game 5 on Saturday night before heading back to St. Isidore for Game 6 on Sunday night.

Rockets 6 Eagles 4: The Rockets travelled to the St. Isidore Arena to take on the Eagles on Sun., March 18, for Game 6 of the best of seven NCJHL semifinals. The Rockets took the series lead for the first time after taking Game 5 with a victory win of 8-5 to move on to the final for the second consecutive season.

The Eagles needed a win just to stay alive in the series and had a slight advantage with home ice in the game. The Eagles opened the scoring just 24 seconds into the first period as Jacob Belanger scored from Maxime Choquette to take a 1-0 lead.

The Eagles made it a 2-0 game when Francis Chartrand scored a power-play goal at 17:29 from Choquette and Ryan Wells. The Rockets answered just 28 seconds later as Chris Marchand blasted one home from Connor Roth and Bryden Van Kessel and tied the game when Van Kessel rattled one from Justin Lefebvre and Brad Stitt with just 1:42 remaining in the opening frame.

The teams took a two-all draw into the first intermission. The Rockets took their first lead of the game as Shawn Simms scored an unassisted goal just 1:38 into the second period.

The Eagles answered right back as Alexis Leclerc scored from Zachary Bougie at 2:05 to tie the game at three. The Eagles retook the lead when Choquette scored from Bougie and Frederick Gagnier at 10:24 but the Rockets rebounded again as Lefebvre sniped one from Simms just 25 seconds later.

The teams took a four-all draw into the second intermission. The Rockets took their second lead of the game when Roth snapped one to the back of the net from Tom Fingler at 634 to make it 5-4. Marchand scored his second of the game unassisted with 2:24 remaining in regulation to give the Rockets a cushion.

The Eagles came unglued taking 34 minutes in penalties in the last two minutes allowing the Rockets to take the game 6-4. With the win the Rockets move on to take on the Papineau Vikings who beat the Clarence Castors earlier in the day in six games. Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal was Jason Buma and suffering the loss in the Eagles’ goal was Philippe Roy.

Rockets 8 Eagles 4: The Rockets welcomed the St. Isidore Eagles to the Chesterville Arena on Sat., March 19, for Game 5 of the best of seven NCJHL semifinals. The two teams went into the game with the series knotted at two games apiece and the winner of this game would have a chance to wrap up the series in the next game. The Rockets carried the momentum after taking Game 4 with a score of 10-2 as they looked to take the first lead of the series.

The Rockets got the ball rolling at 5:20 of the first period as Brad Stitt steered one home from Bryden Van Kessel to take a 1-0 lead. The Rockets made it 2-0 when Tom Fingler rifled one to the back of the net from Connor Roth and Van Kessel at 17:19 on the power play.

The Rockets took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Rockets added another power-play goal just 32 seconds into the second period as Van Kessel sniped one from Chris Marchand and Roth to make it 3-0.

The Eagles got one back as Jacob Belanger scored at 4:34 from Maxime Choquette to make it 3-1. The Rockets took advantage of another Eagles’ penalty as Van Kessel netted his second of the game from Fingler and Roth on the ensuing power play at 6:19. Van Kessel scored his third goal with the Rockets down a man at 8:43 from McKay Balaton.

The Rockets took a 5-1 lead into the second intermission. The Eagles got to within three as Zachary Bougie scored from Ryan Wells and Calvin Cormier at 9:15 of the third period. The Rockets got that one back just 30 seconds later when Van Kessel scored his fourth of the game from Fingler and Roth to make it 6-2.

The Rockets made it 7-2 at 10:51 as Balaton lit the lantern from Shawn Simms and Tanner Barnett and 8-2 as Matt Cowley blasted one home from Fingler and Roth. The Eagles scored two late goals at 14:35 and with 1:29 remaining both by Choquette and both unassisted.

The Rockets took the game 8-4 and a 3-2 series lead with a chance to finish off the Eagles with a win in the next game. Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal was Jason Buma making 43 saves on 47 shots and suffering the loss was Philippe Roy making 33 saves on 41 shots.

Rockets 10 Eagles 2: The Rockets travelled to the St. Isidore Arena to take on the Eagles on Thurs., March 15, for Game 4 of the best of seven NCJHL semifinals. The Eagles led the series two games to one after defeating the Rockets in the previous game 8-5 but would be short two of the players they picked up for the past game as the league deemed them as illegal. For the Rockets, it was a must-win game as they didn’t want to head home trailing the series by two games with a chance for the Eagles to close things out.

