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Kelowna Rockets (WHL)

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Apocalyptic ☠ Chaos
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Buddhas Hand Canucks First-Line

Buddhas Hand

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Rockets Pound Raiders for 21st Straight Home Win

January 26, 2013

Kelowna now has the fourth longest home winning streak in WHL history after convincing sixth straight win, 6-2 over Prince Albert

Jan. 26, 2013 - Kelowna, BC

The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Prince Albert Raiders 6-2 on Saturday night, winning its 21st straight game at Prospera Place and it's sixth straight game overall.

Cody Fowlie scored twice while Tyson Baillie had a goal and two helpers in the Rockets win. Damon Severson, Jesse Lees and Ryan Olsen also scored for the Rockets, who improved to 37-10-2-1 with the win.

Check the Game Summary Here

Jordon Cooke extended his personal winning streak in the Rockets net to a team-record 20 straight wins.

"We had great energy all night long," said Rockets' coach Ryan Huska on the AM 1150 post game show. "We got everybody involved in the game and our leaders did a great job making sure everyone was ready to play."

With the victory the Rockets have tied the fourth longest home winning streak in Western Hockey League history, tying the 1968 Estevan Bruins and Flin Flon Bombers and the 1992 Kamloops Blazers. The WHL's longest home winning streak is 29, held by the '93 Blazers.

Kelowna has just a day off before heading to Kamloops to take on the Blazers on Monday night, in an important WHL BC division game.

The Rockets next home game is next Thursday against Victoria.

21 wins and counting :)

Edited by The Ratiocinator
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Nevlach Canucks Prospect

Nevlach

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This team has as good a chance as any to win the Memorial Cup this year...but as we all know anything can happen. Remember in 2009 everyone was saying Calgary was a shoe-in to win the WHL and was rated #1 in the CHL. They swept 3 straight playoff series to get to the Finals before losing to the Rockets in 6 Games. Or how about 2004 the Silvertips coming back from 0-3 down in the WCF to beat out the Rockets in 7. Junior hockey is very unpredictable. Yet this team feels a lot like the 2003 or 2009 team. I could see us winning the WHL and Memorial Cup this year. But we can't get a head of our selves.

How bout last night?? Rockets outshot PA 32-8 through the opening 40 minutes and 44-18 overall!

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Apocalyptic ☠ Chaos Abbotsford Prospect

Apocalyptic ☠ Chaos

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This team has as good a chance as any to win the Memorial Cup this year...but as we all know anything can happen. Remember in 2009 everyone was saying Calgary was a shoe-in to win the WHL and was rated #1 in the CHL. They swept 3 straight playoff series to get to the Finals before losing to the Rockets in 6 Games. Or how about 2004 the Silvertips coming back from 0-3 down in the WCF to beat out the Rockets in 7. Junior hockey is very unpredictable. Yet this team feels a lot like the 2003 or 2009 team. I could see us winning the WHL and Memorial Cup this year. But we can't get a head of our selves.

How bout last night?? Rockets outshot PA 32-8 through the opening 40 minutes and 44-18 overall!

I agree, you never know what could happen, I know we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves here, I mean for example, with the Canucks they have won two president's trophies in a row, they were first place in the west, but they didn't win the cup, so I know what you mean by this. We can just hope for an outstanding run by these guys, and enjoy what they are doing now!
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Nevlach Canucks Prospect

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Hard to be doom and gloom after overtime loss

