Shoot Out Loss

r The Kelowna Rockets dropped their 4^th consecutive game on Friday night.

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r The fact that two of those defeats, including Friday’s came via a decisive shoot out would be no consolation for the coaching staff and players. To make matters worse, the Rockets forced overtime with a Tyler Myers goal with just 20 seconds left in the game but couldn’t use that fortunate springboard to land in the winner’s circle.

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r In the shoot out, Lucas Gore, who stopped 38 of 42 shots during regulation time and the overtime period, stoned Jamie Benn and Mikael Backlund after allowing a goal to Colin Long. At the other end, Mark Guggenberger was beaten by Kevin Sundher and Alexander Wiklund.

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r Jamie Benn scored twice for Kelowna while Colin Long picked up a goal and an assist. It was Long who set up Myers for the game tying goal, but the official scorer had mistakenly given that assist to Cody Almond as of the time of writing.

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r The Rockets fell behind 2-0 before the first period was 10 minutes old. After Brett Ward had beaten Adam Brown with a shot from 100+ feet out, Guggenberger was called on in relief. Assistant Coach, Kim Dillabaugh spoke with Regan Barthel and Gord McGarva on the AM 1150 Post Game Show to give his take on the game.

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r “We showed some resilience tonight and that’s good anytime you’re on the road,” said Dillabaugh, who lamented his team’s failure to expand on a 3-2 second period lead.

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r “When you’re ahead like we were, you want to make sure you get the next one and show the killer instinct. But, I thought after we took the lead, we got away from doing what was working for us. We tried to be too fancy and often made one-too-many passes.”

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r Dillabaugh also commented on decision by Head Coach, Ryan Huska, to pull Brown after the Ward goal.

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r “Certainly, that’s a goal that can’t go in. Something like that gives the other team a momentum shift.  By putting someone else in net, you’re really trying to get things turned back around in your favour.”

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r Fortunately, the Rockets won’t have to wait long for a chance at redemption. They’re back on the ice Saturday in Kamloops.

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r “We’ve got to have short term memories about this game,” said Dillabaugh. “We have to get things back in order and focus on tomorrow night. We can’t dwell on this one.”

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r “Shoot outs are tough, it’s your shooters against their goalie. Tonight’s didn’t go our way. But, we earned a character point on the road and that’s what we need to build on.”

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