The Rockets played two games over the weekend of Dec. 1-3 as they travelled to Ottawa to take on the Bytown Royals and welcomed the Morrisburg Lions. The Rockets’ Connor Roth (17) was a key player scoring six goals and adding three assists in the two wins. Roth has scored 12 goals and added 15 assists in the 10 games he has played for the Rockets this season.   Sawyer Helmer photo

Jeff Moore
Record Staff
CHESTERVILLE – The North Dundas Rockets had two games this past weekend.

Rocket 7 Lions 4: The Rockets welcomed the Morrisburg Lions to the Chesterville Arena on Sat., Dec. 2, in the NCJHL. The Rockets were coming off a huge 13-1 win over the Bytown Royals the previous night as they looked to move up in the standings one more notch to second place with a win. The Lions sat in a tenth place tie with the Blackburn Inferno and nine points behind the ninth place South Grenville Rangers.

The Rockets opened the scoring at 4:21 of the first period when Shane Lynott snapped one home from Shawn Simms and Connor Roth to take a 1-0 lead. The Lions answered when Jordan Smail pounded one to the back of the net from Jacob Kendrick and Zach LeBlanc with 2:19 remaining in the opening frame.

The Lions took their first lead of the game when Thomas Ouderkirk sniped one from Anthony Pace and ex-Rocket Bailey Norman with just 56 seconds showing on the clock and took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Lions made it 3-1 when Norman lit the lamp from Evan Mantha at 11:53 of the second period.

The Rockets got one back at 16:20 when Roth fired one to the back of the net from Van Kessel and Lynott on the power play. The Rockets tied the game at three when Tyson Sherrer wired one home from Van Kessel and Tanner Barnett with just 2:45 showing on the clock in the middle frame.

Before the final buzzer, the Rockets took their second lead of the game when Simms found twine from Roth and Van Kessel with just 17 seconds remaining. The Rockets took the 4-3 lead into the second intermission.

The Rockets made it 5-3 when Tom Fingler plowed one to the back of the net from Landon Veenstra and Van Kessel at 7:23 of the third period. The Lions got to within one when Norman scored his second against his old club from Ouderkirk at 12:33 to make it 5-4. The Rockets had an answer for that as well as Lefebvre bulged the twine just 20 seconds later from goalie, Jason Buma and Sherrer to make it 6-4.

The Rockets closed out the scoring when Fingler scored his second of the period from Brad Stitt and Van Kessel at 16:33 taking the game 7-4 moving to within two points of first place. Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal was Buma making 21 saves on 25 shots and suffering the loss in the Lions’ goal was Justin Lalonde making 51 saves on 58 shots.

Rockets 13 Royals 1: The North Dundas Rockets travelled to the Bernard Grandmaitre Arena in Ottawa to take on the Bytown Royals on Fri., Dec. 1, in the NCJHL. The Rockets broke out of their three game slide last week with two convincing victories and looked to carry the momentum into this weekend.

The Rockets sat in sole possession of fourth place three points ahead of the Vankleek Hill Cougars in fifth and just one point behind the Cumberland Bandits in third. The Rockets opened the scoring just 46 seconds into the first period when Connor Roth swatted one home from Shawn Simms and Bryden Van Kessel to take a 1-0 lead.

The Rockets made it 2-0 when Simms potted one from Roth and Brodie Barkley at 9:04 on the power play and 3-0 as Bryden Van Kessel scored an unassisted short-handed goal at 11:24. The Royals got to within two at 17:33 but the Rockets scored their second short-handed goal of the period as Jack Van Kessel snuck onto the back of the net from McKay Balaton with just 1:26 remaining in the opening frame and took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.

The Rockets owned the second period scoring their third straight short-handed goal at 6:16 as Justin Lefebvre lit the lamp from Jace Legue and Tyson Sherrer. The Rockets made it 6-1 when Jack Van Kessel scored his second goal of the game from Bryden Van Kessel at 7:06 and 7-1 at 7:47 as Bryden Van Kessel scored his second of the game from Lefebvre.

The Rockets kept on rolling as Roth scored his second of the game from Barkley at 8:21 to make it 8-1 and Roth completed his hat trick at 10:02 from Ryan Carbonette and Jack Van Kessel.

The Rockets took a nine-goal lead when Barkley pounded one home from Jack Van Kessel and Bryden Van Kessel at 12:30, and made it 11-1 with 1:49 remaining the middle frame as Carbonette got in on the scoring from Simms and Roth. The Rockets added another late goal with just 35 seconds remaining when Roth scored his fourth of the game from Bryden Van Kessel and Barkley and took a 1-2 lead into the second intermission.

The Rockets scored the lone goal of the third period when Roth scored his fifth goal of the game from Jack Van Kessel at 5:37 and took the game with a convincing 13-1 victory. The Rockets atoned for their loss against the Royals four weeks ago when they beat them in Chesterville 4-3.

With the win, the Rockets moved into sole possession of third place. Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal was Jason Buma.

Up next: Sat., Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m., Rockets vs. Metcalfe Jets, Chesterville Arena.