Rockets over Giants
r By Doyle Potenteau – Kelowna Daily Courier
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r No one saw this coming. Not even head coach Ryan Huska.
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r At Vancouver, Geordie Wudrick had two goals for Kelowna, including the game winner late in the third period, as the Rockets squandered a 3-0 lead en route to a wild 4-3 victory over the Giants in WHL action on Friday night.
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r That Kelowna took a 3-0 lead after seven minutes was surprising itself. That the Rockets survived a Vancouver comeback, one where the home team tied the game midway through the second period, was even more surprising.
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r But surprising as it was, the Rockets were full value in the win.
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r “No, we couldn‘t have (predicted that start),” said Huska, Kelowna‘s bench boss, whose team pushed its points total to 74 to secure sixth place in Western Conference standings. Also Friday, the Kamloops Blazers (70) lost 5-1 to Prince George and cannot catch the Rockets, meaning Kelowna will play a U.S. team in the first round of the playoffs, and not the B.C. Division champion Giants.
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r Although, after beating Vancouver twice in their last two meetings, a first-round meeting with the G-Men would seem ideal.
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r “We had a couple of bounces early and some nice finishes,” continued Huska. “But our penalty kill let us down tonight and they got back in the game. But the guys stuck with it and managed to get the win.”
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r Brandon McMillan, with a goal and an assist, and California rookie Shane McColgan, who opened Friday‘s scoring at 3:15 of the first period with his 25th goal of the season, also scored for Kelowna (34-31-2-4). The Rockets, who have won five of their past seven games, close out their regular-season schedule tonight at home to Prince George (12-56-1-2).
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r Game time at Prospera Place is 7 p.m.
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r “(Playing Vancouver) in the playoffs, well, you never know,” said Huska. “Maybe there‘s a chance in the second round . . . who knows? But against Prince George, we can‘t play just to close (out the season). We don‘t want to have any bad habits going into the playoffs, so we‘re going to play to win for short- and long-term success.”
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r Milan Kytnar, Neil Manning and Brendan Gallagher replied for Vancouver (40-25-2-3). Adam Brown made 29 saves for the Rockets, while Mark Segal made 25 saves for the Giants.
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r The Blazers‘ loss pushed them to eighth, while the Chilliwack Bruins (71) leapfrogged to seventh with a 4-3 overtime loss to Portland.
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