  • Losing in overtime never feels good. But realistically, if you throw in all of the variables it is hard to feel discouraged after a 6-5 overtime loss last night to the Kamloops Blazers. The Rockets were playing their fourth game in five night's and simply ran into penalty trouble. When you are not sharp mentally, which fatigue plays a factor, you take undisciplined penalties that normally you wouldn't take. I am not here to make excuses, but the game was clearly decided on the power play. Had the Rockets not taken those trips to the penalty box, the chances of the Blazers scoring three even strength goals were slim. I thought the Rockets were the better team five on five. Only when the Blazers had the extra man on the ice were they able to dominate the play.
  • Sure, the Rockets gave up two - two goal leads in the third period, but at the end of the day with the schedule this team has endured in January, picking up a point in a building where the home team has lost just four times in regulation is a pretty decent accomplishment. I could come on this blog and be negative after the loss, but honestly I can't. Against elite teams like Kamloops their is a fine line between winning and losing. You can't take bad penalties, you need great goaltending and you need a good response from your own specialty teams unit. The Rockets fell short in those three areas and still managed a point. Tough to leave the Interior Savings Centre feeling glum when you look at the big picture of how the visiting team played.
  • The Rockets could have won this game as easily as the Blazers. Zach Franko hits the goal post in overtime on the teams only shot on goal. It was one of three goal posts and two breakaways the visiting team failed to convert on.
  • The coaches won't complain about it, but I thought the penalty in overtime was questionable. In a tied game, against two marquee teams, Rockets forward Dylen McKinlay attempts to check Blazers forward Tim Bozon with his stick in the neutral zone. Bozon goes down, what I would consider easily, and the Blazers go to the power play. Good on Bozon for going down. Veteran move. That call essentially put a gun to the head of the Rockets. If the call went the other way the Blazers would have been pleading for mercy. It's a death sentence. Kamloops is an elite team that when given the power play chance, specifically on a 4 on 3, will beat you. In my opinion the tough penalty to take was the slash Carter Rigby took when the Rockets had a 5-3 lead. It gave the Blazers momentum and the game tilted in their favor after that.
  • A tough night for the goaltenders. Cole Cheveldave fought the puck and was suspect on Rigby's second period goal which made the score 5-3. Cheveldave even had one squeeze past him, and with a fresh sheet of ice, the puck may have slowly slid past the goal line. It is safe to say Jordon Cooke had his struggles too. JC Lipon's wrister from just inside the blue line less than a minute into the third period would have been stopped 99 percent of the time. Instead the shot beat him blocker side and the Rockets two goal lead was reduced to one. But, lets not forget Cooke's tremendous save against Blazers d-man Marek Hrbas on a grade 'A' chance in overtime. It should have been game over, but Cooke came up large. It was Cooke's first loss in 21 starts. That is a WHL record, even though that achievement isn't technically kept by the league.
  • Chase Suoto scored the game winner after he redirected a puck - in the air - from a point shot. I have mentioned on this blog before that I've been impressed by Suoto's improvement as a player. He came into the WHL wanting to be a scrapper, to antagonize and be a disturber but concussions have likely forced him to change his game. The change has been for the better.
  • Blazer forwards Colin Smith and Tim Bozon receive a lot of positive press for the dynamic plays they make. What shouldn't be lost is the contribution that Matt Needman and Cole Ully make. Blazers fans can disagree with me if they want, but I thought 5 on 5, Needman and Ully were more affective.
  • I predicted this season that Brendan Ranford would score 50 goals this season. The Blazers sharp shooter is no where near that total. It has been a tough season for the 20 year-old, who looked like a 50 goal man last night with 1+2=3.
  • It would be interesting to know how many wins/points the Blazers have earned with late third period rallies. They are the kings of the third period comeback. Either they score the tying goal late or score the game winner. In the two wins against the Rockets, the Blazers have scored the tying goal or game winner with 33 second left (3-2 win Sept 22) and the tying goal with 22 second left (last night) in regulation time. Interesting to note that both those goals were scored on the power play.
  • These two teams are evenly matched. It would make for an outstanding playoff series where home ice advantage would be crucial. My gut feeling is these two won't meet in the post season though, so enjoy the final five meetings of the season between the two teams.
  • For the credibility of the three stars, I think the Blazers organization has to rethink their approach. Whoever selects them must take a more balanced approach. Giving the Blazers all three stars looks bad on them. If you want to go that way, mention that the 'Blazers three stars are' and take that approach. My good friend Jon Keen, who see's the game very well, gave Rockets forward Myles Bell the third star on his broadcast.
  • A few more positive notes. The overtime loss still earned a point for the Rockets, who moved within three points of Portland for first place in the overall WHL standings.
  • The Rockets lead in the BC Division was reduced by just one, so they still have a 7 point lead on Kamloops with a game in hand.
  • With one game left in January, the Rockets are 11-0-2-0 in the month. Can you honestly be critical of that record? If you do, please go see a doctor.

    From Regan Bartel's blog

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SkeeterHansen Canucks Third-Line

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Can't wait, 5 more meetings between these teams this year. Gonna be an unreal race to the finish.

