From Goat to Glory

• Ok Colin Long wasn't exactly the goat in Wednesday's loss to the Tri City Americans, but his early goal scoring chance in the second period of a scoreless game may have turned the tide in the Rockets direction on that night? So it was great to see Long respond with such a big goal against the Ice last night in a game the Rockets should have had in the bag when it was 4-1. Long's goal just 44 seconds into overtime left the majority of the 61 hundred in attendance with a smile on their face.
• Kyle St. Denis and Tyson Barrie deserve credit on the game winner. St. Denis won the puck against the near board, fired it behind the net where Barrie located Long at the side of the net. A 17 year-old started the play, a 16 year-old set it up and an 18 year-old finished it. Isn't youth wonderful?
• The Rockets built up a 3-0 lead before the game was 11 minutes old. Yet had it not been for the fine goaltending of Kristofer Westblom, the score could have been reversed. Westblom was simply better than Kootenay starter Kris Lazaruk, who was pulled after giving up three goals on 10 shots.
• The Kootenay Ice were great offensively in this one. The line of Andrew Bailey, Steve DaSilva and Kevin King were tremendous. That three-some created several great scoring chances, with DaSilva scoring once and adding three assists while Bailey had two goals. King had to leave the game in the third period after Rockets forward Cody Almond was ejected for a kneeing major.
• I have never seen Ice backup goaltender Thomas Heemskerk play, but he left a lasting impression on me. The 17 year-old came into the game with 9 minutes left in the first period and was solid. His best save came off of Rockets forward Brandon McMillan when the Rockets had a 4-1 lead. McMillan appeared to have a wide open goal, yet Heemskerk dove across and appeared to get the paddle of his stick on the McMillan shot, knocking it aside. How big was that save? Had McMillan scored, it would have made the score 5-1 for the Rockets, and likely lights out for the Ice. Instead Kootenay regrouped and scored three unanswered goals to tie the game at 4.
• I had a great conversation with Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth before the game. Chynoweth is simply one of the good guys in hockey, and a pleasure to chat with. I won't go into detail on the subjects we covered because many of them are simply private, and were shared between two people that should have the confidence to speak candidly with one another. If Chynoweth is as good as a GM as he is as a person, no wonder the Ice have been the most successful team in the WHL in the last 10 years.
• I had to chuckle at a non-call by referee Saad Al-Jadir in last night's game. Kootenay defenseman Chad Greenan really laid into Rockets forward Evan Bloodoff with a huge hit which in my opinion was illegal. It warranted a penalty. Al-Jadir attempted to lift his arm up to signal a penalty, only to quickly pull it down. The non-call created a series of boos from the Prospera faithful.
• Thirteen of the Rockets 18 players picked up points in the game. The exception were Luke Schenn, Milan Kytnar, Collin Bowman and Colin Joe.