Tonight’s Preview: Happy
Valentine’s Day! There will likely be no love lost when the Kelowna Rockets
welcome the Prince George Cougars tonight to Prospera Place. The two teams are
on a collision course to meet in the first round of the WHL playoffs if two things
happen. The Rockets would have to remain in first place in the Western
Conference while the Cougars, who are five points out of the final playoff
spot, will have to leap frog over Tri City and into the 8th seed in
the Conference. These two teams haven’t seen one another since November 8th
when the Rockets earned a 5-2 win. The Rockets are 4-0-0-0 in the seasonal
series but two of the four games have been decided by a single goal. These two
teams will get to know each other very well over the next three weeks. The two
teams play each other four times in the next five games. The Rockets are in
Prince George for back-to-back games next weekend before a return visit to
Prospera Place on Tuesday February 25th. The Rockets have won two
straight after a 2-1 win in Spokane Wednesday night and a 7-3 victory over
Seattle on Monday. This is the teams 5th game in 8 nights.
Cook’n in the Kitchen:
Veteran
goaltender Jordon Cooke moved into sole possession of second place on the
Kelowna Rockets all-time wins list among goaltenders in a 2-1 victory Wednesday
night in Spokane. Cooke earned his 84th career win, moving past
Kelly Guard for second-all time in wins. Guard has 83 victories. The franchise
leader is Adam Brown, who amassed 107 wins over his four year career.
Rewriting the Record
Books: The
Kelowna Rockets tied a franchise record Wednesday night. The Rockets registered
their 24th road win of the season. That matches the win total of the
2003-2004 club, which also recorded 24 wins. The WHL record for road wins in a
season is 29 set by the Portland Winterhawks last season.
Who’s Hot: Damon
Severson has points in seven of his last eight games. Severson has 10 assists
over that period…The power play is 11 for 40 (27.5%) in its last eight games…Rourke Chartier has 7+9=16 in his last
16 games…Myles Bell has 17 goals in his last 19 games..The Rockets are 41-5-0-4
in their last 50 home games dating back to last season.
This and That: Myles
Bell is third in the WHL in goals with 38. That is 9 off league leader Mitch
Holmberg of the Spokane Chiefs….Bell is trying to become the first player since
Geordie Wudrick to score 40 or more goals in a season. Wudrick had 43 in
2010-2011….The Rockets have three more wins on the road than the 21 they had
all of last season…Of Myles Bell’s 38 goals this season, 21 have been scored on
the road with 17 coming on home ice…The Rockets are 6-4-0-0 in their last ten
road games…The Rockets are 3-1-0-2 in their last six home games…The Rockets are
12-3-0-2 since the WHL trade deadline.…The Rockets have been involved in 10-one
goal games on home ice this season…Cole Martin is +97 over the last two
seasons…Myles Bell has 7 goals this month after scoring 12 times in January…The
Rockets have 15 games left in the regular season. Eight are on home ice with 7
on the road…The Rockets have scored six or more goals nine times on home ice
this season… The Rockets are 14-3-0-0 in the second game when facing
back-to-back scenarios this season….The team has been rated as the best team in
the CHL according to the Top 10 junior rankings for a 7th
consecutive week….Six alumni of the Rockets’ are playing for their respective countries at the Sochi
Olympics. Jamie Benn, Shea Weber and Duncan Keith will wear colours for Canada.
Alex Edler (Sweden), Lauris Darzins ( Latvia) and Thomas Raffl (Austria) will
also compete…After losing two of his
first three games, Jackson Whistle has won thirteen of his last fourteen games….The
Rockets have played in eight shootout games this season and are 4 and 4. Three
of the four shootout wins have come on the road in Victoria, Prince George and
Seattle…Jordon Cooke is 39-6-0-3 at home in last 48 starts at home dating back
to last season…The Rockets have scored 4 or more goals in 22 of their 30 road
games this season…In 6 of the Rockets 8 regulation losses this season, leading
scorer Myles Bell has failed to score…
Milestone
Makers:
Damon Severson will
play in his 247th career game tonight – 3 shy of 250.
Tyrell Goulbourne
plays in his 199th career game tonight – 1 shy of 200
Myles Bell recorded
his 100th career goal and 250th career point January 25th
vs. Lethbridge.
Ryan Huska, according
to HockeyDB, has 288 WHL regular season victories.
Carter Rigby is
played in his 150th game last Saturday night.
Madison Bowey has 101
career points.
Cole Martin is
playing in career game 196 tonight – 4 shy of 200.
4 comments:
If they do computer scheduling again next season I really hope they improve the system. Playing Prince George 4 times in next 5 games is stupid scheduling. Should be spread out over course of season.
The officiating has been not so good as of late. Hope they get their S*** together for the playoffs.
Totally agree on the officiating. I didn't mind it at the start of the season but it has clearly gotten worse. Isn't it suppose to be getting better at this time of the year?
The WHL touts how they are a development league for not only the players, but also coaches, AND OFFICIALS. I agree that you see a LOT of WHL players and coaches move on to the next level, but I feel like the Officials are simply ignored developmentally by the league. I don't think they have the resources, or the proper people in places to develop these officials in the proper manner. It feels like these guys are simply told to throw on a striped jersey, a pair of skates, and good luck. I'd like to see more from the WHL to develop the officials so games are not being decided in the PIM column.
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