Mail bag. Ask me a question.

1) Why are you such a homer? Answer: Ya, I am. Kelowna is my home. It has been my home for 12 years. I love this place. My kids were born at the Kelowna General Hospital. My wife and I make our living in the Kelowna area. I work at a Kelowna radio station that has primarily Kelowna listeners and Kelowna based businesses that sponsor our broadcasts. Without them I am pumping gas. I have very good relationships with the Rockets coaches. I enjoy my arms length relationships with the players too. And frankly, I take great pride in the Rockets organization representing my city when they are on the road. So when you listen to one of my broadcasts it will be Kelowna focused. For that I make no apology.
2) Do you publish every comment you get on your blog? Answer: No. I routinely receive comments from fans that take pot shots at Rockets players and I refuse to publish them. These are cheap shot comments from fans that really have no theory to why criticism should be directed towards a particular player. It pisses me off.! It especially irritates me when these so called fans couldn't even skate on the same ice surface as these elite athletes, yet it sure is easy to throw daggers at them from the keyboard of a computer. Give me a logical explanation on why a player should be criticised and I will publish it. On occasion, I too will shed some negativity but with a basis behind my argument.
3) You and Gord McGarva sure have fun on the radio. Do you really like each other? Answer: Yes. Gord has been very faithful to me over the years. McGarva isn't a broadcaster by design. What he is, is a fan who loves to use the radio platform to express his fondness for the team and the game. Gord has made many a road trip with me and would help me out at a moments notice. He isn't the most analytical colour man in the game but he sure loves being there.
4) Why do you interview some Rockets players more than others? Answer: Admittedly I do. The reason? Simply put, some players are just more comfortable behind the mic than others. Some have the gift to gab while others really struggle. I won't tell you who struggles, but clearly the best interviews on the team are Madison Bowey, Cole Martin, Colton Sissons, Mitchell Chapman, Zach Franko and Carter Rigby. And to be honest, a good talker/speaker makes my job easier and it simply flows better to the listening public.


If you have a question for me this season that you would like answered, leave me a comment and I will gladly try to answer it. 

Five reasons for optimism

1) Coaching. Ryan Huska is now the longest serving head coach in Tacoma/Kelowna Rockets franchise history. Huska is entering his 6th season at the helm, surpassing Marcel Comeau's five seasons with the organization from 1991-1992 until the 1995-1996 season. Huska has 186 career Western Hockey League regular season wins, which makes him the winningest coach in franchise history.
2) Scoring goals for the Rockets didn't come easy last season. In fact, the Rockets scored the 17th most goals of the 22 teams in the WHL. That will need to change, especially considering they played in 37-one goal games in 2011-2012. In tight games the inability to score will come back and bite you every time. Colton Sissons (26) and Carter Rigby (21) are the top two returning scorers from last season when it comes to turning the red light on. Zach Franko needs to score more often this season and newcomer Ryan Olsen should improve significantly on the 15 he potted as a 17 year-old sophomore. If J.T Barnett and overager Dylen McKinlay can be +20 goal scorers, this team could be knocking on the door of a 40 win season.
3) You can't win without solid goaltending. Jordon Cooke is tired of playing second fiddle to Adam Brown and now gets his chance in the spotlight. Cooke is the first drafted goaltender since Kristofer Westblom that has shown significant promise. The workload the 19 year-old is about to face is immense, but he has the backing of management and the coaches that he can get the job done. More important than that, his teammates believe in him. Make no mistake, Cooke will have some rough patches along the way, but the Leduc Alberta produce will show, much like Cole Cheveldave of the Kamloops Blazers did last season, that he can be a starter and elite goaltender at the WHL level.

4) Bringing it from the blue line. This group may be the best skating defensive core this organization has seen in a long time. Manufacturing offense should take significant pressure off the forwards in 2012-2013. Last season the d-core accounted for 41 goals, with Myles Bell leading the way with 15 of them. Now in his 19 year-old season, is it out the realm of possibility that Bell could score 20 goals? Tyson Barrie scored 19 as a 18 year-old d-man during the 2009-2010 campaign so it is doable. The real concern with the d-core, which is now a year wiser but still a season away from being dynamite, is their ability to clean things up in their own zone. That is where the value of Mitchell Chapman, MacKenzie Johnston and rookie Mitch Wheaton come into play. Those three won't put many points up on the board, but need to focus on limiting the oppositions scoring chances by keeping the other teams top players from having a field day in the offensive zone.
5) Restoring home ice advantage. Regardless of how you play on the road, all good teams win at home. The defending league champion Edmonton Oil Kings won 29 times on home ice last season. Portland was the most dominant with 31 victories and Moose Jaw looked good in their new arena with a 30 win season. Even BC Division champion Kamloops had 25 home ice wins, which meant they lost only 11 times at the ISC. When was the last time the Rockets lost fewer than 11 games on home ice? It was 2008-2009, when the Rockets suffered just seven setbacks at Prospera Place and won the league title that year. 

