One step back, one step forward was the weekend theme as the Kimberley Dynamiters’ inconsistencies showed in a split against divisional rivals Creston and Columbia Valley left the club in the same spot they started the weekend, in fourth place in the KIJHL’s Eddie Mountain Division.

On Friday at the Civic Centre the Nitros entertained the road-weary Thunder Cats, who returned from a two-game set against the Fernie Ghostriders mid-week in Whitehorse, and couldn’t find their offense in a 3-1 loss.

Just 24 hours later the Dynamiters took out their offensive frustrations on the Rockies, dumping the division’s worst team 8-1.

“It’s always good to get some goals and get some confidence going with the guys,” said Dynamiter head coach Kevin Mackay. “At times we’ve struggled to score some goals like we did last night but we battled through tonight, got some opportunities and made our chances count.”

The chances, there were a lot of them. Kimberley opened the scoring with Corey Allan’s 19th of the season 3:16 into the game with a wrist-shot that beat Columbia Valley’s starter Cameron Dagg, one of the 20 he faced in the first.

Kimberley got two more on goals by Matt Foster and D Trevor Grier before the Rockies got their only goal of the night when Julian Fraser beat Micheal Smith at 13:30 for a 3-1 Nitro lead after one.

Kimberley continued the offensive onslaught in the second period, pounding Dagg with 29 shots, five of which ended up behind the 17-year-old who on this night was just under his ballooned 8.02 goals against average this season. Allen and Foster gave Kimberley a 5-1 lead before J.T. Ward made it 6-1 at 11:14 mark. Two more goals in the period’s last two minutes by Mason Spear and 16-year-old rookie Taylor McDowell, who got his 5th with a minute left made the score 8-1.

The Dynamiters got some unexpected offense from their injury-riddled line-up with 18-year-old Calgary product Trevor Grier chipping in with a goal and two assists.

“It just felt good for me tonight,” said Grier who originally was credited a four-point game but had one assist taken away. “I kept my feet moving, kept the puck on my stick and just went with it.”

A scoreless third period was marked by the unusual event of a goalie fight with less than two minutes left in the game. During a post-whistle scrum to the right of Nitro goaltender Michael Smith Rockies goaltender Cameron Dagg skated the length of the ice and challenged Smith to a fight.

Perhaps frustrated by his teammates’ lack of offense or just sick of seeing more rubber than the highway his bus rode in on after seeing 59 shots fired at him, Dagg’s action shocked and angered Mackay.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said, recalling a similar incident between him and his now assistant coach in the 1990s. “Jay (Nelson) and I were talking and I had a goaltender by the name of Wade Dubielewicz and him and the Cranbrook goalie wanted to fight and they did. Wade threw out his shoulder and was gone for the playoffs. That’s how silly that is. There’s not much (goaltender) Smith could do but he answered the bell. But it’s ridiculous to me.”

Nitro Notes – The loss Friday against Creston was costly in the standings and in the injury department. D Corson Johnstone didn’t dress due to a concussion but could return next week. LW Chad Filatoff, F Kieran Spice and forward Brennan Romanovitch all went down to injury with undisclosed injuries and did not play Saturday night. Their status for next weekend is uncertain... The goaltender fight situation Mackay speaks of was when he was the coach of the Fernie Ghostriders in 1997-98. Current Nitro assistant coach Jay Nelson was the President and GM of the Cranbrook Colts of the RMJHL and the goaltender Dubielewicz fought was Sean Herdman… The Dynamiters host the Chase Chiefs next Saturday at the Civic Centre.