The Rockets are smaller than the T-Birds right?

Kelowna resident Justin Hickman - Shoot the Breeze

• Do you like defencemen that can skate and score? You are in for a treat then when Kelowna Rockets captain Madison Bowey faces T-Birds speedster Shea Theodore. Theodore scored 22 times this season while Bowey found the back of the net 21 times. Theodore is a first round pick of the Anaheim Ducks while Bowey is a second rounder of the Washington Capitals. (Editor note: Theodore is a 1995 birth date, so will be a 19 year-old in hockey age next season).
• Speaking of Theodore, he falls into the same category as Rockets blue liner Damon Severson. Both were snubbed by Hockey Canada for a chance at representing their country at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Theodore didn't even get an invite to main camp while Severson did but was a late cut after he was shipped back to Canada after the team trimmed its roster in Sweden.     
• This playoff series will feature the top two rookies in the Western Hockey League. Sorry Saskatoon Blades newcomer Nikita Sherbak. The Russian is 18 while the two players featured here are both 16, in Kelowna Rockets Nick Merkley and T-Birds Mathew Barzal. Merkley had 58 points this season while Barzal had 54. The Seattle sharp shooter played in seven fewer games. The two were expected to be teammates for Team Pacific at the Under 17 Hockey Challenge in Cape Breton Nova Scotia, but Barzal got hurt. Team Pacific ended up winning silver. Both players can make an impact, which isn't usually the case at that young of an age. 
• We saw former Okanagan Rockets alumnus Parker Bowles in a Tri City Americans uniform in round one. Now in round two against Seattle, another player who cut his teeth with the local midget team will be sure to make an impact. Justin Hickman played with the Okanagan Rockets during the 2009-2010 season. This season the 19 year-old had an excellent year with 22 goals. Oh, he also led the T-Birds in penalty minutes with 154. Teammate Jaimen Yakubowski technically had more pims, but 30 of those were picked up while playing with Lethbridge before being traded out west.
• The T-Birds are trying to do something few WHL teams are able to accomplish They have just one 20 year-old on their roster in Mitch Elliott. Most teams take full advantage of using all three overage spots. The T-Birds are a veteran group though with 10 - 19 year-old's. The Rockets, by comparison have seven. 
• How will the Rockets handle the T-Birds physical play? The reason I make that suggestion is the T-Birds were extremely physical against Everett in the opening round and two of the Tips d-man were hurt and couldn't play in game five. Players with a lack of courage will be exposed in this series. You won't have the open ice like you enjoyed in round one because the competition is stiffer. Failing to pay the price to make a play or having a reduced battle level in the corners or along the boards will show scouts that when it comes to the heavy lifting, either you've got it or you don't. 
• The Rockets are smaller than the T-Birds right? That is the perception when you look at the two teams. But if you combine the weights of both, the T-Birds are just slightly heavier. The numbers don't lie. The T-Birds combined weight is 4046 pounds. The Rockets combined weight (excluding the goalies) is 4016. That is a difference of just 30 pounds. That statistic surprised me. 
• The T-Birds are statistically taller, but this series doesn't involve a hoop and a ball does it?      
• We will see if and when Myles Bell returns to the Rockets line up after suffering an injury in game four of an opening round series with Tri City. If the teams leading scorer is unable to play it obviously is a significant blow. But that said, did the Kootenay Ice throw in the towel when Tim Bozon suffered from Meningitis? Nope. Instead they picked up their play and scored buckets of goals in a first round series upset over the Calgary Hitmen.  
• Jordon Cooke has to outperform Seattle goalie Taran Kozun in this series. Would you not agree that the 20 year-old Rockets veteran was better than Americans netminder Eric Comrie in game five?  Cooke made the bigger saves. Had Cooke been average, a game six would have been played a night later in Kennewick Washington.
• Kozun is meeting the Rockets in the second round of the playoffs for a second consecutive season. The 19 year-old was a back up to Cole Cheveldave last season when the Kamloops Blazers beat the Rockets in four games in the Western Conference semi finals.
• The Rockets had two-first round bantam picks play in an opening round series against Tri City. Rourke Chartier was a number one pick in 2011 while Nick Merkley is a first rounder from 2012. The T-Birds have four-first round picks in their line up. Mathew Barzal (2012), Ryan Gropp (2011), Jared Hauff (2010) and Branden Troock (2009) are on that list. Jesse Lees, the Rockets first rounder in 2010, didn't play a game in round one. Jason Siebert, the teams first pick in 2009 is no longer in the league.        
• Congrats to Dillon Dube and the Notre Dame Argos for winning the Saskatchewan Midget AAA title on the weekend. Dube is the Rockets first round pick from 2013.