(All photos used on this entry are courtesy of Marissa Baecker)  

Schenn may participate in Rockets practice

Luke Schenn should be down in Philadelphia preparing for the start of Flyers main camp.
Instead, because of the NHL lockout, the defenceman is spending some extra time in Kelowna skating at Prospera Place.
Schenn isn't ruling out the possibility of heading to Europe if their is a prolonged work stoppage.
"For right now I have no real plans. I will skate around here (Kelowna) and workout. I think their will be quite a few NHL guys around here during the lockout so I will stay here. As time goes on and the months go on, Europe is an option I have to consider".
Don't be surprised to see Schenn practicing with the Kelowna Rockets over the next few weeks or as long as the lockout lasts.
Here, Schenn is pictured with former teammate Blake Comeau of the Calgary Flames. The two were out mountain biking in the Okanagan sunshine.          

Things that make me go hmm....

• We are in the final week before the start of the 2012-2013 Western Hockey League season. After six pre-season games and numerous player moves, the Kelowna Rockets appear to be ready to open things up Friday night against Kamloops. The Rockets begin the season against the defending BC Division champions and are my bet to win the Western Conference title this season. How do they match up against the suggested top team in the West? We are about to find out in a home and home series with the Blazers this weekend.
• It will be odd watching the Blazers lift a BC Division banner to the rafters Friday night. The Rockets have never been at the ISC to watch a banner raising ceremony of any kind. Let's hope it inspires the visitors to play hard and spoil the party.  
• Talk about making a strong first impression. Twenty year-old J.T Barnett scored three times in a 8-1 win over the Tri City Americans Saturday night. It was only a pre-season game, but the 20 year-old looked enthused playing in his first game with his new team. Barnett can play, he really can, but like so many skilled players, the question must be asked about where his desire to compete level is at? If it's high, like it was Saturday night, Barnett may be a steal in a trade with Everett on Thursday. Rockets head coach Ryan Huska will reward the Arizona product with first line minutes if he plays hard and competes. In his final season of junior, isn't that the only thing he would want to prove to himself, and others, that he's still got it?
• General Manager Bruce Hamilton is usually quiet at the trade deadline but this has to be the busiest the Rockets have been before the puck even drops on a new season. Hamilton has essentially made four player moves in a week! It all started when goaltender Jackson Whistle was acquired from Vancouver and included deals for 20 year-old's J.T Barnett and Dylen McKinlay. The other player move was convincing d-man Mitch Wheaton to join the team. Throw in this summers trade with Saskatoon for Ryan Olsen and the Rockets are vastly different from one season ago. 
• With two player moves last week to acquire Barnett and McKinlay, the Rockets now have the depth at forward they were lacking. Those two should log big minutes in crucial situations while taking the heat off the 17 and 18 year-old age group. The Tyson Baillie's of this world can now play against the other teams second or third d-pairing, not the top unit. 
• Speaking of Baillie, the about to turn 17 year-old led the team in pre-season scoring for a second straight year. Baillie had 3+3=6 while Austin Ferguson had 2+3=5 in six games.       
• Do you notice something different about 20 year-old Dylen McKinlay? McKinlay has the tongue of his skates out, something few if any of his teammates do. It may be old school, but I like it. When I think of the tongue out of the skates look, I think of one player. Joe Sakic.   
• Who scored the first goal for the Rockets on opening night in Everett last season? Tyson Baillie opened the scoring just five minutes into the first period. 
• In the last 10 seasons openers, the Rockets are a dismal 2-5-2-0 with one tie. 
• In the last six seasons, this season included, the Rockets have used 18 overage players to fill the allotted three 20 year-old spots. Of those 18 players, 12 have been acquired via trade. The six players that were original Rockets property are: Mitchell Chapman, Adam Brown, Evan Bloodoff, Lucas Bloodoff, Tyson Dowzak and Kristofer Westblom.  
• Barnett, McKinlay, Cody Chikie, Brett Lyon, Zak Stebner, Geordie Wudrick, Dallas Jackson, Mark Guggenberger, Riley Grantham, Ian Duval, James McEwan and Brady Leavold were all acquired in trade and played as 20 year-old's.

