Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets and Vancouver Giants are meeting in game six of the best of seven Western Conference Championship Series. The Rockets have a 3-2 lead after a 1-0 shutout win in game five Saturday night. Ryley Grantham provided the lone goal in the win. The Rockets have won games one, four and five while the Giants grabbed games two and three. If a game seven is necessary it will be played tomorrow night in Vancouver. These two teams are meeting in the WHL playoffs for the first time since 2005. That season the two teams met in round one with the Rockets winning in six games. These two teams also met in 2003, with the Rockets eliminating the Giants in four straight in round one. This season the Giants beat the Rockets in 5 of the 8 meetings, yet the Rockets won the last three games. Overall the Giants out-scored the Rockets 30-23 in the eight games. The Rockets were 9 for 40 (22.5%) on the power play in the seasonal series while the Giants were 11 for 48 (22.9%) with the extra man.
I Didn’t Know That: Mark Guggenberger has not allowed a goal in 121 minutes, eight seconds after back-to-back shutouts in games four and five…The Rockets longest shutout streak of the season came in late October in back-to-back games with the Chilliwack Bruins. The Rockets were a 5-0 winner October 22nd before earning a 6-0 shutout against Chilliwack October 24th. Adam Brown earned the goose egg in both games…. The Rockets franchise record for shutouts in a playoff series is held by Derek Yeomans. Yeomans blanked the Seattle Thunderbirds during a second round playoff series in 2005. All three of Yeomans shutouts were in Seattle…..Jamie Benn is one point shy of the Rockets franchise record for points in one playoff season. Jesse Schultz holds the record after putting up 28 points in the 2003 playoffs… The Rockets have opened the scoring in four of the five games in this series…These two teams are playing their 6th game in 10 nights. If the series goes a full seven games that will be 7 games in 11 nights…The Rockets are playing their 16th playoff game tonight. That means the Rockets are playing their 88th game of the season tonight if you include the 72 game regular season schedule…Ian Duval has 12 points in 15 playoff games this season after recording just 3 points (1+2=3) in 16 playoff games with the Calgary Hitmen last season…Duval has four goals in this series with the Giants, one better than teammate Jamie Benn… After recording 5 points in the first two games of this series, Mikael Backlund has failed to register a point in three straight games…Collin Bowman’s assist on Ryley Grantham’s game winning goal in game five was his first playoff point in 11 games. Bowman’s last point, an assist, came March 25th in game four of an opening round series with Kamloops….
What’s Happened So Far? The Rockets have out-scored the Giants 13-9 in the first five games. Of the 22 total goals that have been scored, fifteen have been even strength. The Rockets are 3 for 20 in the series on the power play (15%) while the Giants are 4 for 24 (16.7%). Of the 22 goals scored in the first five games, 17 have been scored in the final 40 minutes of the game. Only four goals have been scored in the first period, with a single goal coming in overtime. The Rockets have out-shot the Giants 128-97 in the first four games.
Game Six Success: The Rockets have played just one game six in this playoff season. The Rockets were a 6-2 winner over the Tri City Americans in a second round playoff series.
4 comments:
Hey, Regan. Looks like it's going to be a real barn burner tonight (without the burning up of the net). I expect more of what we saw on Thurs and Sat night. The game should be tight checking, with a one goal margin of victory (unless someone deposits an EN).
I can't imagine the Giants missing the net again like they did on Sat (i.e. Kane and Zabotel), so the Rockets had best make sure they bury the puck when the opportunities are present.
I'd like to see another well officiated game. I thought the officials were a little too involved in games 1 and 2, and I've been happy with the calls since. Let's hope they keep it limited to calls/infractions that directly impact/limit scoring chances.
IMO, the team has hit its stride. They look like they really care about one another, the effort they are putting up each night, and that they are willing to do whatever is necessary to get the win (as has been evident by the defensive prowess of every member of the team).
As a side note, I thought it was kind of interesting that Huska went with Borenko in game 4, and that he responded so well (well enough that he played in game 5).
If the team continues to play responsible, defensive first hockey, I truly believe the Rockets will prevail this evening.
Good luck boys, play the game you've played up to this point, and get it done tonight.
GO ROCKETS GO
hocus_lopez, nice to hear from you. Did you go on vacation? You always bring some well thought out posts to this blog. Nice to get your perspective again.
Thanks for the compliment, and it's good to be missed. I've just been mired down with work.
With this economy not a lot of extra cash for vacations. However, I was up in Van for games one and two. That being said, I hope after this evening to have to make a decision as to whether to head up to K-town or Calgary for the fourth round.
Go Rockets!
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