GAME DAY: Rockets host Kamloops
SHAW is sponsoring tonight’s game and it is a fundraiser for the Kelowna Food Bank.
Anyone who brings an item has a chance to win a brand new Shaw HD – PVR.
By Doyle Potenteau – Kelowna Daily Courier
The Kelowna Rockets were an excited, galvanized group on Sunday evening. Tonight, the Kamloops Blazers will try their best to bring them down a notch.
In what will be the first of eight important games between the two B.C. Division rivals this season, the Blazers (3-4-0-1) visit the suddenly surging Rockets (2-4-0-0), who capped a surprisingly successful weekend on Sunday by defeating the Everett Silvertips 4-3. In that shootout victory, Kelowna rallied from a 3-0 deficit after two periods to earn its second win of the season.
As to why tonight‘s game is important, a look forward is needed.
As of today, the Vancouver Giants (5-3-1-0) lead the B.C. Division with 11 points, four more than Kamloops and Prince George (3-4-1-0), five more than fourth-place Chilliwack (3-3-0-0) and seven more than fifth-and-last place Kelowna. If the season runs true to form, with parity causing havoc, then most B.C. Division teams will wind up travelling through up-and-down valleys, winning one game and losing the next. Here‘s proof: the Blazers split a weekend home-and-home set with the Giants this past weekend, posting a 5-4 overtime road win on Saturday, then losing 5-4 at home on Monday.
Confusing the picture is the U.S. Division and its five strong teams. As it stands, four of those five teams, including the front-running Tri-City Americans (7-2-1-0) already have more points than four B.C. teams.
If this trend continues, it‘s a likely scenario that not one, but two B.C. Division teams will miss the playoffs. To avoid missing the post-season, these inter-division games are suddenly more important than ever.
“The difference this season is that each and every night either team can win. So you want to make sure you‘re ready to go all the time,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska. “You don‘t want to have a night where you‘re having an off-night, because you‘re not going to come out with points. So you want to make sure that you‘re always prepared and ready to play.
“That means being focused on how you have to play the game . . . maybe not so much worrying about your opposition but making sure we‘re ready to play.”
Asked if his team‘s veterans have bought into Kelowna‘s game plan of constant readiness – unlike past seasons, where the Rockets could play two periods against a lesser team and still win – Huska said yes.
“They understand how things are this season, how they‘re not quite the same as they used to be, where there‘d be one or two weak teams and players knew they weren‘t going to be in it at the end,” said Huska. “This season, everybody knows that every team can win.
“So it‘s going to be a lot tighter and there isn‘t going to be that weaker sister team this season.”
ICE CHIPS: The Rockets were without D Tyson Barrie (hamstring) for Sunday‘s game in Everett. He‘s listed as questionable for tonight‘s tilt. . . . Last season, the Blazers dominated the series, going 6-2-0-0. . . . Special teams – Power play: Kelowna, 8.1 per cent (3-for-37); Kamloops, 14.6 per cent (7-48). Penalty killing: Kelowna, 78.1 per cent (7-32); Kamloops, 75.5 per cent (12-49). . . . Top scorers – Kelowna: LW Brett Bulmer (3-1-4), RW Mitchell Callahan (2-2-4), LW Zach Franko (2-2-4) and LW Evan Bloodoff (2-1-3) and D Antoine Corbin (1-1-2). Kamloops: LW Brendan Ranford (6-6-12), C Chase Schaber (4-7-11), LW J.T. Barnett (3-4-7) and C Colin Smith (2-5-7).
