- Fortunately Adam Brown was on his game last night against the Seattle Thunderbirds. Had the 20 year-old Kelowna Rockets goaltender followed the lead of his teammates, they would have been in a heap of trouble. Brown was sharp, making 12 saves in the first period, in a 2-1 shootout loss to the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. Brown made several solid stops as the home team was fortunate to escape with at least a point.
- Colton Heffley opened the scoring in the first period despite the T-Birds carrying the majority of the play. The 17 year-old returned to the line up after missing 10 games with an upper body injury. It is interesting to note that Heffley has scored goals in back-to-back games though. The Swift Current resident scored January 4th against Spokane, the game in which he was hurt, and then returned last night and fired home his fourth of the season.
- T-Birds goaltender Calvin Pickard had a relatively easy night. A breakaway stop against Colton Sissons and a nice right pad save in the third period on Colton Heffley were his best efforts. In the shootout, Pickard shut down Zach Franko and Myles Bell.
- Speaking of Franko, it was his first miss in the shootout in eight attempts. Franko went stick side against Pickard, who appeared to be leaning that direction before the 18 year-old picked up the puck at centre ice. I was wondering if Franko would go for that move considering Pickard is a student of the game and would have likely seen Franko on video preform that move/shot time and time again.
- I was really impressed with the play of Branden Troock. I thought the 17 year-old had some really good scoring chances and brought a solid work ethic to the ice. Troock is a replacement for the CHL Top Prospect game in Kelowna next week.
- The T-Birds dominated at the face-off circle. It was not a good night for the Rockets face-off men.
- Unlike what we saw Wednesday, no real big hits in this game. It was a tame affair by comparison with no hatred among the two teams. The T-Birds couldn't have wished for a better scenario as they kicked off a weekend playing three games in three nights. The T-Birds host Portland tonight before welcoming the Rockets on Sunday (5 PM).
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Seattle 2 Adam Brown 1 (SO)
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5 comments:
Skepticism confirmed.
Jared, you're a perfect example of someone who picks on the team when they're down, and claims to be the team's biggest fan when they're successful. Pickard is a hell of a goaltender. If we had beat him in the shoot-out and won that game you would have likely still found something to complain about.
Like I said with my last comment:
"If you believe this team won't make it out of the first round, please do the rest of us a favour and don't bother purchasing playoff tickets."
No Jared rarely picks on the team. He stands up for them more than most. In this case he is right, this just isn't "the team" we thought it would be and as a fan I also am disappointed or maybe dumbfounded ?
4-3 win over Seattle tonight. Three out of four possible points against Seattle, and we're starting to close the gap on the Giants.
This team sure is bad. /sarcasm
Stolz, you are correct, I likely would have, but it's not because I am a fair weather fan. It is because I have seen 9 different variations of the Kelowna Rockets and this one has the makings of being a top 5, but as it stands, the lack of cohesion and teamwork is astonishing. For this team to be able to have an effort like they did against the Giants and the Blazers, then to come out and lose to Seattle in a shootout..............I don't know what else to say. 4 points against top teams in the conference, and 0 points against two of the worst in the league.
If you are able to give me a good valid reasoning for this team to play to the level of their opponent and only to that level on any given night, I might change my tune. But until this team becomes more consistant and can prove they can win against EVERYONE on any given night, I won't be as skeptical about the 2011-2012 edition of the Kelowna Rockets.
I love this team, and stand by them year in and year out, hell, I stand by them today. We are one of the youngest, if not THE youngest roster in the WHL, but that is no excuse for the inconsistancy displayed to this point in the year.
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