Things That Make Me Go Hmm...

• Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton has to be smiling these days. No, not necessarily over his teams play, but his son Curtis'. Curtis Hamilton is having a great year with the Saskatoon Blades, with 34 points in 37 games. The 17 year-old is almost a point a game player, and isn't even eligable to be drafted until next season. Hamilton has 14 goals, the same number of goals he scored as a 16 year-old in his rookie season.
• I find it interesting that Ian Duval has earned 64 percent of his points on the road this season. That should tell you something about this guys character. Often skilled players find the tough going much easier on home ice, yet Duval has been 'steady eddie' on the road. Of Duvals 18 goals this season, 9 have been on the road. Of his 39 points, 25 have been on opposition ice.
• Jamie Benn is almost the reverse of Duval. Benn has scored 60 percent of his points on home ice this season. Yet of Benn's 27 goals this season, fifteen have been on the road.
• Justin Bernhardt is closing in on playing his 300th game in the WHL. The former Rocket has 289 games under his belt, and is third in league scoring with 71 points with the Prince Albert Raiders. Nice to see 'Bernie' making some noise in his final season in the WHL.
• This number surprised me. Tyler Myers has 14 power play assists this season. Myers has 20 assists overall, meaning 70% of his helpers are on the power play. Myers has as many power play assists as Jamie Benn (14), and is slightly behind Colin Long (15), and team leader Tyson Barrie, who has 16 power play helpers.
• The top two penalty minute leaders meet Friday night at Prospera Place as the Rockets host the Medicine Hat Tigers. Rockets forward Riley Grantham will meet horns with Tigers tough guy Matt McCue. Grantham leads McCue by 16 penalty minutes for the league lead. McCue will be back in the Tigers lineup after a two game suspension from an altercation against Lethbridge.
• Name the only Western Conference team that the Rockets have failed to visit this season? Answer - the Spokane Chiefs. The Rockets will be in Spokane for the first time on February 8th, in regular season game #55. Let's hope no one in Spokane desperately wanted to see someone on the Rockets play this season, because they will have waited until the last 6 weeks of the regular season before they finally show up.
• If you are wondering, the Rockets have just 24 games left in the regular season. Of those 24 games, 13 are on the road, 11 are at home. Of those 11 home games, seven are against teams in the BC Division.
• When the Rockets meet the Medicine Hat Tigers Friday night, the visitors will have already played games in Seattle (Kent) and Vancouver. The Tigers open the road trip with a 13 hour bus ride to Kent tomorrow night.