Honestly, I can see why Kelowna is 7 points ahead of us, only 3 behind Portland, and have won something like 21 straight at home. Perfect passes, outstanding positional play...the PK is a little suspect, but nothing that can't be worked on....the team looks playoff ready. In all honesty, I hope someone else knocks 'em out of the playoffs (by some stroke of luck) because I don't see the Blazers as being able to contend with the Rockets in a 7 game series.

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Nevlach Canucks Prospect

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Dylen McKinlay could remember a time when Prospera Place haunted the visiting team.

The home rink of the Kelowna Rockets then featured a team with soon-to-be NHL regulars in Jamie Benn, Tyler Myers and Mikael Backlund alongside outstanding juniors Cody Almond and Colin Long. The 2008-09 Rockets had a decided home-ice advantage five seasons ago, and a team like McKinlay's Chilliwack Bruins would need four visits before narrowly edging out the home side in a shootout.

"That was a tough place to play," McKinlay recalled. "I think when they lost those players maybe it went down a bit."

It was a slow decline in the seasons that followed. Home-ice dominance in British Columbia's interior began dissipating, and eventually turned into a sub-.500 record last season. Suddenly, the tough rink where visiting teams could mostly only hope to walk away with points became one where road teams collectively won more than the home team.

"Last year, I was with Kootenay and came in and we won here," McKinlay said. "I guess last year was easier."

It became such a troubling trend for the Rockets that head coach Ryan Huska and team captain Colton Sissons took it to heart in their discussions during the summer.

"We knew that our rink wasn't a very difficult rink to play in for the past few seasons," Sissons said.

McKinlay, who was acquired from Kootenay in September, would soon learn his new team yearned to return to those days. The crowd at Prospera Place had always made for an intimidating opposition, but the team they backed wasn't backing up their enthusiasm last season.

The Rockets finished with a 16-18-0-2 mark at home in 2011-2012, the first sub-.500 season on home ice since 1999-2000. Huska knew a return to prominence coincided almost entirely with success at home.

"You have to make your home days count," he said. "All the top teams have great home records. We wanted to try to bring our crowd back into the game. We wanted to bring some excitement into it and, most importantly, we wanted our players to bring back the pride they have in the front of the jersey and that's something that's been important to our guys."

Success didn't come immediately, as the Rockets lost two of their first three home games this season. That's also where the losing stopped. The Rockets restored home-ice dominance with a current run of 21 straight wins at Prospera Place. The previous record in Kelowna was 18, while the franchise record is 24 from the team's days in Tacoma, Wash.

The Rockets have enjoyed so much success this season, even their captain couldn't have envisioned this type of dominance when he discussed the issue with his teammates.

"We're all pretty surprised in our dressing room about it," Sissons said. "That's one thing we focused on coming into camp and we did a great job turning that around."

Huska acknowledges a streak such as theirs requires some luck and a few bounces, but the main ingredient to the Rockets' success is the style in which they play. Like the rankings before the season began, opposing teams hadn't thought of the Rockets as one of the league's elite.

"I think we caught a lot of teams by surprise," Huska said. "We don't get any easy games here (anymore). Everybody's coming in with their best games, which is forcing us to be better every night."

What makes the Rockets so difficult to play against is their balanced lineup. As Huska and Sissons readily admit, there's no superstar in Kelowna. But a team with four solid lines trumps one team laden with a few superstars and lacking depth.

"Any given night, we have a different line stepping up," Huska said. "If somebody does get shut down so far this year, we've had other lines that have stepped up and contributed. I think it makes us harder to play against, because you can't key in on one or two lines because we have all sorts of different guys that can generate offence."

McKinlay noticed his new team's depth quickly when a different line adorned the top of the rotation before almost every game.

"I've never been on a team where we have four lines that can contribute and produce every night," he said, adding such an approach helps team morale. "There's no cancer on our team or no one that doesn't hang out with the group. We're definitely very tight."

The bond with the community is just as tight. The pride in wearing the Rockets uniform is restored, just as is the pride with fans eager to share their enthusiasm when encountering players outside of the rink.

"That makes it all worth it at the end of the day," said Sissons, "when people take time like that to let you know that you're doing something right."

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/2013/01/31/king_kelowna_rockets_success_at_prospera_place/

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