Colten DeFrias earned family bragging rights on Saturday night, but he wasn’t too keen on rubbing it in.

DeFrias had three goals and an assist to lead the Kamloops Storm to a 6-0 KIJHL victory over the Golden Rockets at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre.

It was a special night for DeFrias, who was playing against his younger brother, Brett, for possibly the last time.Colten, 20, is in his last season of junior hockey, while Brett, 18 will be eligible for two more seasons.
Colten had a great night, but felt a little empathy for his younger brother.

“He played well, for a 6-0 loss,” said Colten, who leads the Storm with 27 points in 15 games. “I‘ve got to feel bad for him, but it feels good to win.”

Despite the score, the game actually was a close contest for the first 32 minutes, and, like Colten said, both DeFrias boys played well.

Goaltender Wade Moyls held Kamloops (12-1-0-2) in the game early and, after Daniel Buchanan scored with 8:04 remaining in the second period, it was all Storm.

Colten DeFrias scored four minutes after Buchanan to make it 2-0, then scored twice in the third period to round out the hat trick.

All three of his goals came on hard snap shots over the glove of Golden goaltender Cole Henson — about 25 seconds after his third goal, DeFrias had another chance in close, but Henson made a nice glove save.

DeFrias wasn’t tipped off by his brother. In fact, Colten had never played against Henson before, not even in the Storm‘s 6-0 victory in Golden on Oct. 16.

“They played their other goalie last weekend,” Colten said. “I just shot — their goalie had his glove low, and I went high with the shots.”

Geoff Smith, head coach of the Storm, wasn’t exactly thrilled with his team’s start, but was happy to see the guys pour it on in the second half.

He gave a lot of credit to Moyls, who made 30 saves for his first shutout of the season and second of his career.
“I think we had nine shots on net in the first 30 minutes,” Smith said. “We got off to a slow start, and Wade Moyls held us in there. Our guys woke up halfway through the second period and started playing hockey.”

Buchanan’s goal opened the scoring 28 seconds after Golden’s Lane Erickson hit a post behind Moyls. Briar McNaney made some slick moves and scored a nifty goal with 13 seconds remaining in the second period to make it 3-0.

Chase Edwards, who has 13 goals, tied for tops on the Storm, also scored in the third period. Tyler Jackson had three assists.

Colten figured there were a lot of members of the DeFrias clan in the Sport Centre stands, but none of them threw a hat onto the ice after his third goal, with 7:36 remaining.

“They’re not like that . . . ” DeFrias said.

WEATHER WATCH: Henson made 34 saves. . . . Both teams were 0-for-4 on the power play. . . . Kamloops F Kevin Leschuk was called up to play for the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings and missed Saturday’s game. . . . D Karan Toor, G Lyndon Stanwood and D Shane Poulsen also are affiliate players for BCHL teams, and Smith said he’s been getting calls about other players: “That’s great — we’re preaching that team success leads to individual success later.” . . . The Storm next plays Friday, 7 p.m., when the Revelstoke Grizzlies are in town.
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca