It's a boy!

Congratulations to Ryan and Denise Huska.
The two are proud parents of a bouncing baby boy.
Luke Huska was born last night at Kelowna General Hospital weighing in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces. Luke Huska is eligible for the Western Hockey League bantam draft in 2025.

Wudrick going to Coyote Country

Kelowna Rockets forward Geordie Wudrick failed to sign a NHL contract with the LA Kings on June 1st, but he is now moving on to another team in the hope of making a positive impression.

Wudrick has been given a tryout with the Phoenix Coyotes.
Wudrick will attend training camp with fellow teammate Evan Bloodoff this fall.

Wudrick was acquired from the Swift Current Broncos last season, scoring 28 goals in 50 games in a Rockets uniform (regular season/playoffs combined). Wudrick led the Rockets in playoff goal scoring with nine goals.

Date for Duncan Keith bringing Stanley Cup announced

Duncan Keith will be bringing the Stanley Cup with him to the Okanagan on Saturday July 17th.
The Chicago Blackhawks defenseman will be honoured by the city of Penticton at a ceremony beginning at noon at the South Okanagan Events Centre...and yes the holy grail of hockey will be with him.
The public will be invited to honour Keith, who this past season won the cup, an Olympic gold medal and the Norris trophy.

Cody Chikie Update

Cody Chikie should be even better than he was in his rookie season when he opens his sophomore campaign with the Kelowna Rockets in 2010-2011.
Chikie tells me he is skating at Eric Morissette's Paragon Hockey Camp once a week.
Morissette has trained players like Fernando Pisani, Kyle Brodziak, Jason Strudwick and Tyler Spurgeon.
Chikie also tells me he is working out at Athletes Nation Sports Performance Centre twice a day seven days a week.
Outside of extensive training, Chikie is enjoying a new boat his family bought this summer and is using it at a lake just outside St. Albert.
Chikie had the 6th most goals on the Rockets roster last season, scoring 18 times in 58 games.

McMillan headed to Anaheim

Kelowna Rockets forward Brandon McMillan is off to Anaheim next week.
McMillan is one of 31 prospects taking part in the Anaheim Ducks conditioning camp July 5th to the 11th.

Kelowna resident Curtis Hamilton ( Saskatoon Blades) will attend similar camp in Edmonton a day later.

Huska getting older/Jobke graduates

• Happy birthday to Rockets head coach Ryan Huska. Huska was born July 2, 1975. That would make Huska 35 years-old today.


• Rockets forward Mitchell Callahan tells me he is skating twice a week these days. Callahan, who signed a contract with the Detroit Redwings in May, has also been hanging out with teammate Adam Brown. I guess it only makes sense considering Brown lives in Yorba Linda, California while Callahan is 30 minutes away in Whittier, California.


• It's not often I make contact with a former Rockets player still playing in the league, but Curt Gogol sent me a message the other day. Gogol was passed over in this summers NHL draft, but considering he was injured and traded all in the same season, scouts thought they would pass on the gritty forward. Lets hope Gogol can get a tryout with some NHL team this fall and show what he can do when he laces it up with the pro's. There appears to be interest from several teams to bring him into camp as a free agent.


• Here's an update on defenseman Colton Jobke. Jobke is enjoying his summer like never before. Why? Jobke has just graduated from high school. Jobke has been busy skating twice and week and training six days a week. I found it interesting that following the hockey season he spent a couple of months detailing boats that would then be shipped down to California where they would be auctioned off.

Happy Canada Day

Things that make me go hmm...

