It's Game Day

It's game day for the Rockets and what a tough weekend awaits them.
Nothing like taking on three of the best teams in the Western Conference in three games in three nights. The Rockets will essentially be facing the #1 - #2 and #5 teams in the conference this weekend.
I'm excited to see how the guys respond to the challenge, especially after some pretty good efforts of late.
That said, if they play like they did Wednesday against Portland, this will be a tough weekend. Sure the Rockets were a 4-0 winner, but Portland did not look good at all in that game. If Prince George losses even once to them this weekend, the Cougars management will be going crazy.

The Rockets won't have Matt Brusciano in the lineup tonight. He stayed home and is nursing a sore knee that got banged up against Vancouver last weekend. Brusciano could be sidelined for about 6 weeks.

Colin Long didn't look very good this morning at breakfast. It looks like he has the flu, and didn't even take the pre-game skate this morning. I doubt that he'll play tonight, but I've been wrong before, and the last time I checked I am not a doctor.

Westy obviously didn't make the trip either because of the bad knee.

Torrie Jung will start tonight obviously with little Daniel Salamandyk as the backup. I call him 'little' because it's hilarious seeing him sitting in the bus beside defenseman Tyler Myers. Myers is 6'7 - Salamandyk is maybe 5'8. The twin towers they are not!

It's not often that I get to speak with former Rockets players during the season, but tonight we will have former Rocket Brent Howarth on the pre-game show at 6:35.
Howarth is playing his 20 year old season with the Selkirk Steelers of the MJHL. 'Howie' is having a great year with 40 goals, and right now is 2nd in league scoring. Howarth has some interesting thoughts about his time in Kelowna, his decision to leave the team in the off-season and his future as a player.

I ran into Bob Tory, the Americans G.M this morning.
He was in a good mood.
He talked about Everett Silvertips Head Coach Kevin Constantine and his antics on the bench. Tory has had a good taste of Constantine, as the two teams have met twice in the span of 5 days. I agree with Tory that Constantine gets far to animated on the bench, and wants an explanation for everything from the referee if his team is wronged in any way.
Some times I wonder if Constantine uses it as a tactic, to either slow the game down, intimidate the official or pump up his own team.
Either way the 'soap opera' antic are getting old.

It's amazing what a change of scenery will do for someone. Clayton Bauer is having a great year with the Kootenay Ice. Bauer had 2 goals and an assist last night in a 8-1 win over Lethbridge and now has 19 goals - 23 assists for 42 points. That would lead the Rockets in team scoring right now.
Would Bauer have put up those numbers with the Rockets this season? It's doubtful. While he has great parents, who I've gotten to know very well over the last couple of years, moving out of the house may have been the best thing for him.

Who did the Rockets get when they traded Bauer to the Ice? It's the guy who is playing backup tonight to Torrie Jung - Daniel Salamandyk.