Monday, October 26, 2009

Blown icing call breaks Rockets back

  • A missed icing call broke the Kelowna Rockets back Sunday night. The linesman errored in thinking that Giants forward Lance Bouma had touched the puck on a lead pass from teammate Ryan Funk. Instead of the play being whistled down with a face-off inside the Giants zone, Bouma tracks down the puck deep in the Rockets end and is denied on a wrap around chance by goaltender Chad Ketting. Giants forward Brendan Gallagher jams at the puck in a goal mouth scramble and scores, giving the Giants a 5-4 lead. The goal proved to be the game winner.
  • Again another weak start for the Rockets, who trailed 2-0 after one period. But despite the sluggish start the Rockets responded with a solid second period, scoring four times and taking a 4-3 lead into the final frame.
  • Goaltender Chad Ketting made his WHL debut Sunday against the Giants and played well. The 18 year-old, acquired from the Swift Current Broncos, must have been feeling the nerves playing in Vancouver, a stone throw away from his home in Sechelt. Admittedly he did not look sharp on J.T Barnett's 3rd period goal when the Giants forward took a sharp angle shot from the end red line that found it's way through Ketting to tie the game at four. Despite the loss in his debut, I can only see an upside to the personable goaltender.
  • Tyson Barrie had an impressive night on defense. Barrie had a 3 point night (1+2=3), with his lone goal coming from a laser beam from the blue line that beat Giants goaltender Jamie Tucker high to the blocker side.
  • The Rockets again went with 17 skaters and two goaltenders. Veterans Lucas Bloodoff and Brandon McMillan were again out of the lineup with injuries. To add insult to injury, forward Codey Ito was hurt in a first period hit from Todd Kennedy and did not return.
  • Both Kyle St. Denis and Cody Chikie made good on breakaway chances in Sunday's game. Chikie's goal was his 5th of the season as he used breakaway speed to get away from two Giants defenders.
  • I thought it was interesting that after the game the song 'Rocketman' by Elton John was played over the p.a system at Pacific Coliseum as the two teams skated off the ice.
  • Despite the Canucks playing host to the Edmonton Oilers at GM Place on the same night, a good crowd of 62 hundred took in Sunday's WHL tilt.

5 comments:

J.S. said...

What a bad night for the officials. When they announced Barrie and Macolgan as assisting on Main's deflection it had to be pretty nifty as both of them were on the bench..and they follow it up with the blown icing....what happened to replay or Huska challenging? Really poor effort last night by the four zebras, and Kelowna has to pay....

Ryan said...

Is it asking too much for Bruce to trade for Valchar now that Leth has too many euros? He cant match Matheson's contributions to this team, but surely has to help

Regan Bartel said...

I am not sure the Hurricanes are that happy with Vulchar either. That said, he would only be an upgrade. Interesting thought.

J.S. said...

If I see Matheson turn a blind eye to the bigger guys picking on the little guys again I'm gonna launch my popcorn...How is Ito today Regan and when are we finally going to get a guy that can play ok but actually have a true feeling to protect these guys? Matheson should've papered Kennedy...not cool....

Unknown said...

was matheson brought to the team for his toughness or his ability to stay invisible.... come on crank it up the fans are waiting to see what you can do.