Things That Make Me Go Hmm....

• For the second straight year the Western Hockey League champion will face the Ontario Hockey League champion in the Memorial Cup final. The Kelowna Rockets face the Windsor Spitfires Sunday afternoon in the biggest game of the season for both teams. AM-1150 has the broadcast starting with the pre-game show at 1 and the play-by-play at 1:30.
• It's funny how everyone here is making a big deal about the Rockets four day layoff after completing the round robin on Tuesday. If you look back to the playoffs, the Rockets were off for a full five days before facing Vancouver in game one of the Western Conference final. The Rockets won that game 4-2 in Vancouver.
• The Rockets had a brisk workout Saturday in preparation for Sunday's game. You won't often see hard hits in practice, but that was the case at the Colisee this morning. The best hit came when defenceman Aaron Borejko sent big forward Ryley Grantham to the ice with a hit along the end boards.
• Gord McGarva and I attended the CHL awards banquet this afternoon. The most impressive speech may have come from Saskatoon Blades defenceman Stefan Elliott, who ended his speech by speaking for a significant amount of time, in french. Elliott is the CHL Scholastic Player of the Year.
• It was nice to see Prince George Cougar forward Brett Connolly recognized for his season. Thirty goals for a 16 year-old ain't bad. Only Patrick Marleau scored more goals as a 16 year-old when he managed to fill the net 32 times with the Seattle Thunderbirds. Let's hope the Cougars can continue to find talent like Connolly in their own backyard. Having a Prince George kid wearing a Cougars uniform and making an impact is never a bad thing.
• Jon Blum got a chuckle from the crowd in his acceptance speech when he was named the CHL's Top Defenceman. Blum thanked his parents for finding ice for him to play on considering it was often hard to come by, considering he grew up in California.
• John Tavares was named the CHL Player of the Year. One reporter asked him in a post awards banquet scrum if he would trade away the award for a chance to play at the Memorial Cup. His answer came quickly when he responded by saying, "Absolutely."
• The most impressive aspect of the 2009 Memorial Cup has been the shuttle service. Thirty-three cars have been used to move media/scouts and other out-of-town visitors across the city. Why is this so impressive? You don't have to wait for a driver. You ask for a ride and someone is there in a flash to drive you to your destination. It's been a well oiled machine.
• Rimouski is not exempt from rising gas prices. After sitting at a reasonable 97.4 cents a litre when we arrived last Wednesday, the gas shot up to 107.4 cents a litre yesterday. I was told gas took a similar jump in Kelowna earlier this week.