Friday, March 9, 2012

Rockets game notes vs. Royals

Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets open a three game home stand tonight when they welcome to the Victoria Royals. This is the eighth and final meeting of the season between the two teams, with the Rockets sporting a record of 3-3-1-0 in the first seven games. The two teams have each scored 26 goals in the seasonal series. The Rockets enter tonight’s game on a season equaling three game winning streak after wins over Kamloops (twice) and Spokane (3-2 in a shootout) Wednesday night. It marks the fifth time this season the team has won three straight games yet they have been unable to string four consecutive wins together. The Rockets have just six games left in the regular season with five of the final six on home ice. The Rockets have points in 20 of their last 27 road games (14-7-1-5). Following tonight’s game the Rockets host Prince George tomorrow night before Everett comes to town next Wednesday. The Rockets close out the regular season with a home and home series with the Vancouver Giants next weekend.

Seasonal Series Scoring vs. Royals:

Period: 1 2 3 OT SO Total

Rockets: 8 10 7 0 1 26

Royals: 4 12 9 1 0 26

*The Rockets have out-shot the Royals in four of the seven games in the seasonal series. The Rockets are 11 for 34 on the power play in the seven games (32.4%) while the Royals are 10 for 39 (26%) with the extra man. The Royals have opened the scoring in four of the seven games with Robin Soudek scoring three of those goals. Myles Bell has five goals against Victoria this season. Robin Soudek has seven goals against the Rockets.

Who’s Hot: The Rockets have a power play goal in ten of their last thirteen road games (16 for 46 or 35%)...Brett Bulmer has ten goals in his last eight games…Bulmer has eight more points (57) than the 49 he collected all of last season…Bulmer led the team with 12 points in February (9+3=12)… Cody Chikie has four goals in his last seven games. Chikie has played 196 career games. If healthy, the twenty year-old will hit 200 career games on the second last game of the regular season in Vancouver…Shane McColgan has 2+4=6 in his last seven games…Zach Franko has five points (2+3=5) in his last three games…Tyson Baillie has 1+7=8 in his last eleven games…Madison Bowey has six points in his last seven games (2+4=6).

This and That: The Rockets are looking for their 30th win of the season. Since moving to Kelowna for the start of the 1995-96 campaign, the Rockets have registered 30+ wins 13 times over 16 seasons….The Rockets are a combined 12-7-1-1 in 21 games against the four teams that trail them in the Western Conference standings. Those teams include Victoria, Everett, Seattle and Prince George…When Brett Bulmer scores the Rockets are 13-3-1-3. In other words, the team has lost only three times in regulation when Bulmer lights the lamp…Bulmer has nine (9) multiple goal games this season. Last year he had just three…The Rockets have one more loss than the 28 suffered last season….The Rockets have allowed 25 more goals than the 201 they gave up all of last season…Since the Christmas break the Rockets are 10-5-1-2 in 18 road games….Since the Christmas break the Rockets are 5-8-0-1 in 14 home games…In thirteen of the last 20 games, the Rockets have been involved in a one goal game…The Rockets have one (1) road game left and five (5) on home ice … Last season the Rockets played in six shootout games. This season the Rockets have been involved in a league high fourteen games that required a shootout. The Rockets are 8 and 6 in those fourteen shootout situations… The Rockets have three 20+ goal scorers this season. Colton Sissons (26) and Brett Bulmer (32) are joined by Carter Rigby (20). Last season the team had five 20+ goal scorers…Fourteen of Colton Sissons 26 goals have been scored on the road this season…Brett Lyon has 2+3=5 in twenty games with the Rockets since being acquired from Moose Jaw….Defenceman Myles Bell has 39 points this season. Twenty-seven of those points have been recorded on the road…In thirteen of their last twenty wins, the Rockets have given up two or less goals per game…The Rockets are 22-17-2-6 with Brett Bulmer in the line-up….Tyrell Goulbourne leads the team with 16 fighting majors. Mitchell Chapman has eleven….The Rockets have been involved in 35-one goal games this season. The Rockets are 17-9-3-6 in those thirty-five games….Birthdays in March. Zach Franko turns 19 today. Cole Martin turns 18 on March 15th. …Only Zach Franko has played in all 67 regular season games this season…The Rockets have been shut out three times this season. Calgary (2-0), Kootenay (4-0) and Seattle (2-0) have shut out the Rockets on home ice.

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