Road thoughts

A good day of travel as we arrived at the Toyota Centre in preparation for tomorrow night's game against the Americans. With 23 players and staff on board, the mood was light on an off day as the team enjoyed a few movies and watched the end of the Leafs-Canadiens game on the buses satellite system. The game featured Rockets alumnus Josh Gorges against Luke Schenn.

The Rockets need a much improved effort if they hope to extend their winning streak to four games tomorrow night. After capitalizing on several scoring chances in the second period of Wednesday's 4-3 win, that will have to translate into a better all around game, which includes a much stronger third period.

While the Americans scored twice in the third period and dominated play, shot blocking by the Rockets was one of the keys in the one goal win. While the pressure was clearly on the Rockets in the dying seconds, Adam Brown wasn't called upon to make any dramatic saves because his teammates did a good job of getting into shooting lanes.

The defensive core needs a bounce back game tomorrow night. Far to many giveaways and overall soft plays resulted in glorious scoring chances for the Americans. You can't eliminate mistakes against an aggressive team like Tri City, but you can limit them and make them earn every chance they get.

The power play clearly has to be better. It gave up far too many quality chances as the defenceman made poor reads or coughed up the puck. Quick passing and shots from the point are the mantra of the Rockets successful power play. It has to re-emerge tomorrow night.

Donald Trump has bad hair. That statement was as obvious as Adam Brown's first star performance Wednesday night. While clearly the best Rockets player, the media, yes you know who you are, turned a blind eye to his effort and didn't give him the love he strongly deserved. Brown doesn't care, but I do.

For the record, did you know the Rockets are the only team in the WHL without a loss? Ya, it's early, but still an interesting fact none-the-less.