Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Game notes vs. T-Birds

Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets play their 57th game of the season tonight when they face the Seattle Thunderbirds. This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the two teams. The road team has won all three games in the seasonal series. The Rockets lone win came January 29th at the ShoWare Center in a 4-3 triumph. Following tonight’s game, the Rockets host Edmonton tomorrow night before welcoming Calgary Friday and Red Deer on Saturday. Eight days from tonight the Rockets are in Edmonton to begin a four game Alberta road trip. The Rockets have points in 15 of their last 20 road games (11-5-1-3). Overall, the Rockets are 10-6-1-1 in their last 18 games. Oddly enough, the Rockets have just two regulation wins (2-8-0-1 and two shootout wins) in their last 13 games at Prospera Place.

Who’s Hot: Adam Brown is 4-1-1-1 in his last seven starts….The Rockets have a power play goal in five of their last six road games (7 for 23 or 30.4%)...Shane McColgan has 3+7=10 in his last eight games.

This and That: Shane McColgan has 24 power play assists, one shy of league leader Kevin Sundher of the Brandon Wheat Kings…. Brett Lyon was suspended for six games after a high hit on Prince George forward Jarrett Fontaine in a 2-1 win February 3rd. Lyon has already been suspended twice for a similar hit. The 21 year-old has served four games of the six game suspension….In seven of their last nine games the Rockets have been involved in a one goal game…The Rockets have 8 road games remaining and 8 on home ice … Last season the Rockets played in six shootout games. This season the Rockets have been involved in a league high ten games that required a shootout. The Rockets are 6 and 4 in those ten shootout situations… The Rockets have two 20+ goal scorers this season. Colton Sissons (26) and Brett Bulmer (22) lead the charge. Last season the team had five 20+ goal scorers…Fourteen of Colton Sissons 26 goals have been scored on the road this season…Brett Lyon has 2+2=4 in eleven games with the Rockets….Defenceman Myles Bell has 29 points this season. Nineteen of those points have been recorded on the road…Four members of the Kelowna Rockets are rated in NHL Central Scouting's mid-term rankings. Captain Colton Sissons is ranked 14th among North American skaters for this summer’s draft. Teammate Damon Severson is rated 46th, rookie defenceman Cole Martin is ranked 146th and Colton Heffley (191) is also rated. …The Rockets were 3-5-0-2 in ten games with head coach Ryan Huska at the World Junior Hockey Championships…In twelve of their last fifteen wins, the Rockets have given up two or less goals per game…The Rockets are 17-13-2-4 with Brett Bulmer in the line-up….Tyrell Goulbourne leads the team with 14 fighting majors. Mitchell Chapman has nine….The Rockets are 1-9-1-1 when giving up five or more goals…Last season they gave up five or more goals in ten games…The Rockets have been involved in 29-one goal games this season. The Rockets are 14-8-3-4 in those twenty-nine games….The Rockets are playing their 1497th regular season game tonight and will hit the 15 hundred mark when they host Red Deer on February 18th…Birthdays in February. Carter Rigby turns 18 on February 20th while Spencer Main turns 20 on February 27th…Only Zach Franko and Colton Sissons have played in all 56 regular season games this season…The Rockets have been shut out three times this season. Calgary (2-0), Kootenay (4-0) and Seattle (2-0) have shut out the Rockets on home ice.