Sunday, January 30, 2022

January blues? I don't think so!

Remember the children's book, 'The Little Engine That Could'?

The phrase often used was - I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

It appears the 2021-2022 edition of the Kelowna Rockets have taken it a step further.

I know I can, I know I can, I know I can.

We witnessed it again last night in a 3-1 win over the visiting Vancouver Giants. Trailing 1-0 after 40 minutes, the home team played to a quicker pace, put the foot on the accelerator and scored three unanswered goals in their 22nd win of the season. The Giants lost for the first time in 15 games when holding the lead after two periods. One common theme is this teams ability to elevate in the third period. Again, the numbers only punctuate my point. Not only has this team allowed a league low - 23 - third period goals against - they've scored 49 times in the final frame. The third period, specifically, is when the Rockets play at their best.

  • It has been amazing to watch this team galvanize together, where no one player is a star. They likely won't have a top 10 scorer on the roster this season. Pavel Novak just cracks the top 20. This may be the first team I've seen in my 25+ years of calling games for the Kelowna Rockets where 'strength in numbers' is personified. I'd suggest this team plays one of the best 'team games' I've witnessed. The data backs me up. The Rockets have 12 players with 20 or more points. 12! It is a diversified attack. By comparison, the Edmonton Oil Kings have 13 players with 20 or more points. The Winnipeg Ice have 12 players while Kamloops has 11. The WHL's best team - the Everett Silvertips - have 10 players. The Rockets are NEVER mentioned in the same conversation as those four teams because they don't play a sexy game. It's lunch bucket, but effective.
  • Again, it isn't one, two or three players doing the heavy lifting here. Pavel Novak has points in 9 of his last 11, but it goes far beyond the 19 year-old's exploits. Colton Dach has points in 9 of his last 10. Jake Lee has points in 11 of his last 13 games. Andrew Cristall is chipping in with points in 11 of his last 15. Mark Liwiski has points in 11 of his last 15 games too and has six goals in his last 9 games. The big surprise is the elevation in play of Jake Poole. The 19 year-old is riding a career high 7 game point streak and has goals in 7 of his last 10. He started the year with 4 goals in his opening 19 games and was basically a non-factor. Coach Kris Mallette made him a healthy scratch and since that point moving forward, Poole has made an impact. 
  • I'd like to share a story of how Mallette is pulling the right strings for a new coach with under 70 WHL games under his belt. I won't share it right now on this blog, but Mallette is making far more great moves in getting the most out his team than you might think. Some of them are gutsy or bold in my eyes, but I like the success he is seeing by making the ballsy call.
  • When did the team turn the corner from being a pretender to a contender? Was it the deal that saw the team solidify its goaltending with the acquisition of Tayln Boyko? Acquired November 7th from Tri City, the team is 16-7-1-2 under his watch. That's points in 19 of 26 games. Boyko is 15-5-0-2 as the teams #1 starter. Let's remember Boyko wasn't lights out terrific in his first few starts and even was pulled a few times by Mallette. The New York Rangers draft pick worked through the kinks in his game and is well on his way to earning a pro contract. 
  • Boyko better not argue about ice time. He has started 20 of the teams last 22 games.
  • Team chemistry is hard to create. Either you like each other or you don't. This group, in my small observations, really like one another off the ice. It's a big deal that no coach can create. Wanting to play for each other and celebrating the accomplishments of a teammate is very underrated. Watch the video from last night's game and the celebration when Jake Poole scores his third period goal. Everyone on the ice wearing Rockets colours are as happy as Poole that he found the back of the net. Tyson Baillie was such a good teammate that way. While a gifted scorer, his face would light up when a line-mate had success. I want more Tyson Baillie's. I think this team has more than a few.   
  • I can look back to Colton Dach's first game with the Rockets in Victoria on the first weekend of the regular season as the defining moment for me. I didn't know Dach, but I assumed he would come back to the WHL with a certain swagger after spending time with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. Again, this is only observation, but the 18 year-old quickly acclimated himself into the group. It looked seamless. It was right then and there that I thought to myself, this player and this group is going to have tremendous chemistry moving forward.
  • It was the Rockets 6th consecutive win last night. Sure, sure, four of those victories came against the Victoria Royals, but you still have to beat the teams that the schedule maker puts in front of you. That 6 game winning streak is the longest of the season and ties the mark set by the 2017-2018 team. The 2016-2017 edition of the Kelowna Rockets won 7 straight games.
  • The Rockets 22 wins this season, is the exact same number of victories as the non-playoff team in 2006-2007. Yikes, that was an awful season, but it paved the way to WHL championship success two seasons later. Again, you have to lose before you can win. 
  • The Rockets played back to back games against the Giants without second leading scorer Colton Dach, power play assist leader Nolan Flamand and captain Tyson Feist. Don't worry folks, all three are out with injuries and their absences are not the result of COVID. 
  • The Rockets have 21 wins against teams in the BC Division. That is impressive considering first place Kamloops also has 21 victories. 
  • What I like about this years team is the ability to score even strength. The team has found the back of the net 138 times, with only 27 goals coming on the power play. That means only 19.6 % of the goals scored are coming with the extra man. By comparison, Victoria has scored 114 goals with 36 of them coming with a opposition player in the penalty box. That means the Royals are scoring 32% of their goals with the man advantage.  
  • The Rockets are now 9-3-1-0 in the second game of back-to-backs.
  • The Rockets end off the month of January with a record of 7-1-1-0 in 9 games. Not bad considering three games were postponed and the team had to pause after a few cases of COVID-19. Some ask me if the team will catch Kamloops for first place in the BC Division in the final two and a half months of the regular season. If the mental approach remains a constant of - 'I know I can, I know I can, I know I can, it leaves no doubt in my mind that it's best not to bet against them.

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