Rocky Rams 4, Rimbey Royals 2 — Final
The Rocky Rams opened their exhibition slate with a come-from-behind 4-2 win over the Rimbey Royals on Friday night at Rocky Regional Recreation Centre, scoring three unanswered goals in the third period after trailing for most of the game.
Rimbey struck first. Knox Trottier opened the scoring on the power play just five minutes into the game, assisted by Tyson Oba and Roman Good Running, and the Royals carried a 1-0 lead into the second.
Rocky answered in the second period when Jaxon Schiever tied it at 14:51, assisted by Riley Roberts and Nick Campeau. Rimbey regained the lead less than a minute-and-a-half later on Zachary Morris’s goal, assisted by Oba, sending the teams to the third tied 2-1 for Rimbey.
The third period belonged entirely to Rocky. Riley Roberts tied it just 32 seconds in on the power play (assists: Drake Parker, Rowan Everest), Bracken Hilman put the Rams ahead at 2:40 (assists: Caleb Hilman, Nick Campeau), and Caleb Hilman added an insurance goal at 14:12 (assist: Drake Parker) to make it 4-2 and close out the scoring.
Rimbey held a shots edge in the first period, 10-11, but Rocky took over from there, out-shooting the Royals 12-7 in the second and 10-7 in the third for a 33-24 game total. Both teams went 1-for-5-or-6 on the power play — Rimbey 1/5, Rocky 1/6. In goal, Rocky’s Talon Smallboy earned the win, stopping 12 of 13 shots over the final 29:27; Jett Wagner turned aside 10 of 11 in relief. Rimbey’s Valentino Elias Harson stopped all 19 shots he faced before Austin Hartman took the loss, allowing 4 on 14 shots in relief.