The North Dundas Rockets welcomed the Bytown Royals to the Joel Steele Community Centre in Winchester on Sun., Sept. 16, for their third and final NCJHL preseason game. The Rockets’ defenseman, Brodie Barkley swats one past the Royals goalie, Jacob Chartrand just 45 seconds into the first period. The Royals’ defender, Nick Fleury seemed to be occupied with the Rockets forward, Brad Nash leaving Barkley all alone in front of the net. The Rockets went on to a narrow 8-7 victory.       Moore photo

Jeff Moore
Record Staff
WINCHESTER — The North Dundas Rockets played two NCJHL preseason games this past weekend as they travelled to Morrisburg to take on the Lions on Friday night and welcomed the Bytown Royals on Sunday night.

Rockets 8 Royals 7
In their third game of the NCJHL preseason, the North Dundas Rockets welcomed the Bytown Royals to the Joel Steele Community Centre on Sun., Sept. 16. The Rockets were coming off a big 9-2 victory over the Morrisburg Lions to remain undefeated in the preseason. The Royals had two wins in their preseason games winning 8-4 over the West Carleton Inferno.

The Rockets opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the first period as Brodie Barkley slapped one home from Matt Cowley to take a 1-0 lead. The Royals tied the game at 8:13 and took their first lead of the game at 17:37. The Royals made it 3-1 just 24 seconds later and took that lead into the first intermission.

The Royals made it 4-1 at 3:46 of the second period but the Rockets got to within two as Logan Leonard slid one to the back of the net from Brad Nash and Justin Lefebvre at 7:56. The Royals restored their three-goal lead at 10:22 but the Rockets got back to within two as Brad Stitt slammed one home from Tyson Sherrer and Leonard at 12:50.

The Rockets made it 5-4 at 17:52 as Cowley pounded one home from the blue line from Lefebvre and Perrault on the power play. The Royals took a 5-4 lead into the second intermission.

The Rockets knotted the affair at 9:41 as Cowley scored his second power-play goal from Nash and Lefebvre. The Rockets took their second lead of the game when Mckay Balaton slammed one home from Will Watson and Carter Tait at 6:03.

The Royals tied the game at 9:08 but the Rockets’ captain, Stitt scored a short-handed goal at 11:45 unassisted retaking the lead. Stitt completed his hat trick with his second short-handed goal at 13:46 to make it 8-6. The Royals scored with 2:50 remaining in the third period to make it 8-7.

The Royals pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker but were unable to squeeze one over the goal line as the Rockets took the game 8-7. The Rockets completed their preseason with a record of 2-1-0 and look forward to the start of the regular season.

The Rockets will have to make some tough decisions in the coming days as they cut down to the 25 man roster. Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal was Braden Pemberthy.

Rockets 9 Lions 2
The North Dundas Rockets travelled to the Morrisburg Arena on Fri., Sept. 14, to take on the Lions in the NCJHL preseason. The Rockets and Lions battled to a five-all draw in the first game of their preseasons.

The Rockets opened with a flurry of goals beginning just 42 seconds into the first period as Justin Lefebvre riffled one home from Thomas Leggett to take a 1-0 lead. The Rockets added their second goal at 3:48 as Lefebvre scored his second consecutive goal this time unassisted on a breakaway.

The Rockets added a short-handed goal when Mckay Balaton scored on another breakaway at 5:47 to make it 3-0. Lefebvre completed his hat trick at 14:25 from Leggett on the power play to make it 4-0.

The Rockets made it a 5-0 game when Chris Cotton snapped one home from Balaton and Will Watson with just five seconds remaining in the opening frame. The Rockets took the 5-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Rockets made it 6-0 just 24 seconds into the second period as Brad Nash sniped one from Jeremie Perrault and Lefebvre and 7-0 at 2:19 as Carter Tait scored on a rebound from Pierce Egan. The Rockets continued to put it to the Lions scoring another goal at 3:18 as Leggett scored on a shorthanded breakaway unassisted making it an 8-0 game. The Lions finally got on the scoreboard as Tyler Eldridge scored from goalie, Riley Phillips at 7:42 to make it 8-1.

The Lions got a second goal at 14:57 as Cal Bilmer pounded one home from Tyler Druce but the Rockets took an 8-2 lead into the second intermission.

The Rockets made it 9-2 on the power play as Lefebvre scored his fourth goal of the game at 9:27 unassisted. The game got a little rough with just under five minutes remaining when a couple of fighting majors were handed out. The Lions could not mount a come back of any kind as the Rockets took the game 9-2.

With the win, the Rockets improved to 1-1-0. Picking up the win in the Rockets’ goal was Reilly Tondreau.

Up next
The North Dundas Rockets travel to the NCJHL Showcase Robert Guertin Arena in Gatineau on Sat., Sept. 22, as they face off against the Bytown Royals at 7:30 p.m. The Rockets then travel to St. Isidore on Sun., Sept. 23, to take on the Eagles at 7:30 p.m.