The Rockets opened the scoring at 11:24 of the first period as Shawn Simms powered one to the back of the net from Brad Stitt and Bryden Van Kessel on the power play. Simms scored his second of the game with just 1:15 remaining in the opening frame from Stitt and Lefebvre again on the power play.

The Rockets snuck in another goal in the last minute as Lefebvre slipped one home from Simms with just 33 seconds remaining and took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. The Rockets made it 4-0 when Stitt lit the lamp from Lefebvre at 5:12 of the second period and 5-0 at 10:31 as Matt Cowley scored an unassisted goal.

The Rockets added another late-period goal with just 56 seconds remaining in the middle frame as Chris Marchand sniped one from McKay Balaton and Connor Roth on the power play. The Rockets took a 6-0 lead into the second intermission.

The Eagles finally got on the score sheet as Zachary Bougie scored from Jacob Belanger and Maxime Choquette just 1:53 into the third period. The Rockets restored their six-goal lead when Stitt slipped one home from Simms at 5:41. The Rockets made it 8-1 when Tanner Barnet blasted one home from Aaron Turcotte and Balaton at 14:06 on the power play.

The Rockets continued to press and made it 9-1 at 15:59 as Marchand scored his second of the game from Roth. The Eagles scored their second goal of the game at 16:23 as Jeremy Arbour scored from Alexis Leclerc and Belanger but the Rockets closed out the scoring as Balaton snapped one home from Marchand and Nick Sourges with just 49 seconds remaining in the game.

The Rockets took Game 4 by a score of 10-2 setting the stage for Game 5 back in Chesterville. The two teams combined for 84 minutes in penalties in the game. Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal was Jason Buma and suffering the loss in the Eagles’ goal was Philippe Roy.

Eagles 8 Rockets 5: The Rockets travelled to the St. Isidore Arena to take on the Eagles for Game 3 of the best of seven NCJHL semifinals on Tues., March 13. The series was knotted at one game each after the Eagles took the opener 3-2 and the Rockets took Game 2 at 3-0 as both games were played in Chesterville. The series shifted to St. Isidore for the next two games.

The Eagles opened the scoring at 10:28 of the first period as Kyle Collette scored from Zachary Bougie and Maxime Choquette on the power play to take a 1-0 lead. The Rockets answered with 52 seconds remaining in the opening frame as McKay Balaton bulged the twine from Brodie Barkley and Brad Stitt.

The teams took a one-all draw into the first intermission. The Eagles retook the lead when Jacob Belanger scored from Jean Philippe Souligny and Choquette just 57 seconds into the second period but the Rockets answered right back as Shawn Simms blasted one to the back of the net from Justin Lefebvre less than a minute later to tie the game at two.

The Eagles restored their lead when Jeremie Lefebvre scored an unassisted goal at 4:16 and made it 4-2 at 6:42 as Patrick Ranger scored from Lefebvre. The Eagles were relentless scoring their fifth goal of the game at 17:20 as Nicholas Souligny scored from Belanger and Choquette.

The Eagles took a 5-2 lead into the second intermission. The Rockets came out of the dressing room with a purpose scoring just 49 seconds into the third period as Connor Roth banged one home from Chris Marchand and Barkley on the power play to make it 5-3.

The Rockets got to within one as Roth netted his second of the game at 7:32 from Marchand and Barkley again on the power play. The Rockets tied the game when Tom Fingler pounded one to the back of the net from Marchand and Simms at 9:10.

The Eagles retook the lead when Belanger scored from Choquette and goaltender Philippe Roy just 20 seconds later. The Eagles took a two-goal lead at 15:20 as Choquette scored from Kalvin Cormier and Collette and closed out the scoring at 17:03 as Lefebvre scored his second of the game from Ryan Wells and Ranger.

The Eagles took Game 3 by a score of 8-5 taking a 2-1 series lead. Picking up the win in the Eagles’ goal was Roy and suffering the loss in the Rockets’ goal was Reilly Tondreau.

Up next: The Rockets will face the Papineau Vikings in the NCJHL final as the Vikings took out the Clarence Castors in six games in the other semifinal.