Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets and Blazers are meeting for the 8th time this season. The Rockets are just 2-4-1-0 against Kamloops, having been out-scored 28-17 in the first seven games. After tonight these two teams will conclude the seasonal series with games March 7th and 16th at Prospera Place. The Rockets have been shutout twice by the Blazers this season (5-0 and 3-0). In four of the seven games the winning team has scored no less than 5 goals. The Rockets are coming off a 4-0 loss in the Tri Cities last night, their 7th straight loss on the road. Following tonight’s game the Rockets are back on the road concluding three games in three nights with a stop in Vancouver Sunday afternoon (game time 5 o’clock). The Rockets have points in three of their last four games (2-1-1-0) and four of their last 8 games (2-4-2-0).
Seasonal Series Scoring Breakdown:
Period 1 2 3 OT Total
Rockets 4 6 6 1 17
Blazers 5 9 13 1 28
Seasonal Series Power Play Breakdown:
Rockets: 4/49 =8.2% * The Rockets have failed to score a power play goal in 4 of the 7 games.
Blazers: 13/62=21% * The Blazers have scored a power play goal in all 7 games.
Shots on Goal Tally:
Rockets: 121 or an average of 17.3 per game
Blazers: 239 or an average of 34.1 per game *The Blazers have out-shot the Rockets in all 7 games.
Bringing it from the Blue: While Rockets defenseman have scored 17 of the clubs 121 goals this season (14%), the d-men have generated 81 total points. By comparison the Kamloops Blazers had 44 goals from defenseman and 175 total points from the blue line heading into the weekend.
It’s Not all Bad: While the Rockets may have lost starting goaltending Kristofer Westblom for the remainder of the season with a left knee injury, a doctor appointment Wednesday showed no damage to his ACL. That essentially means he won’t require surgery on a knee that suffered an MCL tear. Westblom will remain on crutches for another 2 weeks before undergoing rehab. Westblom says he could be back in 8 weeks, but the team is taking a more cautious approach for a return date in about 12 weeks.
Number Crunching: The Rockets have been involved in 3 straight games involving shutouts, thanks to back-to-back shutouts over Vancouver and Portland and a shutout loss in the Tri Cities Friday night….The Rockets have now been shutout 9 times this season…The Rockets are 69 and 49 all time in the WHL playoffs since moving to Kelowna. They have beaten the Spokane Chiefs and Kootenay Ice the most times in post season play with 13 victories. Oddly enough the Rockets have also lost the most times to the Chiefs in the playoffs with 10 setbacks…The Rockets have 13 players on their roster drafted in the WHL bantam draft, including five from 2005 and five from the 2004 draft…In the Rockets 15 wins this season the teams power play is 18% or 21 for 117…The Rockets have called up 16 year old Daniel Salamandyk to backup Torrie Jung. Salamandyk is playing this season with the Okanagan midget Rockets…The Rockets have just one win in their last 12 road games (1-9-2-0)…The Rockets are 10-13-2-0 in 25 games against BC division opponents this season…The Rockets have been involved in 20 – one goal games this season. In those games the Rockets are 7-5-5-3…The Rockets have been held to a single goal 14 times this season, 7 times at home, 7 times on the road.
Time Ticking Down: With 17 games left in the regular season the Rockets have 9 games at home and 8 games on opposition ice. The Rockets have 11 games left against BC division opponents, 4 games against US division clubs and one against Central division foes.
Who’s Hot – Who’s Not: Tyler Myers has points in 3 of his last 4 games (3A). Myles MacRae has scored 50% more goals this season than last year. MacRae has 10 goals after scoring just 5 a year ago. Chris Ray has just one point (1G) in his last 12 games. Luke Schenn has just 2 assists in his last 14 games. Justin Bernhardt has 1+5=6 in his last 6 games. Cody Almond has just one goal in his last 21 and has gone 18 games without a goal. Lucas Bloodoff has no points in his last 12 games. Clayton Barthel has one point (1G) in his last 9 games.
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