Rockets game notes vs. Hawks

Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets face the Portland Winterhawks in game three of a best of seven Western Conference Quarter Final Series. The Hawks have a 2-0 lead after a 6-3 win in game one and a 4-0 victory in game two. Game three and four in the series are tonight and Thursday in Kelowna with game five Saturday in Portland. These two teams are meeting for the second straight post season after a six game series (Hawks 4 Rockets 2) in round two a year ago. These two teams were separated by 30 points in the regular season standings with the Rockets going 0-3-0-1 against Portland. The Hawks out-scored the Rockets 15-9 in the four regular season games, but two of the four were decided by a single goal.

Game Two Recap: Mac Carruth made 20 saves in a 4-0 shutout over the Kelowna Rockets. Sven Bartschi collected three assists and now has five helpers in two games. Brad Ross, Troy Rutkowski, Ty Rattie and Tyler Wotherspoon scored for the Hawks. Adam Brown made 35 saves in the loss. The Rockets were 0 for 5 on the power play and surrendered a shorthanded goal.   

Game One Recap: Zach Franko scored once and added an assist as the Rockets fell 6-3 to the Portland Winterhawks. Cody Chikie and Colton Sissons also scored while Brett Bulmer added two assists. The Rockets held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes and trailed 3-2 after two periods before the Hawks scored three-third period goals in the win. The Rockets and Hawks were both 1 for 4 on the power play. Portland out-shot Kelowna 55-29.   

Playoff Performers: The Rockets have 252 games of WHL playoff experience. Spencer Main leads the Rockets in playoff experience with 34 games. Shane McColgan leads the way in points with 9+15=24 in 28 career playoff games. McColgan had 20 points (8+11=19) in ten playoff games last season. Brett Bulmer (24) Jesse Astles (23) and Brett Lyon (22) round out the top five in terms of playoff experience.   

Who’s Hot: Shane McColgan had his eleven game playoff point streak snapped Saturday night. McColgan had a point in every playoff game last season…Brett Bulmer has twelve goals in his last fifteen games…Zach Franko has 2+4=6 in his last five games (regular season included)…Myles Bell has six points (2+4=6) in his last eight games (regular season included).   

This and That: The Rockets are 5 and 4 in their last nine game 3’s dating back to the 2008 playoffs…The Rockets lost the first two road games of a playoff series against Everett (2010) before winning the next two games on home ice. In that series, the home team won six of the seven games…The Rockets were shut out Saturday night in game two. Prior to that, the Rockets suffered a 4-0 loss in game five against Everett on March 26/2010….The Rockets gave up six goals in game one. The Rockets also gave up 6 goals in a game two loss to the Hawks in last year’s second round playoff series. Ryan Johansen had three goals in the win on that night…..MacKenzie Johnston’s assist in game one was his first career playoff point in 11 career games…. These two teams have met twice in the second round of the playoffs. In 1994, the Hawks eliminated the Tacoma Rockets in four straight games. Last season the Hawks eliminated the Kelowna Rockets in six games…Seven members of the Rockets made their WHL playoff debuts against Portland Friday night including veteran d-man Myles Bell. Bell has played 189 career games but had never experienced a playoff games after three seasons with the playoff-less Regina Pats….Brett Bulmer has 7+8=15 in 25 career playoff games. Bulmer had three goals in last season’s second round series against the Hawks…The Rockets were 4 and 1 in five playoff road games last season. The only loss was in game two of a second round playoff series in Portland….Rockets head coach Ryan Huska is coaching in his 66^th career playoff game…Zach Franko became the first player since Justin Keller (2004-2005,2005-2006) to play in all 72 regular season games. Franko has played in 144 consecutive regular season games…The Rockets won over 30 games (31) this season. Since moving to Kelowna for the start of the 1995-96 campaign, the Rockets have registered 30+ wins 14 times over 17 seasons….When Brett Bulmer scores the Rockets are 14-3-2-3. In other words, the team has lost only three times in regulation when Bulmer lights the lamp…Since the Christmas break the Rockets are 10-7-2-2 in 21 road games….This season the Rockets were involved in a league high fifteen games that required a shootout. The Rockets were 9 and 6 in those fifteen shootout situations…Tyrell Goulbourne led the team with 17 fighting majors. Mitchell Chapman had eleven….The Rockets were involved in 37-one goal games this season. The Rockets were 18-9-4-6 in those thirty-seven games.