Back to back beauties

Shoot the Breeze Photography - Jake Morrissey

• Tyson Baillie, welcome to the club! The 19 year-old forward reached the 200 point plateau with two goals and two assists last night leading the Kelowna Rockets to a 6-0 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors. Baillie now has 92 goals and 202 career point after his first star performance. Baillie became the highest scoring third round bantam pick in Kelowna Rockets franchise history. That's right, 52 players were taken before him in the 2010 draft before director of player personnel Lorne Frey called his name at number 53. Baillie now has 34 goals this season. The last time he scored that many was when he was playing bantam for the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers when he found the back of the net 46 times in 2009-2010.
• Rookie Jake Morrissey earned his first career shutout with a solid 28 save performance. Morrissey didn't have an easy night. The 17 year-old had to be sharp, specifically when Warriors forward Brayden Point was on the ice. Morrissey was also aided by a puck that rang off the goal post, but the hockey gods look favorably on a player who is giving it his all. It has been a memorable season for Morrissey. Despite only ten appearances, the Calgary resident has a shutout, a regulation win, a shootout win, a shootout loss and a fight.     
• Leon Draisaitl had a four point effort with two goals and two assists. The 19 year-old assisted on Baillie's second goal of the game and opened the scoring. Draisaitl, who is worth his weight in gold, has eight points in his last five games.  
• A solid weekend for the Rockets, who allowed just three goals in two games against and scored 13 goals at the other end of the ice.
• Nick Merkley has the exactly same number of points (77) as Rockets leading point producer Myles Bell had all of last season. Merkley still has 15 games to play.     
• The Warriors play an uptempo game and their forwards play with good pace. While they often put all their eggs in one basket by playing their top forwards together, they just give up too much at the other end of the ice. It makes you wonder if they tapered off their exuberance in the offensive zone and concentrated more on defense, would the outcome not be better? Last night was a bad example of how dynamic they are up front, but it looks like they can score with the best of them. They just can't defend very well.      
• How good has Riley Stadel  been as a forward? Wow. I think they need to keep him up there. He works his tail off and isn't timid. He gets on the fore-check and battles. I think he has good offensive instincts and is able to use them to a greater degree as a forward. He can play with more confidence knowing full well that he has back up if things go wrong. As a defenceman, one ill advised pass can end up in the back of his own net.  Stadel can play a more free-wheeling game as a forward and it plays more to his strengths. That's my two cents. 
• Up next is a date with Kamloops on Wednesday to conclude a three game home stand. Then it is off to Victoria for back-to-back games on the Island.