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It's the biggest game of the year, and the Rockets won't have to lace up a skate or tighten a chin strap.
Instead they will be glued to the internet tonight watching with bated breath as the Chilliwack Bruins look at putting the knife into the heart of the Rockets season with a win over the Spokane Chiefs.
If the Bruins earn a win (2 points either through regulation, overtime or shootout) the Bruins will become the third expansion team to advance to the playoffs in their very first try.
The Everett Silvertips in 2003-2004 and oddly enough the Tacoma Rockets in 1991-1992 were also able to make it into the playoffs in their first year of existence.
So with the Bruins able to deliver the knockout punch with just 2 more points in their final three games, the question has to be asked, do the Rockets deserve to be in the playoffs?
Oh sure the fan fanatic at Prospera Place will tell you without hesitation that the boys deserve to advance to the big dance.
But let's take off those Rockets-rose-colored glasses for just a minute and look at the situation objectively.
The Rockets have just 20 wins this season, which would be the lowest win total since Portland won just 19 games in the 2002-2003 season yet made it into the playoffs.
Tri City finished fifth in the West that year with 20 wins, but still had 3 fewer points in the standings.
In fact the lowest win total for a team to make it into the W.H.L playoffs is still held by the 1996-97 Calgary Hitmen, who had just 15 wins, yet had the benefit of playing in the same division as the expansion Edmonton Ice that season who managed just 14 victories.
Let's get back to the original question!
The Rockets were inconsistent all season long, with the teams longest winning streak just a measly 2 games.
The Rockets opened the season with four straight losses, and had just one regulation win in their first 10 games.
Some of that was expected with a young team, but the result after that didn't get that much better.
Look at it month by month:
October: 4 wins
November: 4 wins
December: 3 wins
January: 3 wins
February: 4 wins
March: 2 wins
Total number of wins = 20
Inconsistency plagued this team all season long, and despite playing some fairly decent hockey on home ice, where 70% of their wins came (14 of the teams 20 wins at Prospera), the road record was the real sticking point for this team.
Winning just 6 times in 36 road dates (17%), will have you floundering on the lower part of the standings.
And what is more amazing is the Rockets won three of those games in the first 12 road dates.
That means the team had just 3 road wins in their final 24 games, those wins coming in Chilliwack, and twice in Prince George.
Instead they will be glued to the internet tonight watching with bated breath as the Chilliwack Bruins look at putting the knife into the heart of the Rockets season with a win over the Spokane Chiefs.
If the Bruins earn a win (2 points either through regulation, overtime or shootout) the Bruins will become the third expansion team to advance to the playoffs in their very first try.
The Everett Silvertips in 2003-2004 and oddly enough the Tacoma Rockets in 1991-1992 were also able to make it into the playoffs in their first year of existence.
So with the Bruins able to deliver the knockout punch with just 2 more points in their final three games, the question has to be asked, do the Rockets deserve to be in the playoffs?
Oh sure the fan fanatic at Prospera Place will tell you without hesitation that the boys deserve to advance to the big dance.
But let's take off those Rockets-rose-colored glasses for just a minute and look at the situation objectively.
The Rockets have just 20 wins this season, which would be the lowest win total since Portland won just 19 games in the 2002-2003 season yet made it into the playoffs.
Tri City finished fifth in the West that year with 20 wins, but still had 3 fewer points in the standings.
In fact the lowest win total for a team to make it into the W.H.L playoffs is still held by the 1996-97 Calgary Hitmen, who had just 15 wins, yet had the benefit of playing in the same division as the expansion Edmonton Ice that season who managed just 14 victories.
Let's get back to the original question!
The Rockets were inconsistent all season long, with the teams longest winning streak just a measly 2 games.
The Rockets opened the season with four straight losses, and had just one regulation win in their first 10 games.
Some of that was expected with a young team, but the result after that didn't get that much better.
Look at it month by month:
October: 4 wins
November: 4 wins
December: 3 wins
January: 3 wins
February: 4 wins
March: 2 wins
Total number of wins = 20
Inconsistency plagued this team all season long, and despite playing some fairly decent hockey on home ice, where 70% of their wins came (14 of the teams 20 wins at Prospera), the road record was the real sticking point for this team.
Winning just 6 times in 36 road dates (17%), will have you floundering on the lower part of the standings.
And what is more amazing is the Rockets won three of those games in the first 12 road dates.
That means the team had just 3 road wins in their final 24 games, those wins coming in Chilliwack, and twice in Prince George.
Hockey fans outside of Kelowna will tell you the Rockets were lucky to be in a division this season where an expansion team existed, and they may have a point.
If the Rockets had the same point total now, and played in the BC division last season, they'd trail Kamloops by no less than 20 points, and the Blazers didn't even make the playoffs.
The Chilliwack Bruins have picked up points in 12 of their last 18 games, a sign that team is playing with urgency, and doing it consistently down the stretch.
The Rockets in their last 18 - just 7 of those games saw them earn a point.
The impact of the Rockets potentially missing post season play would likely fall hardest on the teams 20 year-olds.
For Chris Ray this must be a nightmare!
For Chris Ray this must be a nightmare!
Having played long into the month of May has been common place for him, thanks to 2 Western Hockey League titles and 2 trips to the Memorial Cup.
Even for overage d-man Clayton Barthel, the thought of missing the post season makes him sick.
"It's mixed emotion right now for us. We are nervous, anxious, you don't want to panic but it is definitely a desperate time, so you just have to stay even keel and spill it out on the ice with just 2 games left".
Barthel missed the playoffs with the Seattle T-Birds in 2004, but this experience with the Rockets is painful by comparison.
"That year we were eliminated from the playoffs a few games before the end of the season, so this is different because we still have a chance as long as Chilliwack doesn't win".
"Missing the playoffs is the worst", Barthel added. " It makes for a really long summer and it's definitely not fun. You are left wondering what could I have done...woulda-shoulda-coulda kind of a thing goes through your head all summer long".
By the end of tonight we will know if the Rockets have been sent into purgatory with Lethbridge and Portland.
The Hurricanes and Hawks have already been ousted from post season play.
But this season wasn't about what the expansion Bruins did, it was about what the Kelowna Rockets didn't do.
Let's just hope tomorrow, when the sun rises, the Rockets still have something to play for other than pride!
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