Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Game notes vs. Tigers


Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets open a Central Division road trip tonight with a stop in Medicine Hat to face the Tigers. This is the first of two meetings against the Tigers this season. The Rockets make a return visit December 14th. The Rockets made one visit to the ‘Arena’ last season (Feb 25/12) and suffered a 4-3 shootout loss. Brett Bulmer scored twice and Myles Bell added a single goal while Adam Brown made 36 saves. The Rockets last win in Medicine Hat came February 23/2011 in a 3-2 shootout win. Colton Sissons scored the game winner. Following tonight’s game, the Rockets are in Red Deer Friday, Edmonton Saturday before concluding the road trip Sunday afternoon in Calgary against the Hitmen. Overall, the Rockets have won five of their last eight games and are coming off a 4-2 win over Brandon Saturday night. The Rockets next home game is November 1st against the visiting Kamloops Blazers.

This and That: In the Rockets 6 wins this season, Myles Bell has earned 15 points (6+9=15). Of the 29 goals scored by the team in those six wins, Bell has been in on 15 of them….Bell has 8+11=19 after 12 games this season. Last season after 12 games, Bell had 4+7=11….Colton Sissons is a +8 in the month of October. The Rockets captain has 6+6=12 in October after going scoreless in four games in September. Sissons leads the Rockets in +/- with a +9…Ryan Olsen is serving game three of a three game suspension for a high hit against Victoria last Saturday. Olsen leads the team in power play goals with three. Last season Colton Sissons led the team in power play goals with 13…Dylen McKinlay has a six game point streak. McKinlay has 3+6=9 in his last six games…Myles Bell has 7+15=17 in his last nine games….Colton Sissons and McKinlay have the longest point streaks of any Rockets player this season (6)…The Rockets are 6-5-0-1 after twelve games this season. They were 4-7-0-1 after twelve games last season…The Rockets were involved in a whopping 37-one goal games last season…In November the team plays eight of 11 games on home ice…Dylen McKinlay has four multiple point games this season and has thirteen points in his last nine games (4+9=13)…Tyrell Goulbourne, J.T Barnett and rookie Austin Glover are the only three skaters that have failed to find the score sheet this season…The Rockets have scored 24 goals in their last six games. Bell (4), Sissons, McKinlay and Chartier (3 each), Franko and Severson  (2 each) and Lees, Heffley, Baillie and Nyberg (1 each) lead the way…Colton Heffley’s goal Saturday was his first in 32 games…The Rockets acquired forward Cody Fowlie off waivers Monday. Fowlie played last season with the Everett Silvertips, racking up 40 points. The soon to be 20 year-old (turns 20 on Nov 5th) scored once, added an assist and collecting a fight for the Gordie Howe Hattrick the last time he played in Medicine Hat as a member of the Silvertips.             

Rockets Prospects Recognized: Two prospects with the Kelowna Rockets will participate in the upcoming Western Canada U-16 Challenge Cup. Nick Merkley will play for Team Alberta while Joe Gatenby will suit up for Team BC. Merkley was the Rockets 1st round pick in the 2012 WHL bantam draft while Gatenby was taken in the second round. The U-16 Challenge Cup takes place Nov 1st to 4th in Calgary.   

Milestone Makers:
Zach Franko played in his 150th career game October 5/12 in Prince George.
Dylen McKinlay played in his 250th career WHL regular season game September 22/2012
Ryan Olsen is five games shy of 150 for his career. This is game #146 tonight.
Myles Bell played in his 200th career WHL game last Thursday against Prince George.
J.T Barnett has scored 46 career WHL goals.
Colton Sissons has 97 career points.

Three Stars       1st      2nd        3rd   
Jordon Cooke:   3                     1    
Colton Sissons: 1         1
Madison Bowey:                       1
Zach Franko:               1            1           
Myles Bell:         1        2           1
Rourke Chartier:                        1      
Dylen McKinlay            1           1
Damon Severson                      1


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