• First off, happy birthday to Rockets general manager Bruce Hamilton. Hamilton was born June 30, 1957. That makes him 53 today.
• Not much has been made of it, but the Rockets home opener this season is starting about a week later than last season. The reason? It likely had to do with the lack of marquee players that were made available to the WHL when the season started as NHL teams were in no rush to send them back to their junior teams. In Tyler Myers case, they kept him for an entire 82 games.
• I was interested to see where Luke Moffatt would end up at the NHL draft. The fact that he was selected in the 7th and final round came as a bit of a surprise. Would he have fared better in the draft had he played with the Rockets this past season? I can guarantee you he would have been put into every crucial station on a Rockets team that was re-tooling following a WHL championship season a year earlier. I can understand why Moffatt didn't want to play in Kelowna as a 16 year-old, especially with a stacked team where he would have played second fiddle. But in his draft year, as a 17 year-old rookie, he could have been one of the leaders of the band, much like Shane McColgan. Now NHL scouts have touted McColgan as a possible first round pick in the 2011 draft.
• You have to applaud Kootenay Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth for taking a firm stance by elected not to draft a player at the CHL import draft. Chynoweth wasn't willing to bring in a European born player for the sake of filling an import spot. The gm obviously feels he has enough depth with his North American kids not to make a selection for the sake of making a selection. Why bring in a European born player that is costing you a ton of money when a North American kid can provide you with the same skill level? Or why not bring in a young prospect that you can develop within your team so he can be a major contributor when he's 18 and 19? Good thinking on Chynoweth's behalf.
• What's the future of former Kelowna Rockets forward Stepan Novotny? Novotny was anticipating returning to the Swift Current Broncos as a 20-year-old this season, but the Broncos made two selections in the import draft. If they can get both kids to come to North America, is Novotny's (who fills two spots as an overager and euro) WHL career over?
• Talk about not using a valuable resource. The Prince George Citizen newspaper has arguably one of the top junior hockey writers in Western Canada and what is he doing? He sure isn't writing articles and covering the Cougars and the Western Hockey League like he used too. Jim Swanson is doing behind the scenes work these days, and frankly its a shame. When a local newspaper like the Prince George Citizen doesn't realize the valuable asset they've got and don't use it appropriately, they get what they deserve.
• Who's going to be the new play-by-play caller for the Vancouver Giants? Morley Scott vacated the spot to become the play-by-play voice of the Edmonton Eskimos. Obviously filling that position is extremely low on the Giants priority list. It may come on the list below purchasing new water bottles for the 2010-2011 season.
• I suggested that it would be neat to see the Rockets organization celebrate their 20th season in the WHL this year by bring back the logo used by the Tacoma Rockets in the first four years of their existence. I wouldn't want to see that logo on the front of the jersey, but wouldn't it be cool if a shoulder patch with the retro logo was part of the new jersey?
• A special person in my life is pretty pleased that Taylor Hall was selected first overall in last Friday's NHL draft. My niece Taylor, who lives in Kelowna, is a huge fan of the newest member of the Edmonton Oilers. Why? Because her name too is Taylor Hall. In fact at the 2009 Memorial Cup I asked Taylor Hall if he could say hi to my niece back in Kelowna. Being the class act Hall is, he said in an interview, "Hi this is Taylor Hall of the Windsor Spitfires and I want to say a special hello to Taylor Hall in Kelowna". Small potatoes right? Not in the eyes of a eleven year-old grade five student.
• I made contact with Tyler Matheson last week. The 20 year-old tells me he is playing lacrosse this summer and is trimming down. It was nice to hear from the personable Matheson, who doesn't take for granted the opportunity he has been given to play at the major junior level.

Rockets make one more euro pick

The Kelowna Rockets have selected Slovenian native Gal Koren with its second pick in the 2010 Canadian Hockey League import draft.
A 6-foot-1 191 pound centre/left wing, Koren had 41 points in 32 games for Jungadler Mannheim playing in Germany last season.
He has also played for the Slovenian Under-20, Under-18 and Under-17 national teams and was rated 69th on the international skaters ranking for the 2010 NHL draft.
The selection of Koren marks the second centre the Rockets selected in the import draft after choosing Andreas Stene of Norway earlier in the day and marks the end of the import draft for Kelowna.

Stene is newest Rocket

The Kelowna Rockets have chosen a Norwegian forward at the CHL's Import Draft.
They selected 19 year old Andreas Stene with the 25th pick in today's draft.
Stene tried out with the Chicago Blackhawks last year.
The 6'3, two-hundred pound Stene is expected to play with the Rockets this season.

Pulkkinen a good possibility

Rolling the dice at the Canadian Hockey League European draft table has worked out awfully well for the Kelowna Rockets over the years.
Last summer's 50th pick appears to be no exception.
Now that the Detroit Red Wings have selected Temmu Pulkkinen,you would think the Wings would be interested in having the prospect play on North American soil.
That would mean Pulkkinen would be wearing a Rockets jersey.
So if Pulkkinen fills one European spot, who fills the other?

The Rockets have the 25th overall pick in Tuesday's CHL euro draft.
Stay tuned.

Exactly 90 days and away we go again!

The Kelowna Rockets announced the date for their home opener to kick-off the 2010-2011 season. The Rockets open the campaign at home September 25th against the Prince George Cougars. That home opener against the Cougars will be the Rockets 20th in the Western Hockey League (four in Tacoma and 16 in Kelowna).
Is it time to introduce the 20th anniversary jersey with the old Tacoma Rockets logo incorporated into the new look?
The Rockets will play six exhibition games, including two each against Vancouver, Kamloops and Chilliwack.
Home games are set for September 4th, 11th and 18th.

Wow - Brett Bulmer

Brett Bulmer is a second round pick (39th overall) of the Minnesota Wild.
Good for him.
Coming into the draft Bulmer was projected to be a late 3rd rounder at best, but the Wild obviously like what they see from the Prince George resident.
I am pleasantly surprised at the early selection.
Congratulations Brett.
The last time a Rockets player was picked in the second round was in 2004 when Blake Comeau was selected by the Islanders, 47th overall.
Technically Bulmer was picked higher than Comeau (2004) and Shea Weber (2003). Weber was a second round pick of Nashville, 49th overall.
What makes this pick so impressive is Bulmer was selected before highly touted Seattle goaltender Calvin Pickard.

The Edmonton Oilers picked Kelowna resident Curtis Hamilton 9 spots later.