Taking one on the chin

Shoot the Breeze Photography

• When the team you call games for on the radio loses 8-2, writing a blog entry reflecting on what happened isn’t easy. It is tough to take positives out of the team’s most lopsided loss of the season. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking it wouldn’t happen with two rookie goaltenders and seven significant changes from a year ago. There will be growing pains. It is limiting those nights, specifically early in the season, that is paramount for a team just nine games into the regular season. One week it can be goaltending. The next week it can be a lack of scoring. Sometime the power play wins you games. Other times you spend too much time in the penalty box and that puts you behind the eight ball. It is about making adjustments and having every player picking up his teammate. It is easy when you are winning and things are positive, but who steps up when things are going bad and is willing to do that little extra to propel the team back to success? Let’s see what happens tomorrow night in Tri City and who wants to be a part of the solution to eliminate a three game losing streak.
• What did I think about the game? Well, my belief is the Portland Winterhawks will make many teams look silly if they put in an average effort.  I think it would be fair to say the Rockets received average to slightly below average goaltending last night. Brodan Salmond, looking for some positives in his game, lasted only a period after surrendering three goals on 13 shots. But I am not going to lay blame on the goalies entirely. While they play a big factor in a team’s success, the power play and penalty killing unit could have been huge in limiting the damage, but they too were below average in execution.  While scoring two power play goals in the third period, the game was essentially out of reach at that point. It needs to be better when the game is on the line. It wasn’t and the Winterhawks power play was.  Of the 13 goals the Winterhawks scored in back-to-back games (5-4 OTW and 8-2 W), 7 of them (54%) came with the extra man. That is too many penalties and the inability to kill them off was also a contributing factor in two losses at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.  Both discipline and execution will get better, because again, we are only one month into the season.
• As an opposition broadcaster and with no affiliation to the Portland Winterhawks, I can publicly say they will win north of 50 games this season. How can they not with that line up, which was missing Ryan Hughes and Brendan De Young for both games? Add those two into the mix and I think it is safe to say the Winterhawks have more depth than any other team in the Western Conference. Who has more? Does experienced coaching play a factor in success? Surely it does, with the Winterhawks having over 100 years of NHL, not major junior, but NHL experience on their staff.
• Kole Lind had his 8 game point streak come to an end last night.
• Kyle Topping has goals in three straight games.
• The Rockets surrendered the opening goal of the game for a third straight time.When was the last time the Rockets surrendered 8 goals on the road? Back on December 13, 2016 the Rockets suffered a 8-7 overtime loss in Medicine Hat. 
• I want to thank the Portland Winterhawks organization for setting up an interview with NHL great Brian Bellows. The father of Winterhawks forward Keiffer Bellows, the former Minnesota North Star/Montreal Canadiens goal scorer was in attendance for both games during ‘Winterhawks Parents Weekend’.  In speaking to Bellows about his sons decision to leave college hockey for the WHL, one thing stood out. “He wanted to play more games. As a goal scorer you want to get into that flow. Last year he got out of that rhythm.  In college they had a couple of bi-weeks where sometimes you don’t play for 13 days.”  Brian Bellows says the NHL team that drafted Keiffer, the New York Islanders, had no say on him moving to major junior hockey. It was Keiffer’s decision alone. Often we hear that drafted NHL players tell their prospects to play in a particular league to help in their overall development. To me, those teams, who are investing heavily in that player, should have that right. I just think it’s cool that Keiffer Bellows chose the WHL because his gut told him it was the right choice for him now. I will post the entire interview with Brian Bellows on my twitter feed ‘Reganrant’.
• While I don’t want to make excuses, my belief is you didn’t see the best of the Kelowna Rockets in Portland this weekend. Driving through the night after playing the evening before at home against the Calgary Hitmen had an impact. The visitors faced both a physical and mental battle. Against elite competition, which the Winterhawks clearly are, mistakes are magnified.  I anticipate much more competitive games this weekend when the two teams close out the seasonal series at Prospera Place.