Saturday, March 8, 2014

Rockets game notes vs. Americans



 Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets have won ten of their last twelve games heading into a date with the Tri City Americans tonight at Prospera Place. This is fourth and final meeting of the season between the two teams’. The Rockets are 3-0-0-0 having out-scored the U.S Division rivals 13-5. These two teams could meet in the opening round of the playoffs. They last met in 2009 in round two with the Rockets winning in six games. These two teams also met in 2004 with the Rockets again eliminating the Americans in six games. With five games left in the regular season, the team faces Tri City tonight, host Victoria Tuesday, are in Kamloops Wednesday before closing out the regular season with a home and home series with the Vancouver Giants this weekend. The Rockets are coming off a 3-1 win over the Spokane Chiefs Wednesday night for their 53rd win of the season.

Oh, What a Night: The Kelowna Rockets set a new franchise record for wins (53) and points (110) in a season following a 3-1 victory Wednesday night over the Spokane Chiefs. The 53 wins break the old mark of 52 set just last season. The 110 points also snaps the old mark of 109 set by the 2002-2003 club. Here is a list of the top team records over the years.
2013-2014: 53 wins
2012-2013: 52 wins
2002-2003: 51 wins
2008-2009: 47 wins
2003-2004: 47 wins

Who’s Hot: Nick Merkley has points in nine of his last ten games. Merkley has 8+5=13 over that period. Marek Tvrdon has 15 points in his last thirteen games (6+9=15). Damon Severson has points in twelve of his last 16 games…Myles Bell has points in 7 of his last 9 games. The 20 year-old has 3+5=8 over that period….The Rockets are 46-5-0-4 in their last 55 home games dating back to last season. Rourke Chartier has 2+5=7 in his last seven games…Chartier has 30 points in his last 31 games.

Better than before: Several players are enjoying career seasons. Madison Bowey has 24 more points than he had last season. Bowey has 5 more goals and 19 more assists…Damon Severson has 58 points, 6 more than a season prior. Severson has 14+44=58…Rourke Chartier has 21 more points than a year ago. Chartier has scored 8 more goals and 13 more points than in 2012-2013…Tyrell Goulbourne has 8 more points than last season including two more goals. Surprisingly the 19 year-old has 33 fewer penalty minutes.      

This and That: For the first time in franchise history the Kelowna Rockets are enjoying back-to-back 50 wins seasons….With two road games left in the regular season the hockey club can tie the WHL record for road wins if they win their remaining two games. The Rockets have 27 road wins while the league record is 29 wins on opposition ice.    …Myles Bell became the first player since Geordie Wudrick to score 40 or more goals in a season. Wudrick had 43 in 2010-2011….The Rockets have six more wins on the road than the 21 they had all of last season…Of Myles Bell’s 41 goals this season, 22 have been scored on the road with 19 coming on home ice…The Rockets are 9-6-0-0 in their last 15 road games…The Rockets are 8-1-0-2 in their last 11 home games and have won six straight…The Rockets are 20-5-0-2 since the WHL trade deadline.…The Rockets have been involved in 10-one goal games on home ice this season…Cole Martin is +103 over the last two seasons…The Rockets have 5 games left in the regular season. Three are on home ice with two on the road…The Rockets have scored six or more goals eleven times on home ice this season… The Rockets are 17-4-0-0 in the second game when facing back-to-back scenarios this season….The team has been rated as the best team in the CHL according to the Top 10 junior rankings for a 10th consecutive week….After losing two of his first three games, Jackson Whistle has won fifteen of his last seventeen games…The Rockets have played in 9 shootout games this season and are 5 and 4. Four of the five shootout wins have come on the road in Tri City, Victoria, Prince George and Seattle…Jordon Cooke is 44-6-0-3 at home in last 53 starts at home dating back to last season…The Rockets have scored 4 or more goals in 24 of their 34 road games this season…In 8 of the Rockets 10 regulation losses this season, leading scorer Myles Bell has failed to score…Bell is tied for the league lead in game winning goals with 9….Bell has just 23 power play points. That translates into 51 of his points coming even strength…Bell has points in 13 of his last 17 games…Two birthdays in March. Cole Martin will turn 20 on March 15th. Ryan Olsen will turn 20 on March 25th..          

No comments: