Sissons provides shoot-out success

• Call him Mr. February. Call him clutch in the shootout. Colton Sissons can be called the hero after Wednesday night's shoot-out game winning goal in a 3-2 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers. Sissons came off the bench as the Rockets 7th shooter and promptly snapped a high-hard shot past the glove hand side of Tigers goaltender Tyler Bunz as the Rockets won for the 34th time this season. Sissons is no stranger to scoring goals in February. Playing alongside Geordie Wudrick and Evan Bloodoff, Sissons has six goals during the month and now has a shoot-out game winner to add to those totals.
• While Sissons found himself at the bottom of a post game celebration, 19 year-old goaltender Adam Brown should received as much praise for his efforts in the shoot-out. Brown stopped six of the seven Tiger shooters and was named the games first star. I may be biased here, but the Rockets may have the best goaltending tandem in the league. Brown or Cooke....you can't go wrong with either.
• Rockets 17 year-old Jesse Astles and Tigers 19 year-old forward Cole Grbavac got involved in a second period fight that had both teams applauding their efforts. These two traded punches in arguably the best fight I've seen this season. Astles is making a name for himself in the physical department and showed many that he will be a force in his 18/19 year-old season. Could he best the toughest player in his age group? JC Lipon of the Kamloops Blazers may have something to say about that.
  
• Three things stood out for me in Wednesday's win. The Rockets were shooting the puck more. The physical aspect of their game was much improved and the defenceman picked better spots when joining the rush. It all added up to two points on the road.
  
• Frankly I thought the Rockets were the better team after regulation time and deserved the two points prior to the shootout. It was the Tigers that should have been satisfied with the single point. That's just my opinion.
  
• Shane McColgan scored his 20th goal of the season snapping a goal scoring drought which reached ten games.
• Fifteen year-old Jesse Lees received a few shifts playing alongside MacKenzie Johnston. Like any new player to the WHL, it will take time for Lees to get up to speed with the intensity level necessary to play at this level.
  
• It was nice to run into Tigers GM Brad McEwan prior to game time. McEwan and I go way back to our time in Swift Current. We rode many a bus and did many post game shows along the way when McEwan was the assistant coach to Todd McLellan and I was the wide-eyed radio broadcaster of the Swift Current Broncos.
• Below, a video of Adam Brown picking up the games first star honour. Unfortunately he was called 'Alex Brown' when he was introduced.