Rockets Arrive in Portland; Get Set for Game 1
Kevin Parnell – Kelownarockets.com
The Kelowna Rockets arrived in Portland on Tuesday night after the long bus trek south for the team’s WHL Western Conference semi-final series against the Winterhawks.
The Rockets will skate Wednesday before opening the series with Portland on Thursday at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon.
Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska says the team has been reviewing its regular season games with Portland as well as the Hawk’s first round series with Everett to get ready for the series.
“They’re a high end team,” said Huska. “They have a lot of skill at all positions and they have good goaltending so we’re going to have to do a good job of not trading chances with them. We’re going to try to play a game with limited turnovers.”
In the season series between Portland and Kelowna, the Winterhawks won three of four games. The team’s latest meeting in mid January was won by the Rockets.
Still the Rockets are heading in as underdogs against a Portland team that had 103 points, the third best total in the entire WHL.
Still, Huska says he likes the way the series shapes up.
“I think we’re in a good position,” he said. “We’re not expected to win this series. We’re the underdog so our guys can just go out and work hard and compete as hard as they can and see what happens at the end of the day.”
Kelowna will get a boost in the return of 20-year-old forward Evan Bloodoff, who sat out a four game suspension received for a hit in the final game of the regular season. Bloodoff, named the team’s unsung hero this year, had 22 goals in the regular season and is one of the league’s best skaters.
“It was nice having him back, he raised the tempo of practice and he raises the tempo of how we play so he will be a welcome addition,” said Huska.
The Portland games are being played in the Rose Garden, the home of the NBA’s Trail Blazers.
Game one is Thursday with game two on Sunday. Games three and four are in Kelowna next Tuesday and Wednesday.
