By Chris Gareau, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Middlesex Banner
STRATHROY – It is time to land this thing.
The ship has sometimes seemed to be soaring this season for the improved Strathroy Rockets, and then they always come back to a lower altitude. The end result is a middling fight for fifth place in the Western Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL).
Goaltender Liam Reid did his part to help the cause in an 8-4 win Feb. 5 against the last-place Komoka Kings, stopping 31 of 35 shots.
It was Reid’s first start since his two periods Jan. 14 against the London Nationals who are battling it out in a three-way fight for first in the conference. He was not in the lineup even as backup until the February 2nd game in Sarnia. Hayden Duncan and Maddox Nazwaski helped fill in as Dylan Grover got most of the starts in Reid’s absence.
Before that Reid, a 2022 first-round pick of the Oshawa Generals and a goalie in the 2022 GOJHL Top Prospects Game, was starting the large majority of games for the Rockets.
Reid is now 9-10-6 on the season, with a .898 save percentage.
For Grover’s part, his numbers have been pretty similar on a Rockets team that can sometimes give up a few more shots than they are taking. He is just below .900 in save percentage and is 6-4-1 on the season.
Grover started Saturday’s game against the St. Thomas Stars, stopping 33 of 36 shots before the Stars clinched the win with an empty-net goal.
The Rockets were outshot 37-19 in the home game against the Stars. They gave up a lot of shots in Sunday’s game against Komoka — 35 — but this time made up for it with a whopping 52 of their own.
Caden Faulkner extended his team lead in goals by potting two against the kings. He now has 29 goals and 52 points in 44 games for Strathroy.
Fellow Faulkner Brennan assisted on both those goals and is four points back of Caden. Brennan also has 16 goals, good for third on the team behind Dylan Richter who has 22.
It is a busy two weeks for the Rockets. Starting with February 2nd’s game, they play six games in nine days. After February 7th’s rematch with Komoka in Strathroy, it is another game against the Stars in St. Thomas Friday before a chance to catch up to the fourth-place LaSalle Vipers in a Saturday night home game in Strathroy. Puck drop is 7:30pm at the West Middlesex Memorial Centre. The Rockets finish with games against Sarnia and London before the regular season finale February 25th versus the Chatham Maroons in Strathroy. The Rockets are currently tied with Chatham for that fifth spot in the conference.
