Rockets snap two game road losing streak

• Zach Franko and Tyson Barrie each scored twice leading the Rockets to a 6-3 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds Friday night. The win, the Rockets 25th of the season, snapped a two game road losing streak. The Rockets remain one point back of Vancouver for first place in the BC Division heading into Saturday's game in Spokane.
• A relentless fore check was one of the keys in the victory. The Rockets spent a significant amount of time in the T-Birds zone and ultimately exposed Seattle's defensive core. Mitchell Callahan got it started with his strong physical play and then others followed. Evan Bloodoff's late second period goal was a perfect example of the Rockets desire to win pucks. Line-mate Colton Sissons out-muscles at T-Birds defender in the corner, passes it out to Bloodoff, who fires his 11th past Seattle goaltender Calvin Pickard.
• Zach Franko is in a zone. The 17 year-old scored two power play goals, extending his point streak to a team high nine games. Franko now has four goals in his last four games after two goals against Portland and two against the T-Birds.
• It may have been done before, but I've never seen it until now. Rockets defenceman Tyson Barrie scores two late shorthanded goals into an empty net. The T-Birds, trailing by one late in the game, have a power play and a face-off deep inside the Rockets zone. Despite having just four defenders on the ice, Barrie finds the puck on his stick at the bottom half of the face-off circle and fires it the entire length of the ice and into the net, making it a 5-3 score. Then, with the goaltender pulled off the face-off at centre ice, Barrie again gets the puck on his stick just inside the Rockets blue line and does the same thing. That's two shorthanded goals in 51 seconds. Amazing.
• In case you are wondering , those two shorthanded goals in 51 seconds is no where close to a WHL record. The record for back-to-back shorthanded goals is 6 seconds. And its happened twice, in 1981 and again in 1987.
• On November 18, 1997, Rockets forward Brett McLean scored three shorthanded goals in a 5-4 win over Regina.
  
• The ShoWare Center came alive Friday night. The atmosphere was excellent as the fans enjoyed every aspect of the game. It was a great atmosphere as the T-Birds delivered a good product beyond the game itself. Everyone in my section was having fun, which goes a long way to those patrons returning in the future.
• The Rockets wore their third jersey last night against the T-Birds. It was the first time this season they have won wearing those uniforms.
  
• The team headed out for Spokane following the game and arrived here at around 3:30 am. The roads were excellent, and outside of some heavy rain at times, the sky was clear. If you are traveling late at night, the conditions couldn't have been any better for late January.
• The Rockets play the Chiefs tonight in a building they have won in before. The Rockets were a 3-2 overtime winner back on November 29th. Geordie Wudrick scored the game winner.