Game Notes vs. Hawks

Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets and Hawks are meeting for the first time this season. After tonight’s game these two teams won’t meet again until January 9th in Kelowna before the Rockets return to Portland on February 16th. The two teams close out the seasonal series March 11th in Kelowna. These two teams met four times last season with the Rockets winning all four games. The Rockets are riding a three game winning streak in Portland. The last loss was September 30/06 in a 5-2 setback. Following tonight’s game the Rockets are in Kamloops Friday before hosting the Blazers in their home opener Saturday night. Last night the Rockets fell 5-2 to the Tri City Americans. Mitchell Callahan and Tyson Barrie scored lone goals for the Rockets, who trailed 3-0 and 4-1 at the period breaks. Jason Reese scored three times for the Americans. The Rockets are now 3-4-1-0 with a tie in their last 9 regular season openers dating back to the 2000-2001 season. Six of the Rockets next eight games are on the road.

A Night of Firsts: Five members of the Rockets made their WHL debuts last night. Mitchell Callahan scored his first career WHL goal in the loss while defenseman Aaron Borejko earned his first career point with an assist on a Tyson Barrie power play goal. Overage goaltender Kris Lazaruk made his Rockets debut after being acquired from Kootenay late Friday night.

Trade Winds Blow: The Rockets solidified their goaltending by acquiring veteran 20 year-old goaltender Kris Lazaruk from the Kootenay Ice for a 4th round bantam pick. The Edmonton Alberta produce has played 109 games over his four year career in the WHL. Last season Lazaruk played in 51 games.

Who’s Back: The Rockets return 17 veterans from last years team. Leading that list is last years leading scorer Colin Long. Long led the team in points (101) and assists (64). Second year forward Jamie Benn is also back. Benn led the Rockets in goals scored last season with 33 in just 51 games. Both Long and Benn combined for 64 goals last season. The Rockets return 6 of their top 7 scorers from a year ago.

Gone But Not Forgotten: Six players from last year’s team are no longer around. Brady Leavold, James McEwan and Kristofer Westblom have graduated. Leavold and McEwan are playing pro hockey while Westblom is playing Canadian college hockey this year. Colin Joe and Milan Kytnar were traded to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the off-season while Myles MacRae elected to leave the team and play his twenty-year old season in the BCHL.

Nine is Devine: Nine members of the Rockets attended NHL training camps this year. Luke Schenn was in Toronto, Tyler Myers in Buffalo and Brandon McMillan with Anaheim. Colin Long attended Phoenix Coyotes camp, while goaltender Torrie Jung was in Tampa Bay. Cody Almond was with Minnesota while Tysen Dowzak received a tryout with the New York Rangers. Lucas Bloodoff also received a tryout with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Jamie Benn is the only signed player, and attended the camp of the Dallas Stars. The nine players attending pro camps was a team record.

Exhibition Exploits: The Rockets were 2-1-1-0 in exhibition with wins over Vancouver and Spokane. The Rockets suffered a regulation loss to the Giants and an overtime loss to the Chiefs. The Rockets scored 11 goals in the four games they played, while allowing 11 goals against. Rookie forward Stepan Novotny led the Rockets in exhibition scoring with 2+2=4.

Rockets Review: Last season the Rockets won 38 games and finished with 84 points. Those 84 points were good for 5th place in the Western Conference and a date with the Seattle Thunderbirds in round one. The Rockets would lose out to the T-Birds in seven games. The Rockets had 21 home ice and 17 road wins last season.

By The Numbers: The Rockets scored 248 goals last season, 4th best in the Western Conference. The Rockets allowed 215 goals against, 5th worst in the West. The Rockets had the 7th best power play in the WHL last season at 19.9%. The Rockets would score 82 goals with the extra man, which were the second most power play goals in the league behind the Vancouver Giants 85.





Broadcasters Quick Hits: Rookie Stepan Novotny played high school hockey at Shattuck St. Mary’s, the same school that Sydney Crosby attended. Rockets defenseman Tysen Dowzak also attended the prep school…Rookie forward Mitchell Callahan scored 38 goals last season playing with the LA Midget Kings. Callahan is an undrafted player, but made the team on a tryout….Rockets 17 year-old goaltender Adam Brown’ father Newell is an assistant coach with the Anaheim Ducks...Rookie defenseman Curt Gogol’s father Brent played with Victoria and Billings of the WHL in the late 70’s. Brent Gogol still holds the WHL record for penalty minutes in a season with 511 in 1977-78….The Kelowna Rockets have 6 American born players on their roster this season, a franchise high. Everett also has six.

Rockets Schedule - Next 5 Games: Rockets Results - Last 5 Games:

Sept 26 @ Kamloops Rockets 2 Tri City 5 L
Sept 27 vs. Kamloops
Oct 1 vs. Everett
Oct 3 @ Medicine Hat
Oct 4 @ Lethbridge

Rockets Players by Province: BC=10 US=6 ALB=5 SASK=1 MAN=1 EURO=2 Total=25

Rockets Season Highs and Lows:

Most Goals Scored: 2 @ Tri Sept 21
Most Goals Allowed: 5 @ Tri Sept 21
Most Power Play Chances: 5 @ Tri Sept 21
Most Power Play Goals Scored: 1 @ Tri Sept 21
Most Power Play Goals Allowed: 1 @ Tri Sept 21
Most Shots Taken: 27 @ Tri Sept 21
Fewest Shots Taken: 27 @ Tri Sept 21
Most Shot Allowed: 33 @ Tri Sept 21
Fewest Shots Allowed: 33 @ Tri Sept 21
Last Shutout: NA
Last Time Shutout: NA
Penalty Shots: NA
Shootout Game Winning Goals: NA

vs. BC: vs. US: 0-1-0-0
vs. Central: vs. East:

Roster Stats:
Player total: 24
Year by Year Breakdown:
20’s – 2 Dowzak, Lazaruk
19’s – 6 Long, Benn, Jung, Almond, L. Bloodoff, Schenn
18’s – 7 E. Bloodoff, McMillan, McIntosh, Myers, Novotny, St. Denis, Hood
17’s – 9 Barrie, Brown, Verdino, Gogol, Borejko, Bowman, Callahan, Matejka, Paradis
16’s – 1 Main
Average Age: 17.2
Rookies – 7

Record by Month:
Month Games Record Home Road
September: 4 0-1-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-1-0-0
October: 13 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0
November: 10 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0
December: 10 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0
January: 14 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0
February: 14 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0
March: 7 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 0-0-0-0