Rockets Skate Back to Prospera
r John Allen Photo
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r By Kevin Parnell – Kelownarockets.com
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r The Kelowna Rockets and Tri-City Americans continue their WHL Western Conference semi-final series Tuesday and Wednesday night at Prospera Place in Kelowna.
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r The Rockets earned a split in the first two games of the series in Kennewick, Washington, winning 3-2 after an opening game 5-3 loss to Tri-City, sending the series back to Kelowna knotted at 1-1.
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r In Kelowna this week the Rockets will be looking to use its home ice advantage with the coaches looking for a complete game.
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r "I think as long as we play hard for 60 minutes, really focus on keeping our game very simple and try as much as we can to play in the offensive zone then we will give ourselves a chance to win," said Rockets' head coach Ryan Huska.
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r The series rested Sunday and Monday as the team's prepared for the next set of back to back games. Tri-City features plenty of speed as well as the top ranking in the WHL Western Conference coming into playoffs.
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r "They're a challenging opponent becuase they have a great transition game and a lot of speed," said Huska. "Their speed makes them difficult to play against. It's our job to slow them down and not let them skate."
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r Goalie Mark Guggenberger made 35 saves in the game two win while veterans Lucas Bloodoff, Brandon McMillan and Spencer Main hit the scoresheet.
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r The Rockets playoff tenacity in first beating Everett and now taking on Tri-City—two teams that each finished with 97 points—could stem from a challenging year that featured plenty of injuries and both winning and losing streaks.
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r "Our team has been very resilient," said Huska. "Part of that came from the ups and downs we had during the regular season. If they find themselves down a few goals or up a few goals it doesn't bother them. That's a good thing to have at this time of the year."
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r After games three and four Tuesday and Wednesday, the series shifts back to Tri-City for game five Friday night. Game six, if necessary, is Sunday (5 p.m.) in Kelowna and game seven would be Tuesday April 13 in Tri-City.
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