Rockets reduce roster

The Kelowna Rockets reduced their roster today, sending 16 year-old forward Justin Kirkland back to Saskatchewan.
Kirkland, the Rockets 5th round pick in the 2011 draft, will likely play in Notre Dame this season.
Kirkland played in four pre-season games, collecting an assist and six minutes in penalties.
That leaves the Rockets with three - 16 year-old's. Rourke Chartier, Austin Glover and Riley Stadel remain with the team. 

Audio with Dylen McKinlay

Here is a the conversation I had with 20 year-old Dylen McKinlay this afternoon before practice.

An upgrade at the overage spot

The Kelowna Rockets got a whole lot older in a hurry Thursday afternoon. General Manager Bruce Hamilton made a pair of deals by picking up 20 year-old forwards JT Barnett and Dylan McKinlay.
Barnett was claimed off waivers from Everett while McKinlay was acquired from the Kootenay Ice for a 5th round bantam pick.
The Rockets head into the last weekend before the start of the season with 29 players.
Do the moves make sense?
The Rockets desperately needed more depth at forward, but filling those needs with older players that are no better than a 17 or 18 year-old doesn't make sense. I believe the Rockets have picked up two players that can make significant contributions and are an upgrade from what was in place last season.
McKinlay won't score 50 goals, but he has proven that he indeed can score. He had 15 goals last season with Kootenay, including a hat trick against Spokane. Under Marc Habscheid in Chilliwack, McKinlay scored a career high 20 goals. The fact he is a 7th round pick of the NHL's Minnesota Wild tells you he has shown enough promise over his WHL career to catch the eye of pro scouts.
JT Barnett will be the interesting story here. A 20 year-old that was claimed off waivers tells you he had little market value for a team to make a trade with Everett. Injured for a good portion of last season with a bad knee, Barnett played in less than 30 games with the Tips after being acquired in a trade with the Kamloops Blazers. Prior to a stop in Kamloops, Barnett was with the Vancouver Giants. Under Don Hay, Barnett had his best season with 21 goals in the 2009-2010 season.  So Barnett can score, but can he stay healthy and return to his form of a couple of years ago?
I always take the approach that when a player moves to a new team, he gets a fresh start. It's a clean slate no matter what happened in the past.
Let's face it, time is running out for both players. Making a positive impression in their final season in junior hockey is paramount if they want to follow their dream of playing pro hockey next season.

Rockets pick up two 20 year-old's

The Kelowna Rockets have picked up two 20 year-old's. Forward JT Barnett was acquired off of waivers from Everett while Dylen McKinley was picked up from Kootenay for a 5th round bantam pick. Barnett and McKinley join defenceman Mitchell Chapman as the three overagers on the Rockets roster this season.

Mitch Wheaton audio

Rockets land big fish

The Kelowna Rockets have landed a pretty big fish - literally.
The Rockets have announced that 17 year-old  Mitch Weaton has elected to join the Western Hockey League team after entertaining offers from several American based schools.
The 6'5, 215 pound defenceman attended Rockets main camp last month and impressed, but he was undecided if major junior was the path that he wanted to take.
The tenth round draft pick of the Rockets from 2010, will join the team immediately and could be in the line up as quickly as Thursday when the Rockets are in Spokane for their second to last pre-season game.     
The Rockets envision Wheaton being in their top six d-men this season.
The 2010 WHL Draft looks like a good one for the Rockets, who selected Jesse Lees, Madison Bowey, Tyson Baillie, Mitch Wheaton and Austin Ferguson. 

Whistle while you work

The Kelowna Rockets answered the question I asked in my earlier post by acquired 17 year-old goaltender Jackson Whistle from the Vancouver Giants. The Rockets give up a 3rd rounder for the Kelowna resident, who played a backup role with the G-Men last season.
Whistle was the Giants 4th round pick in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft. Last season, Whistle appeared in 21 games and recorded his first career win in a 20 save shutout victory over the Prince George Cougars.
Whistle will make his Rockets debut tomorrow night against Victoria. Oddly enough, Whistle was the Giants starter last Saturday at Prospera Place in a 3-2 pre-season shootout win.  It marks the fifth time in franchise history the Rockets and Giants have hooked up in a trade.

