Feeling Sympathy in a Royal Beating

• It’s not often I feel for the opposition goaltender, but on this night my sympathy went out to the Hawks Kurtis Mucha. Mucha, by his own standards, didn’t bring his ‘A’ game to the table in Wednesday’s 9-2 loss to the Rockets, but would it have made a difference? I thought it summed it up best when Mucha was seen after the game sitting alone on the Hawks bench gazing out onto the ice sipping on a water bottle, reflecting on a night he’d simply like to forget.
• A miss-match with the Rockets and Hawks meeting would result in one of two things. It would either be a royal beating or an upset. A beating it was. The number one line of Long, Leavold and Benn combined for 14 points. Long had five assists, Leavold had two goals and three assists while Benn had two goals and a pair of assists.
• What’s with the quick starts? The Rockets scored the opening goal 14 seconds into the game, scored 17 seconds in the second period and again accomplished the feat with a goal 17 seconds into the third.
• The game featured little emotion as the two teams combined for 10 penalty minutes. The Hawks took three minors, the Rockets took two. What concerns me the most about the Hawks was the lack of bite in their game. Despite the scoreboard pummeling, they showed no aggression towards the Rockets what-so-ever. The visitors took the beating without raising a fist before calmly boarding the bus and moving on. Accepting defeat is a bad sign.
• It was nice to see Torrie Jung return to the lineup. I thought Jung had to come up with a handful of good saves in the win. Jung has now won five straight games and it will be interesting to see who gets the start Friday night in Swift Current.
• What I’m really wondering ...were the Rockets that good or are the Hawks that bad? Let’s hope this is the worst the Hawks can play, because the defensive zone was a disaster. Instead of moving up the ice, the Hawks played the majority of the game playing North to South. I can’t count the number of turnovers that resulted in Rockets offensive chances.
• A game like this can’t be good for the Rockets. Sure the team piles up points, but what type of bad habits do you pick up from a game like this? The Rockets made mistakes defensively against the Hawks, and the majority of the time got away with it. Against teams like Swift Current and Medicine Hat this weekend, those mistakes will see the puck in the back of your net.
• The win moved the Rockets within 4 points of first place in the WHL overall standings. Just to say the Rockets were within striking distance of first place in mid January is awfully impressive.
• The team boarded the bus immediately after the game and headed for Medicine Hat. The hockey club will practice in the Hat this afternoon, stay the night, before driving into Swift Current to play the Broncos on Friday. In the eight years I have been in Kelowna, the Rockets have stayed the night in Swift Current just twice. Both of those times were under the watch of Marc Habscheid.
• Speaking of Habscheid, I wonder if he will show his face at Friday’s game in Swift Current? It would be awfully nice to see him again. Habscheid has been spending the winter in his hometown collecting the remaining two years of a three year contract he signed as an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins.
• The team arrived in Medicine Hat shortly after 9 o’clock (am) local time. After a less than stellar night’s sleep during the nine hour bus trip, a shower, a tooth brush and some breakfast would suit me fine.
• Luke Schenn, Brady McMillan and Tyler Myers flew into Medicine Hat this morning at 9:20 (am) to rejoin the team. The three took part in last night’s CHL/NHL Top Prospects game in Edmonton.