Road woes continue

• You can make it 5 straight road losses for the Kelowna Rockets after dropping a 3-2 decision last night in Portland. Despite scoring the first two goals of the game, the Hawks scored the final three in the one goal victory. The five game losing streak on the road matches a five gamer back in the 2007-2008 season when the team dropped five in a row before beating Brandon 5-4 on December 12/07.
• If you are counting, the Rockets have been out-scored 22-12 during the five game slide.
• Last season the Rockets lost four straight games on the road.
• The Rockets started rookie Chad Ketting in goal and he made some solid saves. My feeling is two of the three goals could have been prevented though. I thought the Hawks first goal of the game on the power play could have been stopped as it beat Ketting high to the blocker side, short side. The second goal was the result of miscommunication between Ketting and defenseman Antonie Corbin at the side of the net. With both players indecisive about playing it or freezing it, the Hawks forward jammed at it and poked it into the back of the net. It's those mental miscues that this team can ill afford.
• Lucas Bloodoff sat this one out. The Rockets team captain is the latest to suffer from the flu. Who's next?
• Team Canada officials must be taking notice of what Tyson Barrie is doing. Since returning from an injury in the third game of the season against Kamloops, Barrie has a point in all ten games he's played. That's a career high point streak. Despite playing on an amazing team last season, Barrie's longest point streak was just 5 games.
• When was the last time you fought someone who was 6'7? Never? Curt Gogol has. Gogol dropped the gloves with Hawks d-man Brett Ponich last night in a first period fight. Ponich towers over anyone he scraps with but to see Gogol engaged with the St. Louis Blues draft pick was impressive.
• Who was the biggest surprise when it came to watching the Hawks? The play of rookie Nino Niederreitter. I couldn't believe how physical he was. Sure he's skilled, but in no way is he a soft player. Two of the toughest Euro's on this road trip has been Neiderreitter and Radko Gudas out of Everett.
• Despite the Rockets recent woes, it's interesting to point out that they have almost the exact record they had after 22 games last season. But a word of caution here. The team appeared to take off in game 23, winning 9 of their next 13 games. Is this a sign of things to come?
• I had the pleasure of running into Dan Folwick, the former public address announcer for the Hawks. Folwick was kind enough to present to me a mug commemorating his 600th game as the public address announcer in Portland. Folwick stepped down from his post this summer after nearly 20 years. It just seemed odd when the Hawks entered the ice surface last night and Dan's big voice saying "Here come the Hawks' was no where to be found.
• Shane McColgan's father took in last night's game.
• Tyson Barrie's grandfather was in the stands watching.
• I ran into a gentleman with a nice looking Tacoma Rockets jersey. I asked him who he was. It was Steve Oviatt's dad. Oviatt is a former athletic therapist with the Rockets.
• I hope you enjoyed the video of the Portland cheerleaders. I think they were called the Rosebuds? The video doesn't show the uniforms very well, which sport the Hawks logo on the front. If your wondering, the shoes the girls wear on the ice do have spikes.