Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Rockets game notes vs. Raiders

Tonight’s Preview: Welcome to the half way point of the regular season for the Kelowna Rockets. The Rockets enter tonight’s contest with wins in seven of their last ten games after a 2-1 shootout win Saturday night in Moose Jaw. The Rockets have 6 wins in their last seven road games, having out-scored the opposition 28-19. This is the one and only meeting of the season between the Rockets and Raiders. These two teams met once last season – October 15/08 in Kelowna – with the Rockets earning a 3-1 win. The Rockets last visited Prince Albert December 14/07 in a 3-2 victory. Tonight’s game is the fifth of six games in 9 nights for the Rockets on an Eastern Conference road trip. The Rockets are in Saskatoon tomorrow night.

Last Game Recap: Geordie Wudrick scored the game winner in the shootout while Mark Guggenberger earned his first win of the season in the Rockets 2-1 win in Moose Jaw Saturday night. Spencer Main scored the Rockets lone goal in regulation time, a shorthanded goal in the opening period. The Rockets were out-shot 28-17 in the game and were 0 for 4 on the power play.

Tyson Time: Rockets defenseman Tyson Barrie has 133 career points, the third highest point total for defenseman in franchise history. Josh Gorges is the franchise leader with 152 career points followed by Mike Card with 147. Barrie’s 4 assist effort Wednesday against Regina pushing himself past Scott Hannan, who had 128 points.

Who’s Hot – Who’s Not: Tyson Barrie had his league high 21 game point streak snapped Saturday against Moose Jaw....Last season Jamie Benn had a 20 game point streak with 15 goals and 10 assists over that period…Rookie Max Adolph has goals in five of his last seven games…Shane McColgan has goals in six of his last nine games (9+3=12).…The Rockets have given up four shorthanded goals in the last six games. Spencer Main has points in 6 of his last 7 games.

Game Day Tidbits: Tyson Barrie is third in league scoring by defenceman. Barrie is 4 points back of league leader Travis Hamonic of the Moose Jaw Warriors…Shane McColgan is attempting to become the highest scoring 16 year-old in Kelowna Rockets history. McColgan has 36 points, 5 fewer than franchise leader Marty Flichel, who had 41 points (21+20=41) during the 1992-93 season…Curt Gogol leads the WHL in penalty minutes with 108..….Adam Brown is tied with Drew Owsley of the Tri City Americans for the most games played by a goaltender (32)….Brown has played the most minutes of any goaltender in the WHL (1881)….The Rockets have been involved in fifteen (15) one goal games this season. The Rockets are 8-6-1-0 in those fifteen games…Kyle St. Denis leads the team with 8 power play goals….Mitchell Callahan has a team high +7 rating….Tyson Barrie has a team high 29 assist…McColgan is one point back of Portland’s Nino Neiderreitter for the WHL scoring lead by rookies…The Rockets are 18-16-1-0 after thirty-five games this season. Last year the Rockets were 20-14-0-0 after thirty-five games…The Rockets have scored 118 goals in thirty-five games this season after scoring 123 times in the teams first thirty-five games one season ago…The Rockets have allowed 107 goals against this season after surrendering 93 goals after thirty-five games last year…Ryan Huska recorded his 100th regular season victory December 4th against Edmonton…Brandon McMillan will not play tonight as he attends Team Canada’s training camp in Regina.…Kyle St Denis will not play tonight after getting hurt last Tuesday in Swift Current…Brandon Wheat Kings forward Brayden Schenn had a phenomenal 16 year-old rookie season in 2007-2008 recording 71 points. How does Rockets 16 year-old Shane McColgan measure up with the 07/08 WHL rookie of the year? Schenn had 34 points after 34 games in his rookie season. McColgan has 36 points after 34 games in his 16 year-old season…Fifteen year-old Damon Severson returns to the Rockets lineup tonight after making his debut last Wednesday in Regina. Severson is from Melville, but plays midget hockey in Yorkton. The defenseman was the Rockets 9th pick in this summers WHL draft.

Rockets next two games:
Dec 16 @ Saskatoon
Dec 27 vs. Vancouver
Dec 30 vs. Kamloops
Dec 31 @ Chilliwack

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