Demotion Makes Leavold Dangerous

• Rockets veteran forward Brady Leavold was demoted to a checking role to start Wednesday night’s game against the Medicine Hat Tigers, and the overage forward didn’t like it one bit. Trust me, Leavold has nothing against playing with Myles MacRae and Milan Kytnar, but felt out of place not skating shot gun on the Rockets top line with Colin Long and Jamie Benn. Leavold’s reaction to the demotion couldn’t have been more appropriate. In a clear message sent by head coach Ryan Huska after calling Leavold’s play with the puck “to cute”, the 20 year-old got into a first period scrap, which had his opponent bleeding on the ice, and his teammates jacked to get the first goal. Moments after the fisticuffs, Leavold was again reunited with the top line. The message was clearly sent by the coach, and the recipient was better off for it, and so was the team.
• I would have been clearly disappointed had Leavold not responded the way he did. He may have been embarrassed, frustrated or may have felt it was unjustified, but instead of pouting about it he went out and did something about it. The end result was the games first star, and punctuating the point why the Rockets believed Leavold could add a new element to the hockey club when he was acquired from Swift Current in October. Leavold can yap, fight and score, and showed off all three attributes to the 61 hundred fans in Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime win. When Leavold plays that way, he can be an impact player. When he deviates from that aggressive style, he is a mediocre overage player.
• I know what you’re saying…enough about Leavold. But the goal he scored to give the Rockets a 2-1 lead has to be on the WHL’s top 5 plays of the week. Leavold made a tremendous move away from the Tigers defenseman before snapping a high shot to the glove hand side of goaltender Tomas Vosvroda.
• While Leavold was named the games first star with his Gordie Howe Hattrick, had the Rockets lost last night the story would have centered around Tigers goaltender Tomas Vosvroda. The Czech Republic born goaltender was nothing short of outstanding. Vosvroda made a huge save of Leavold on a breakaway in overtime by stacking his pads and getting a piece of a Leavold shot that went off the crossbar. Vosvroda’s positioning was great all night long, and was the main reason the Tigers earned a point in the game.
• I sure liked the speed of Tigers forward Tyler Ennis. The 18 year-old is simply fun to watch. It’s a shame that Rockets fans only get to see the Tigers once a season. From those I spoke with at last night’s game, they enjoyed seeing an Eastern Conference team that plays a high tempo game.
• One of the new faces on the Tigers defensive core caught my eye. I liked the play of 16 year-old Cody Carlson. Carlson is a former teammate of Rockets 16 year old sensation Tyson Barrie. The two played bantam and midget hockey in Victoria.
• Rockets defenseman Luke Schenn told me before last night's game that he will play Friday in Lethbridge and Sunday in Regina. Following the game against the Pats he'll head home with his dad to Saskatoon and fly to Calgary for the start of Team Canada's training camp Monday.
• The Rockets bus pulled into Lethbridge at 8:15 am this morning (BC time). In driving time that’s about a 9 and a half hour trip. Lethbridge has what I would describe as lite snow and a temperature of -6.