The Creston Valley Thunder picked up one point from their opening weekend of the Western International Junior Hockey League season, falling to the Castlegar Rebels in overtime before being shut out by the Spokane Braves.
Creston opened its regular season Friday with a 6-5 overtime loss to Castlegar.
The Thunder overcame an early 2-0 deficit with three unanswered goals from Semyon Semyonov, Cole Rolfe and Mason Sakundiak to take a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.
Castlegar tied the game just 21 seconds into the second period on a goal from Brodie Kenney before Rylan Franklin restored Creston’s lead at 12:54.
Kenney struck again 26 seconds into the third to make it 4-4, but Matthew Roy put the Thunder back in front with less than six minutes remaining.
Trent Van Blyderveen tied the game for Castlegar at 17:27 to force overtime.
Kenney completed his hat trick 1:13 into the extra period to give the Rebels the 6-5 win.
Nathan Tremblett stopped 53 of 59 shots for Creston, which was outshot 59-37.
The Thunder returned to action Saturday but couldn’t find the scoresheet in a 7-0 loss to Spokane.
Rowan McCord opened the scoring for the Braves midway through the first period before Spokane added two goals in the second and four in the third.
McCord finished with a hat trick, while Cooper Leonard, Thomas Henricksen, Gavin Memmott and Aidan Day also scored.
Spokane went three-for-five on the power play, while Creston finished zero-for-four.
Thunder goaltender Ethan Cornelius made 39 saves on 46 shots, while Spokane’s Zeke Jenrich stopped all 26 shots he faced for the shutout.
Creston finished the opening weekend with an 0-1-1 record and one point.
Thunder will head to Oliver to face the Outlaws on Friday, Sept. 25.
