Things That Make Me Go Hmm...

• Rockets forward Lucas Bloodoff was originally selected by the Tri City Americans in the 6th round of the 2004 WHL Bantam Draft. Bloodoff never reported, and was eventually sent to the Rockets for a 3rd round pick.
• Tri City Americans forward Mitch Fadden celebrates his 21st birthday on Friday. Fadden is the third oldest player in this series. Americans forward Jason Reese turned 21 on January 28th while Rockets defenseman Tysen Dowzak turned 21 on March 8th.
• Do the Americans not have three of the best 20 year-old forwards in the league? Fadden, Reese and Taylor Procyshen are a solid group. All three were 30+ goal scorers this season and combined for 104 goals, or 40 percent of the Americans goal production.
• It's interesting to note that three of the four games between these two teams during the regular season were before the WHL trade deadline.
• The Rockets are 19-0 against playoff teams (15-0 during the regular season) since the trade deadline.
• When these two teams met in the second round in 2004, the visiting team won the first four games. Of those first four games, three went into overtime. Will the trend continue?
• Americans head coach Don Nachbaur doesn't often smile on the bench (what coach does), but he may have a grin on his face when he watched Rockets forward Curt Gogol in this series. Nachbaur is a former teammate of Gogol's father Brent, when the two played for the Billings Bighorns in the late 70's.
• Rockets assistant coach Jeff Finley has something in common with the Americans bench boss. Both are alumnus of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. Nachbaur played 65 games over five seasons with the Flyers while Finley played 55 games with Philly in 1994-95. The two are also alumnus of the AHL's Hershey Bears and Springfield Indians.
• Did you know that Nachbaur was a teammate of former Rockets head coach Marc Habscheid? It was a brief stint that saw Nachbaur dress for four games in the 1982-83 season with the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers had a young guy named Wayne Gretzky, who was 21 at the time. Habscheid was just 19, while Nachbaur was 23.
• The loss by the Saskatoon Blades last night also resulted in the end of the junior career of Colin Joe. Joe was a was a third round pick of the Rockets in 2003, and played 248 games in a Rockets uniform.
• Congrats to Chris Ray.The former Rockets captain is engaged. Ray and his new bride-to-be will tie the knot next summer.