Things that make me go hmm

• With two exhibition games under their belt, it remains unclear who will backup goaltender Jordon Cooke this season. Cooke has played every minute of the first two games, a one goal win in Ladner and a shootout loss to the Giants at Prospera Place. Cam Barnes has been Cooke's backup on both night's but hasn't seen any game action.
• The announcement this week that Spencer Main's hockey career is over shouldn't come as a surprise. When he failed to suit up for either of the first two pre-season games it raised a red flag. When you've missed as much playing time as Main has over the last year, if healthy, the 20 year-old would be injecting into the line up to work off the rink rust. 
• I have a positive feel about this team heading into a new season. While I haven't spent a lot of time around the players, my general impression is they like one another and have come together quickly as a group. I think they realize that without a group effort they won't have much success this season.
• This season is the 22nd in the history of the Rockets organization. This is the franchises 18th in the Okanagan.
• Damon Severson signed an NHL contract with the New Jersey Devils. While it was made official this week, it actually happened about a week prior to the Devils releasing it to the general public. One of the tough aspects of my job is keeping my mouth shut and letting other media outlets release the details. Once it's released 'officially' by the team, then I don't mind commenting on it. 
• My hope is the new contract spurs Severson to even greater things. For many junior players, awaiting a contract can be a huge distraction while other NHL teams believe holding the carrot out there, dangling before a prospects eyes, encourages them to grow as a player.    
• I wish for the sake of the Rockets players, Ryan Huska and Dan Lambert could transform back into the players they were at the prime of their junior hockey careers. I think everyone would get a better appreciation of how skilled and hard working these two coaches were as players. The cheesy mustache's they also fashioned back then would also provide a chuckle for the players.
• Where will the Rockets finish this season? I can't say they will win the BC Division because the Kamloops Blazers are just too loaded with talent. The Blazers are going to be as good or better than a year ago. I can see them winning 50 games this season. The only difference this season compared to last is the expectations will be far greater then they were at the start of the 2011-2012 campaign.     
• Two players in the Western Conference that will have big years will be Blazers forward Brendan Ranford and Portland's Ty Rattie. That won't surprise anyone after the terrific seasons they had as 19 and 18 year-old's respectively. I could see both of those players putting up between 115 and 130 points each. 
• The Rockets open the regular season on the road in Kamloops. It will be the first time since the team re-located to the Okanagan that they have opened the season by visiting their nearest rival. Weird. Last season the Rockets opened the season in Everett with a 5-4 shootout win. Who scored the game winner? Filip Vasko.
• In the last 16 seasons, the Rockets have played their first game on home ice.
• In 10 of the last 16 seasons, the Rockets have opened the regular season against an American based team.
• AM 1150 is proud to announce a new sports program hitting the airwaves this weekend. Eric Stansfield will be hosting 'Inside Sports', a 90 minute local program that will feature interviews and discussion on hockey, football and other local and provincial sports. Inside Sports can be heard every Saturday afternoon from 5 pm until 6:30 pm and is a nice precursor to our Rockets broadcasts this season.
• Six weeks of holidays are in the books. No, I didn't take them all at once but I am ready to get back to work. The regular season starts two weeks from tonight (Friday) and I think everybody is chomping at the bit to get going.

Smart decision by intelligent player

For the second time in less than four months, a player with the Kelowna Rockets has had to walk away from hockey because of recurring symptoms due to a concussion. Twenty year-old Spencer Main is retiring after playing just 12 regular season games last season. Back in May, teammate Max Adolph also announced he was leaving the game on the advise of doctors. Adolph played 36 games in 2010-2011, but was in and out of the line up that season with no less than four concussions.
Main thought he was on the road to recovery after spending a good portion of the summer in Kelowna under the watchful eye of athletic therapist Jeff Thorburn. Strenuous workouts both on and off the ice went well, but when you throw in the variable of contact, Main's body just couldn't take it. But unlike some who do everything in their power to ignore the obvious, Main listened to his body and made the right decision. 
A WHL championship in 2009 and a nomination as Western Conference Scholastic Player of the Year in 2010, Main can walk away knowing his future is as bright in the business world as it was in hockey when the Rockets made him a second round pick in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft.

Spencer, all the best!