Cap News: Rockets offense clicking
r By Warren Henderson – Kelowna Capital News
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r With the likes of Jamie Benn, Cody Almond, Colin Long and Tyler Myers out of the picture, no one could be blamed for thinking the Kelowna Rockets would be considerably less dangerous in the offensive zone this season.
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r Seven games into the new campaign there’s no such concern as the Rockets sit second in the WHL’s Western Conference in scoring with 31 goals.
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r Twenty-four of those markers have come during the club’s current four-game winning streak.
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r Even head coach Ryan Huska admits he’s pleasantly surprised by Kelowna’s early-season outburst on the offensive ledger.
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r “No, I didn’t expect this, but we knew we were going to have to score by committee,” said Huska. “We just didn’t feel like we had the type of player, like Jamie Benn, to score the way we did last year. Just by keeping things a little simpler, doing a better job of shooting and getting pucks on net, we’re having some success that way. Getting everybody involved is the only way we’re going to have success.”
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r With the exception of Stepan Novotny’s league-leading eight goals, scoring is well dispersed up and down the lineup with 11 players hitting the score sheet to date.
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r In addition to getting pucks on net, Huska said much of his club’s early success comes from team speed.
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r With Novotny, Brandon McMillan, Kyle St. Denis, Shane McColgan, Cody Chikie and Codey Ito at his disposal, Huska rates Kelowna’s top six among the quickest groups of forwards in the WHL.
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r The speed of McMillan and St. Denis paid off in spades Wednesday night as both outraced defenders to score shorthanded goals in 6-5 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers.
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r Still, it wasn’t all smooth sailing as the Rockets coughed up a 3-0 second-period lead to the Tigers who tied with game with three goals in a 49-second span.
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r Cody Chikie eventually sealed the game with the shootout winner.
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r “We stopped moving our feet, we stood around and watched the Tigers and we got into trouble,” said Huska. “One of the issues against Medicine Hat is we didn’t use our speed consistently. We have to use it to be successful and I think it was a good lesson for the guys.”
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r The Rockets four-game winning streak will be on the line tonight when they visit the Vancouver Giants. Kelowna will be back home Saturday for its first meeting of the season against the Prince George Cougars.
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r Rocket Shots…
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r D Tyson Barrie is day-to-day with a knee injury and could be back for Saturday’s game. Barrie has been sidelined since Sept. 25…D Mitchell Chapman (shoulder) will be out another 1-2 weeks.
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