Courier: Rockets batter Bruins
r Marissa Baecker photo
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r By John Sleeper – Kelowna Daily Courier
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r Now, that‘s more like it.
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r Two nights after a forgettable, lacklustre shootout victory over lowly Prince George, the Kelowna Rockets turned in a mostly sparkling performance with a 3-0 win against B.C. Division rival Chilliwack Friday night at Prospera Place.
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r Goalie Adam Brown notched his second shutout of the season and the Rockets (10-7-1) scored two power-play goals.
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r Brandon McMillan finished with a goal and an assist and rookie Shane McColgan continued to dazzle in his rookie season.
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r The Rockets were anything but impressive against Prince George on Wednesday night.
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r Players said Thursday‘s practice, designed as more of a “fun day” than anything else, helped take some pressure off. Bingo. The Rockets appeared loose and fast.
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r “We were just having more fun,” Brown said about Thursday‘s tension-relieving practice. “We were playing nervous. I think the past couple games, we were too scared to make a mistake. Tonight, we went out there and just played.”
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r Such is a product of youth. As well as the Rockets have played in spurts this season (witness the home victory against Calgary), they have looked equally disjointed at times. Coach Ryan Huska, showing his maturity, recognized his sputtering team needed more the carrot than it needed the stick.
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r “We gave them a fun day (Thursday),” Huska said. “We just let them have a little bit of a scrimmage against each other, just to get back to the way we can play. We had too many guys who were pushing the envelope a little bit, just trying to do a little bit too much on their own. I thought we got back to playing the way we can.”
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r Brown turned back all 23 Bruin shots for the shutout.
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r “I thought I was just keeping it simple,” Brown said. “I thought I was reading the play really well and the guys were playing really well in front of me that made it a little bit easier.”
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r Huska agreed.
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r “Adam was good tonight,” Huska said. “That was a couple games in a row now where he was very solid. I think the pucks are looking bigger to him now and he‘s making saves now that were giving him trouble before.”
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r Kelowna‘s power play, ranked fifth in the league going into the game, has scored in 15 of the 18 games this season. One came on a two-man advantage, one of two such situations for the Rockets. Ironically, it was one of the few black marks Huska pointed out. Other than that, he couldn‘t find much fault at all.
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r “It was a good night for us because we stuck to our game plan,” Huska said. “They‘re not an easy team to play against because they work so hard on their structure. Sometimes, if you‘re not willing to play that same style, it will come back to bite you. I was happy that we did not try to do too much.”
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r The offence, while not explosive, flowed well and produced 31 shots on goal against Bruins netminder Mark Friesen. Again, simplicity was the key.
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r "We didn’t want to think so much about the game and just have a little fun with it," McMillan said about Thursday’s scrimmage. "I thought it was good tonight. I thought we worked hard and the whole team got after it."
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r The Rockets capitalized on a two-man advantage midway through the first period to score their initial goal of the night. McMillan scored his sixth goal of the season on a slap shot from the right face-off circle that whistled by Friesen. Collin Bowman picked up the assist.
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r In allowing the goal, the sloppy Bruins committed two penalties within five seconds of each other. Shane Neigum went to the box after a slash, soon followed by Brandon Manning, called for hooking. The Rockets led 1-0 after the opening period.
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r Kelowna’s power play again bore fruit as Kyle St. Denis knocked in a rebound early in the second period off a shot by McColgan, who was credited with his 17th assist of the season. McColgan, the 16-year-old rookie, has points in 14 of his last 15 games and leads the Rockets with 23 points. McMillan picked up an assist on the play. He has notched at least one point in 10 of the 11 games he’s played this season, having missed six with a cracked foot bone.
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r Mitchell Callahan finished the scoring with an empty-net goal with 56 seconds remaining. It was his seventh goal of the season.
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r ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s scratches were G Mark Guggenberger (hernia, 4 weeks), LW Evan Bloodoff (knee, 5 months), RW Codey Ito (ribs, day to day) and D Kyle Verdino (ankle, knee, 1-2 weeks). . . . The Bruins were without defencemen Jessie Craige and Zach Habscheid, both with knee injuries. Craige should be back in two weeks, while Habscheid, son of Chilliwack coach and former Rockets boss Marc Habscheid, could be out another month. The other Bruins scratch was RW Tim Traber.
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