Game Day: Rockets and Blazers at Prospera Place
Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets officially hit the half way point of the season with a game tonight against the visiting Kamloops Blazers. These two teams are meeting for the 4th time this season. The Rockets will play Kamloops three times in their next six games. The Rockets are in Kamloops Sunday night (6 PM). Overall the Rockets are 1-2-0-0 in the seasonal series, with the last loss coming at the Interior Savings Centre back on November 13th in a 4-0 setback. Overall, the Rockets enter tonight’s game having won three straight and ten of their last fourteen games and sixteen of their last twenty-one (16-5-0-0). Following tonight’s game the Rockets host Spokane Saturday in a rare New Year’s game.
Rockets recent game: The Rockets used four power play goals in a 4-0 win Tuesday night over the visiting Everett Silvertips. Evan Bloodoff scored twice in the win while Shane McColgan and Geordie Wudrick added third period goals in the team’s 20th win of the season. Adam Brown made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season and 9th of his career. The Rockets were 4 for 10 on the power play while allowing the Tips just one chance with the man advantage.
Who’s Hot: Shane McColgan has 3+3=6 in his last three games…Mitchell Callahan has 4+4=8 in his last ten games…Brett Bulmer has 2+5=7 in his last three games. Tyson Barrie has gone ten games without a goal yet has points in five of his last eight games (0+9=9)…Geordie Wudrick has ten goals in his last twelve games.
Who’s Not: Cody Chikie has just two goals in his last 21 games. Max Adolph has no goals in his last 18 games. Zach Franko has no goals in his last nine. Spencer Main has one goal in his last 17.
McColgan’s the man: Second year forward Shane McColgan has been named to the CHL Home Hardware NHL/Top Prospects game next month in Toronto. Forty of the top players eligible for this summer’s draft will participate in the two day event (Jan 18-19) at the Air Canada Centre. McColgan will play for Team Orr.
This and That: The Rockets have just one loss in their last nine home games. That loss came in a 4-1 setback to the Swift Current Broncos back on December 8th…While the Rockets own the 4th best penalty killing unit in the league, the team has allowed the fewest power play goals (23) in the WHL….The Rockets are the only team in the WHL this season that have not lost in overtime or the shoot-out…Geordie Wudrick has 17 goals this season in 34 games. Last season, Wudrick scored 19 goals in 38 regular season games after being acquired from Swift Current…Adam Brown earned his 9th career shutout Tuesday night. Brown is now one shutout shy of tying Kristofer Westblom, who had 10 shutouts with the Rockets from 2004-2008. Derek Yeomans, who played for the Rockets from 2003-2006, had 11 career shutouts. Kelly Guard is the franchise leader with 19…Tyson Barrie became the 11th player in Rockets’ history to be named to the Canadian World Junior Team. Barrie is joined on that list by Rockets’ defenceman like Shea Weber, Josh Gorges, Tyler Myers and Luke Schenn…Forward Mitchell Callahan was named to the USA World Junior Team…..The Rockets have allowed two power play goals against in their last eight games. The Rockets are 31 for 33 over that period…The Rockets are 7 for 32 on the power play in their last six games (21.9%).….Adam Brown was the WHL goaltender of the month for November. Brown went 9-1-0-0 with a goals against average of 1.96 and a save percentage of .934….Andreas Stene is playing for Norway at the World Junior Hockey Championships. ..Two members of the Rockets are participating in the Under 17 Hockey Challenge in Manitoba. Rookies Damon Severson and Colton Heffley are part of Team West…. The Rockets have been involved in fifteen-one goal games this season. The Rockets are 10-5-0-0 in those fifteen-one goal games…Adam Brown has started twenty-two of the last 25 games…The Rockets franchise played in its 1400th regular season game December 14th in Medicine Hat. The team has 718 regular season wins….Zak Stebner (307) is one of three Rockets with over 300 penalty minutes in their career. Mitchell Callahan (415) and Geordie Wudrick (341) are the others….Sixteen year-old Tyrell Goulbourne has joined the team. Goulbourne is playing midget hockey in Edmonton this season. He was taken in the 5th round of the 2009 draft…The Rockets are 7 and 6 in 13 games this season without Tyson Barrie in the lineup. Barrie missed seven games at the start of the season with a hip injury and six games as a member of Team Canada…