Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Rockets game notes vs. Americans

Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets face the Tri City Americans for the third time this season. The Rockets are 1-1-0-0 after beating the Americans 4-3 back on October 5th before suffering a 5-2 loss in Tri City two nights later. The two teams close out the seasonal series December 29th at the Toyota Center. The Rockets enter tonight’s game having won four of their last five games with the only blemish being a 4-0 loss last Friday to the Kootenay Ice. In the big picture the Rockets have points in six of their last seven games (4-1-1-1). This is the fourth game of 7 straight on home ice. The Victoria Royals make a return visit this Friday before Prince George comes to town Saturday. The Lethbridge Hurricanes are at Prospera Place one week from tonight before the Rockets play 13 of the next 16 games on the road.

Brown’s Record Breaker: Twenty year-old Adam Brown set a new Kelowna/Tacoma franchise record Saturday night for games played by a goalie. Brown played in his 168th career game, setting the franchise record held by Kevin Swanson (1998-2001). Brown set a new franchise record in Prince George earlier this month for minutes played by a Rockets goalie. Brown now has played 9,510 minutes, 201 minutes more than Swanson (9309). Brown already is the franchise leader in wins with 94.

Who’s Hot: Brett Bulmer has fifteen points in ten games (6+9=15) and registered his first career hat trick Saturday against Victoria…Shane McColgan has seven assists in his last five games but has not scored a goal in seven games. Last season the Rockets leading scorer went without a goal for 10 games (twice). Carter Rigby has three goals in his last five games…Adam Brown has started in goal in twenty of the first twenty-five games…Colton Sissons has six goals in his last eight games and is four shy of the 17 he scored in 63 games last season. Zach Franko has four points (1+3=4) in his last five games.

This and That: Brett Bulmer was named to the training camp roster by Hockey Canada for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Champions. Bulmer will attend training camp in early December. Ryan Huska is an assistant coach on Team Canada while Jeff Thorburn is an athletic therapist….The Rockets have sent 11 players to represent Canada at the WJHC…The Rockets 6-5 win over Victoria Saturday night marked the first time this season in eight games where they surrendered five goals and won. The Rockets are 1-6-0-1 when giving up five or more goals…The Rockets have given up five or more goals in eight games this season. Last season they gave up five or more goals in ten games…NHL Central Scouting has rated captain Colton Sissons as the 6th top skater available from the WHL for the 2012 draft….Jesse Lees and Tyson Baillie have been named to Team Pacific for the Under 17 World Hockey Challenge next month in Windsor, Ontario…Madison Bowey has been named to the roster for Team West for the Under 17 World Hockey Challenge…The Rockets have been involved in twelve-one goal games this season. The Rockets are 6-3-1-2 in those twelve games… The Rockets have been out-shot in nine of their last thirteen games….The Rockets are playing their 1466th regular season game tonight and will hit the 15 hundred mark when they host Red Deer on February 18th…Ryan Huska has 168 wins behind the Rockets bench…The Rockets have scored a power play goal in thirteen of their last seventeen games….Mitchell Chapman has one more point (7) than the six he collected all of last season…Damon Severson has two more points (19) than the 17 he registered in his rookie campaign….The Rockets have beaten just two American based teams this year (Everett 5-4 SOW), (Tri City 4-3 W).

Milestone Makers:

Shane McColgan has 165 career points in 166 career games.

Kevin Smith played in his 250th career WHL game last Wednesday against Prince George.

Mitchell Chapman played in his 125th WHL game November 5th.

Brett Bulmer hit the 100 point mark for his career last Wednesday. Bulmer now has 104 career points.

Man Games Lost to Injury:

Carter Rigby: 7 games missed Madison Bowey: 9 games missed

Jason Siebert: 25 games missed Max Adolph: 25 games missed

Kevin Smith: 12 games missed Jessey Astles: 9 games missed

Tyrell Goulbourne: 3 games missed Jesse Lees: 15 games missed

Spencer Main: 13 games missed Filip Vasko – 1 game served for suspension

Myles Bell – 4 games missed Cody Chikie: 1 game missed

Total: 122 man games lost

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