The Rockyview Silvertips are keeping pace with the rest of their division in a tight playoff race, when the team split a pair of weekend games on June 23 and 24. In the Silvertips' took to the road to face off against the first-place Calgary Shamrocks for their first game of the weekend. The two team's alternated goals off the hop with Matthew Dyck continuing his hot streak scoring five minutes into the game, giving the road warriors an early 1-0 lead. The lead was short-lived as the Shamrocks scored two goals in the following two minutes to take a 2-1 lead that would remain until just after the midway point of the period. Rockyview then went on a hot streak to score three goals off the sticks off Carson Gron, Dyck and Colby Gulutzan to give the Silvertips a 4-2 lead, which was followed up by a heartbreaking goal by Calgary, who scored with one second remaining to bring the home team within a goal before the second frame. "It was tough going into the first intermission knowing that goal was preventable," said team captain Nolan Morrison. "It also cut our lead by one but also motivated us to come out strong in the second period." The Shamrocks tied the game early in the second, but Ryan Gulutzan and Tanner Lam quickly restored the Silvertips two-goal lead but that once again was knotted up by Calgary as they scored two goals of their own making the score 6-6. Ryan Gulutzan scored his second goal of the game to bump the score back in favour of Rockyview to end the second period with his team up by a goal. The third period was one to forget for the hometown team with Matthew Dyck scoring the lone Rockyview goal in the final stanza while Calgary scored six goals of their own to give the Shamrocks a 12-8 victory. Morrison said the game was tough on the team as they had a chance to win until the later stages of the contest. "It was definitely a tough game for us. We had a good first and second period but came out flat in the third allowing them to run away with it a bit," Morrison said. The Silvertips rebounded from the loss and returned to action the following day at home against the Regina Fish. The hit the floor hard and fast out of the gates like 2018 Kentucky Derby winner, Justify. Matthew Dyck scored two goals and Hunter McChesney also chipped in with the team jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. Regina would storm back with three goals of their own at the 6:16 mark of the first period to tie the game, which led to the teams trading goals. Matthew Dyck completed his hat trick in the first period and Regina responded to once again tie the game. The second period was much different from the first with Rockyview outscoring the opposition 6-2, as Dyck scored his fourth and fifth goals of the game, Colby and Ryan Gulutzan chipped in as well as Hunter McChesney completing his hat trick with two goals of his own in the frame helping the home side to a 10-6 lead going into the final period. The third period was similar to the second with Matthew Dyck adding to his five-goal performance with another two goals in the period, giving him seven on the contest with teammates Colby Gulutzan, Griffen Hall, Patrick Morrow and Nolan Oakey joined in on the fun helping their team to a 17-7 victory. Morrision said the bounce-back effort was much needed to stop a potential losing skid and hopes his team can start up another winning streak. "I think one of the big changes was the quick turn around time between games. We were looking to get rid of that feeling after a tough loss which helped motivate the team," Morrison said. "We're looking to stay pretty consistent down the stretch with our play for the remaining portion of our schedule. We just need to keep working on fine tuning the small areas of our game because that's what's allowed us to be successful so far this year." With a 9-6 record on the year, the SIlvertips only have five games remaining to lock down a potential playoff spot. The home stretch will begin on June 28 when the Calgary Chill visit Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre at 8 p.m.
