Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets and Hurricanes are meeting for the first of just two times this season. The Hurricanes make their one and only appearance in Kelowna February 1st. These two teams met twice last season with the Rockets being shutout 4-0 in Lethbridge before beating the Hurricanes 5-3 at Prospera Place. The Canes out-scored the Rockets 7-5 in those two games. The Rockets have had little success in Lethbridge over the years, and is riding a 6 game winless streak at Enmax Centre. The Rockets are 0-3-1-0 with two ties over that period. The Rockets last beat the Hurricanes in Lethbridge on February 9th 2003 with a 4-3 win. Since the start of the 2000-2001 season the Rockets are 2-4-1-2 in 9 games in Central Alberta. The Rocket biggest win in this building was a 7-3 victory November 21, 1999 with a 7-3 win. The highest goal total these two teams have combined for is 11 goals, when the Hurricanes beat the Rockets 6-5. Tonight game is the start of 6 straight games on an Eastern Conference road trip prior to the Christmas break. The Rockets are in Regina Sunday. The Rockets have lost two straight road games after back-to-back losses over Tri City (6-1) and Chilliwack (3-1). The Rockets last road win was November 18th in Vancouver (5-3).
Rockets Rolling: The Rockets enter tonight’s game having recorded a point in 15 of their last 18 games (12-3-1-2). The Rockets enter tonight’s game having won 7 of their last 8 home games, with points in 9 of their last 10 (6-1-1-1). The Rockets head into a portion of their schedule playing 7 of their next 9 games on the road.
Red Hot Rockets:
Colin Long: Has points in 6 straight games (5+5=10).
Brady Leavold: Has 4 multiple point games this season and 13 over his career.
Tyson Barrie: 1+6=7 last 6 games Cody Almond: Eleven games no goal. Last goal was Nov 7th vs. Rebels
Jamie Benn: 1 goal last 7 games Myles MacRae: Four goals in his last four games.
Luke Schenn: 1+4=5 in last four games. Tyler Myers: 4 goals in last 6 games.
Rockets Road Warriors:
Colin Long has 8 road goals and 6 at home for a total of 14.
Kyle St. Denis has 6 road goals and just two at home for a total of 8.
Jamie Benn has 5 road goals and 6 at home for a total of 11.
Cody Almond has 0 road goals and 6 at home for a total of 6. Last season just 4 of his 15 goals were scored on opposition ice.
What the Opposition Broadcaster Should Know:
•Lucas and Evan Bloodoff are the first brothers to play on the Rockets since Gavin and Kiel McLeod suited up for the Rockets in the 1999-2000 season.
•Rockets rookie defenseman Tyson Barrie’s father is Len Barrie. Len Barrie played five seasons in the WHL with the Calgary Wranglers, Victoria Cougars and Kamloops Blazers. Len Barrie had 85+100=185 in his final junior season in Kamloops in 1989-90.
•The Rockets have 4 players on their roster drafted in the 2006 WHL bantam draft. Tyson Barrie (#1), Collin Bowman (#2), Jesse Paradis (#4) and Kyle Verdino (#6).
•Sixteen players on the Rockets 23 man roster were drafted by the Rockets. Four were listed by the team. They include Torrie Jung, Myles MacRae, Jamie Benn and Dylan Hood. The Rockets traded for Brady Leavold, Lucas Bloodoff and Kyle St. Denis. Milan Kytnar was selected in the European draft while James McEwan was picked up two summers ago after being outright released by the Seattle Thunderbirds.
•Assistant Coach Ryan Cuthbert played 319 games with the Rockets from 1998-2003.
•The Rockets won just 22 games last season. Just six of those came on the road.
•Rockets head coach Ryan Huska scored his first WHL goal in Lethbridge. Huska played 247 games with the Kamloops Blazers from 1991-1995.
Road Trip Success: The Rockets begin a 6 game in 9 night Eastern Conference road trip tonight. The Rockets last visit to the prairies for an extended road trip was in October of 2005 when the team went 5-0-0-0. It’s not the first time the Rockets have had that type of success though. The Rockets were also 5-0-0-0 back in December of 2003 and again were 5-0-0-0 in December of 2000 through the prairies. The most unsuccessful trip was in December of 2001 when the team went 0-4-1-0, losing three of those games by a single goal. The only point on the trip was a 5-4 overtime loss in Brandon.
