Getting Whipped in the Wack

The Kelowna Rockets showed pure-raw emotion last night in a 4th place playoff battle against the Chilliwack Bruins.


One problem though!

It came with the Bruins holding a 5-0 lead with 7 minutes left in regulation time.

The Rockets got involved in two fights in the third, including one that saw James McEwan handle Matt McCue.
McCue got in some early punches, but McEwan waited like a veteran fighter should and landed some significant blows that cut McCue and sent him bleeding as he headed to the Bruins dressing room.

Why didn’t we see that in the first period from the Rockets when the game was on the line, not out of reach?

Up until those fight’s, not much distaste was shown by the Rockets for the Bruins in what should by now be a divisional foe.
Yet the Rockets played with little urgency in an important game which saw them fall into the basement of the B.C division, two points back of the Bruins with 10 games to play.

The Rockets came out in the early stages of the game trying to take the physical play to the Bruins, which seemed to be a good game plan.
But those efforts came from a select few.
Luke Schenn had a nice hit 3 minutes in, but it fell off dramatically after that.

The no-hit approach the Rockets implemented the rest of the way played into the hands of the Bruins, who simply don’t like to play that type of game from the get-go.
The result of a lack of contact was a late first period power play goal followed by an Oscar Moller marker midway through the second period followed by a painful five goal explosion in the third to make it 7-0, which meant ‘lights out’ for the Rockets.

David Schulz would score late in the game to make it a 7-1 final.

The result - the effort – disappointing!

I could go further, but it’s best to leave it at that.

Regan’s Ramblings:

I was shocked that last night’s game wasn’t a sell-out. The Bruins are in their first year in Chilliwack, so interest should be high.
But the fact that the Bruins are wrestling with the Rockets for the 4th and final playoff spot should have been reason enough to sell-out Prospera Centre.

David Michaud and I had the pleasure of having Rockets General Manager Bruce Hamilton sitting directly beside us at last night’s game.
The antics were interesting to say the least.
Hamilton was fuming after several Rockets miscues over the course of the game, and openly vented his displeasure over the work ethic of several players.
We won’t name names!
Hamilton wants to win badly, and if some of his players had the same type of fire as the G.M, they’d likely be better off.

Justin Bernhardt played the first period of last night’s game before taking off his gear because of an infected foot.
Bernhardt is taking antibiotics to get rid of the infection on the top of his ankle.
Will he play tonight is anyone’s guess?

Tyson Barrie played his 4th and likely final game this season with the Kelowna Rockets Saturday night.
Barrie is headed back to Victoria to continue his playoffs with his midget team.
The scary thing was the 15 year-old and new-comer Collin Bowman could have been the Rockets two best d-men last night.

I ran into Dale Cory last night.
Dale who?
Dale Cory was a prominent media man at Swift Current radio station Magic 94 FM when I was in my early teens.
Cory was the sports director at that local radio station, before moving to the big city of Regina where he did sports on CKTV.
Cory was not only a familiar on-air personality, but he was my ball coach at one time in Swift Current.
Now he’s a sports writer in Chillwack.

I promised in an earlier blog that we would have an interview with Director of Hockey Operations for the Western Hockey League Richard Doerksen during the pre-game show last night.
Things change, as David and I spoke candidly instead with Rockets G.M Bruce Hamilton on ‘W.H.L Primetime’.

If you missed the conversation, Bruce voiced his displeasure over his 4-16 year-olds playing at the Canada Winter Games.
Hamilton says the four players would get more exposure playing in the W.H.L, rather than missing 6 games to play at the tournament where the respective provinces are represented by the best 16 year-olds in the country.


“They (Hockey Canada) claim it’s for exposure, but they (players) get more exposure playing in our league. All of those guys have had a long year already and it’s been a tough adjustment for these young players to compete at this level, and now they have to go way up there for basically two weeks.”

Hamilton says that tournament should be for 15 year-old players, not 16 year-olds involved in the Western Hockey League.

Bruce also spoke to us about a lack of Europeans on his team’s roster this season.
Hamilton will be attending the World Under 18 Championships in April.
Last time Hamilton was overseas, he grabbed a player by the name of Tomas Slovak.
Hamilton assured us that the euros he picks in this summers C.H.L draft will be older players. He says his team is far too young to add two imports to the roster next season that are 17 or 18 year olds.
In case you’re wondering the Rockets are the only team in the W.H.L without an import this season.
The interview with Richard Doerksen will be played tonight during the pre-game show at 4:30, just prior to the start of the Rockets-T-Birds game.

Captain Chris Ray could play Wednesday against Vancouver.
Ray won’t play tonight against Seattle meaning he will have missed 4 games with a badly bruised shoulder.

It will be interesting to see how Torrie Jung reacts to the 7 goals he gave up in last night’s loss.
Jung can’t be faulted for all of them, and it will be interesting to see how he handles it mentally, as he regroups to face the Seattle Thunder Birds tonight.