Hey, it was bound to end sooner or later

• It was bound to end sooner or later. After beating the Kamloops Blazers 13 times last season the Rockets were do for a setback against their BC Division foe. Despite firing a season high 37 shots on goal, the Rockets went 0 for 8 on the power play in a 4-1 loss Friday night at the Interior Savings Centre.
• The Rockets power play lost a key piece when defenceman Tyson Barrie left the game in the first period after a hit from Blazers forward Shayne Wiebe. When watching it on replay, both players were going towards the puck when Barrie attempted to put his shoulder into Wiebe. Wiebe pushed back and his momentum appeared to catch Barrie in the back of the right shoulder sending him into the corner boards. A dirty hit it was not. A dangerous area to be hit, it was. In today's often over-officiated game, I was surprised Wiebe didn't get any extra time in the penalty box other than the five minute major for fighting after engaging with Rockets defenceman Collin Bowman.
• With the loss of Barrie, the Rockets used 16 year-old Shane McColgan as a defenceman on the power play.
• Mitchell Chapman and Max Adolph also left the game last night. Chapman left early after getting hit while Adolph caught an edge and went awkwardly into the end boards.
• The downfall of the Rockets was a second period where they generated 18 shots on goal, yet were unable to score. The majority of the shots taken landed firmly in the midsection of Blazers goaltender Jon Groenheyde. That said, Groenheyde was good and was worthy of the 1st star.
• With the loss of Barrie and Chapman, I now have a better appreciation of rookie d-man Colton Jobke. Jobke logged a lot of minutes last night and appears to be getting better with every outing.
• My hands hurt just watching it. A third period fight between Curt Gogol and Cole Grabavac had both players throwing bombs towards one another with fists hitting helmets. Ouch! It's often tough to see how many punches in fact connect, but while Grabavac appeared to throw more punches, he was the one left with a bloody nose when it was all said and done. Mark my words, someone is going to break his hand/knuckle in a fight now that the players are keeping their helmets on.
• Will Tyler Shattock score 50 goals this season? The Blazer forward already has five after scoring 30 one season ago.
• The Rockets and the Lethbridge Hurricanes are the two teams in the WHL that have failed to earn a win in the young season.
• Was it just me, or was it a disappointing crowd last night in Kamloops? While attendance was 4480, finding a empty seat wouldn't have been a problem at the Interior Savings Centre. Now 3 and 0, you would think that hockey fans would want to come out and watch a pretty decent team. Or have they seen this act before, only to see things disintegrate as the season wears on? Kamloops isn't the only centre where attendance numbers were low. Twenty-two hundred in Kent last night as Seattle lost to Chilliwack won't make T-Birds GM Russ Farwell very happy.
• The best comment on the night came off the air when the final buzzer had sounded. Colour Analyst Gord McGarva looked over at Blazers broadcaster Kirk Fraser and said "nobody can win in this broadcast booth". This season the visiting and home radio broadcasters have essentially traded places up in the press box. We called last night's game from the same location that Fraser called all 13 losses to the Rockets one season ago.