The Kelowna Rockets were a different team on the weekend.

Not only did Kelowna sweep a two-game road series, snapping out of an eight-game road winless streak, but the Rockets tallied both game-winning goals with their previously putrid power play.

Perhaps having no mid-week game last week proved a soothing, learning tonic for a team in need of a regroup.

The same can be said for Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, who enjoyed a brief break from his regular duties and a change of scenery in Saskatchewan, acting as an assistant for Team WHL against Russia in the Subway Super Series.

While the WHL all-star squads split that two-game set — winning 5-2 with three Rockets in the lineup at Regina on Wednesday, then losing 7-5 the next night in Moose Jaw — Huska was able to hit the reset button with a different cast.

“It’s an honour to be part of something like that,” Huska said of coaching alongside head coach Don Hay (Vancouver Giants) and assistant coach Lorne Molleken (Saskatoon Blades). “They are great coaches in our league with a lot of wins, and you can learn a lot of things from those guys. It allows you to take a deep breath and get rejuvenated and excited to go again. We have a good group (in Kelowna) that we’re going to continue to push and build and get better with.”

It was a welcome reprieve for everybody. The Rockets were reeling, dropping eight of 10 games, and needing that bit of downtime.

While captain Colton Sissons, Brett Bulmer and Zach Franko suited up for Team WHL, the rest of the Rockets, including leading scorer Shane McColgan, remained in Kelowna to fine-tune their skills with assistant coaches Ryan Cuthbert and Dan Lambert.

The reunion took place in Prince George, where Huska guided the Rockets (8-11-2-1) to consecutive road wins — 3-2 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday — over the Cougars (6-15-0-2), who visit Prospera Place on Wednesday. That is the start of a season-long, seven-game homestand for the Rockets, suddenly winners of three of their last four overall.

“We have to be a hard team to play against at home,” Huska said. “You’re not always going to get the results you want, but if you’re playing the game the right way, eventually things will happen for you. We want to play the game with some more speed and more support around the puck, and once we do that, I think our whole lineup can get involved in the game.”

Secondary scoring was prevalent already in Prince George, with Kelowna getting goals from seven different players, including Carter Rigby, Cody Chikie, Madison Bowey, Mitchell Chapman, Zach Franko, Tyson Baillie and Tyrell Goulbourne.

Bowey and Baillie scored the winners, while Rigby registered his first goal in 12 games and Chikie only his second over the same span. Chapman, a stay-at-home blue-liner, notched his second goal of the season and fourth in 148 career WHL games, while Franko’s fifth of the season was his first in six games. Goulbourne’s third of the campaign came after a seven-game drought.

Huska singled out Goulbourne and Colton Heffley, two NHL draft-eligible forwards, for their weekend contributions.

“They did a great job killing penalties and they were two young guys that were hard to play against, and that’s what we need from our forwards,” Huska said.

As for the Super Series, another top NHL draft prospect, Sissons, stood out amongst his peers by playing a gritty two-way game and setting up a shorthanded goal that gave Team WHL a two-goal cushion in the third period.

“Colton played very well,” Huska said. “He played physical and played the style that (Hay) likes his teams to play. He was up and down his wing and hit everything he could. He had a solid game and had people talking afterwards.”

That was Wednesday night, and on Thursday morning NHL Central Scouting listed Sissons as the WHL’s best draft-eligible forward, sixth overall among 25 WHL skaters in its preliminary rankings for the 2012 NHL draft.

“No surprise there,” Huska said. “People are noticing him and hopefully as this year progresses Colton will continue to improve his performance. The good thing is he’s not one-dimensional. People look at him and see him as potentially a top-six forward in the NHL, but he’s also good defensively and does much more than just score goals.”