Rockets vs. Divisions:
vs. BC: 9-5-0-1 vs. US: 4-5-2-0
vs. Central: 3-0-0-0 vs. East: 1-0-0-1
Broadcasters Bits: The Rockets have been held to a goal or less in 7 games this season….Last season the Rockets were shutout 13 times. This season they’ve been shutout just once, by Vancouver in a 5-0 setback September 29th….Rockets captain James McEwan is returning to the lineup tonight after missing six games with a concussion…Luke Schenn was one of 37 players named to Team Canada’s training camp roster on Monday. Schenn could become the sixth Rockets player to play for Canada at the World Junior’s. The other Rocket representatives are Robb Gordon, Chuck Kobasew, Josh Gorges, Shea Weber and Blake Comeau. Team Canada’s main camp starts Monday in Calgary…The Rockets have scored 107 goals this season, second most in the Western Conference and 5th best in the WHL….Rockets goaltender Kristofer Westblom has started in twelve of the team’s last seventeen games, posting a record of 9-3-1-1…The Rockets have points in seven of their last 9 road games (5-2-1-1)…The Rockets have given up a power play goal in 23 of the 31 games they’ve played this season…The Rockets have been involved in a one goal game in 11 of their first 16 home games. The Rockets are 5-4-1-1 in those one goal contests…The Rockets have been involved in sixteen – one goal games this season…The Rockets are 8 and 9 in the shootout since it was adopted…The Rockets have just one loss in their last 7 home games (6-1-0-0). That one loss came at the hands of the Prince George Cougars in a 4-3 setback November 24th.
Rockets Schedule - Next 5 Games: Rockets Results - Last 5 Games:
Dec 9 @ Regina Rockets 3 Cougars 4 L
Dec 11 @ Moose Jaw Rockets 7 Kamloops 4 W
Dec 12 @ Brandon Rockets 4 Hawks 2 W
Dec 14@ PA Rockets 1 Chilliwack 3 L
Dec 15 @ Saskatoon Rockets 4 Tigers 3 OTW
Rockets Players by Province: BC=13 US=4 ALB=3 SASK=2 MAN=1 EURO=1 Total=24
Rockets Season Highs and Lows:
Most Goals Scored: 7 vs. Kamloops Nov 30/07 (7-4 W), vs. Kootenay November 23/07 (7-6 OTW)
Most Goals Allowed: 6 vs. Kootenay Nov 23/07 (7-6 OTW), @ Tri City November 21/07 (6-1 L)
Most Power Play Chances: 9 @ PG Nov 10/07 (6-1 W – 4/9) vs. Warriors Oct 27/07. Rockets were 0/9 losing 4-3 in shootout.
Most Power Play Goals Scored: 4 @ PG Nov 10/07 (6-1 W)
Most Power Play Goals Allowed: 4 @ Everett Sept 29/07
Most Shots Taken: 38 vs. Kamloops Nov 30/07 (7-4 W), @ Portland Nov 17/07 (Rockets 4 Hawks 1)
Fewest Shots Taken: 9 @ Vancouver Sept 29/07 (5-0L)
Most Shot Allowed: 48 @ Vancouver Sept 30/07
Fewest Shots Allowed: 13 vs. Blazers Oct 30/07 (6-1 W)
Last Shutout: - Kristofer Westblom 28 saves vs. Calgary (5-0 W)
Last Time Shutout: - @ Vancouver Sept 29/07 – Sexsmith 9 saves (5-0 L)
Penalty Shots: Torrie Jung stops Hawks forward Luke Walker Nov 17/07 in a 4-1 win in Portland. Kristofer Westblom stops Everett’s Shane Harper in a 3-2 overtime loss Nov 16/07 in Everett. Torrie Jung stopped Michal Repik in the 3rd period of a 5-0 loss Sept 29/07.
Overtime Winning Goal: Tyler Myers scored at 3:58 of overtime December 5/07 in a 4-3 win over Medicine Hat. Colin Long scored at :44 of overtime Nov 23/07 in a 7-6 win over Kootenay. Jamie Benn scored at 1:07 of overtime Nov 2/07 in a 3-2 win over Chilliwack.
Shootout Game Winning Goals: Dylan Hood scores in a 4-3 win in Seattle October 6/07. Colin Long scored the game winner in a 2-1 win over Vancouver October 24th.
Roster Stats:
Player total: 24
Year by Year Breakdown:
20’s – 3 Westblom, McEwan, Leavold
19’s – 3 Dowzak, MacRae, Joe
18’s – 8 Long, Kytnar, Brusciano, L. Bloodoff, Jung, Schenn, Almond, Benn
17’s – 6 St. Denis, E. Bloodoff, McIntosh, Myers, McMillan, Hood
16’s – 4 Bowman, Barrie, Paradis, Verdino
Average Age: 17.8
Rookies – 7
Record by Month:
Month Games Record Home Road
September: 4 1-2-1-0 0-1-1-0 1-1-0-0
October: 11 5-5-0-1 3-3-0-1 2-2-0-0
November: 13 9-2-1-1 4-1-0-0 5-1-1-1
December: 12 2-1-0-0 2-0-0-0 0-1-0-0
January: 13 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0
February: 11 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0
NHL Draft Picks-Training Camp Attendees: Jamie Benn (Dallas 07), Torrie Jung (Tampa Bay 07), Cody Almond (Minnesota 07), Milan Kytnar (Oilers 07), Tysen Dowzak (Tryout Philadelphia).
Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel (AM 1150)
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