Lucas leads by example

• It took them five tries, but the Kelowna Rockets finally have their 30th win of the season. The Rockets snapped a five game losing streak Friday night with a 4-0 win in Edmonton. It marks the 15th time in franchise history the team has recorded 30 or more wins.
• Lucas Bloodoff led the way with 1+1=2. It was Bloodoff's 7th multi point game this season. Bloodoff's goal came on the power play, snapping a 0 for 14 slump with the extra man.
• While the Rockets are 1 for 8 with the extra man, the goal was large considering up to that point they had dominated play and hadn't allowed a shot on goal in the first 9 minutes of the game. That said, the Rockets were awarded two-five on three's and were unable to convert. The game should have been over in the second period, not the third, when the Rockets scored two late goals.
• The Rockets fired a season high 53 shots at the Oil Kings net. Lucas Bloodoff may have had seven of them? I have said this before, and I will say it again, I wish the WHL will adopt a similar stat on the game sheet that you see in the QMJHL. The on-line scoring shows how many goals, assists, points and penalty minutes a player received, plus the number of shots he took on goal. The Rockets could have had 60 shots on goal against the Oil Kings yet many were blocked, especially point shots taken by d-men Dallas Jackson and Tyson Barrie.
• He's in a zone. Adam Brown was again sharp and was full marks for his 5th shutout of the season. While not overly busy, it's those timely saves that are oh so crucial. Brown made some big stops including a point blank chance from 16 year-old Chris St. Croix in the second period. Brown also had a nice breakaway save off of Cameron Maclise in the third period when the Rockets were on the power play.
• Max Adolph got a monkey off his back Friday night with a second period goal. It was Adolph's first goal in 30 games.
• I guess the knee is feeling alright? Evan Bloodoff, in only his second game back after knee surgery, was involved in a third period fight with 16 year-old Klarc Wilson. Give Wilson the decision, but to see Bloodoff engage in a fight tells me the knee is feeling pretty good.
• Evan Bloodoff scored his first goal of the season Friday night. It was his first goal since game two of last seasons WHL final when he scored once and added two assists in a 5-2 win over the Hitmen.
• My error. I failed to mention Evan Bloodoff played in his 200th career game Wednesday in Lethbridge. My bad.
• Torrie Jung watched his final game ever against his old team where he saw the previous two meetings this season....on the bench. Jung was the back up in all three games in the seasonal series. It almost looked odd from the broadcast booth as the goaltenders on both benches were twenty year-old's.
• While paid attendance at Friday's game was over 4 thousand, it appeared to be another smallish crowd as people stayed home to watch the Canada/Slovakia game. Once the Olympics are over, it will be interesting to see how the WHL was affected at the turnstiles. It's been a tough year for the WHL when it comes to attendance in some centres. First the economy was to blame, then the World Juniors kept people away, and now the Olympics had people staying at home.
• Jim Henderson. The name may not mean much to you, but Henderson spent 30 years in the Western Hockey League in various capacities with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Swift Current Broncos. I ran into Henderson in the media lounge at Friday's game. No longer holding an official title with a WHL team, Henderson is helping out the Oil Kings as a volunteer. He still loves to be at the rink, where he watches close to every Oil King home game. I had the pleasure of getting to know Henderson when he was the director of player personnel with the Swift Current Broncos.
• I only had a brief conversation with him, but it was good to see a smile on the face of injured forward Cody Chikie. Chikie met his teammates after the game and will rejoin the Rockets when he flies back to Kelowna on Sunday. Chikie is out of the lineup with a broken collarbone suffered against Calgary just a week ago.
• Maybe the Rockets will want to play more games in Edmonton next season. They have not allowed a goal in two appearances in Edmonton since the Oil Kings came into existence.