Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets and Cougars are meeting for the second time this season. These two teams last met on October 10th with the Rockets earning a 7-1 win. Following tonight’s game these two teams will clash in Prince George November 20th and 21st. The Rockets are 1 and 1 during a four game home stand. The Rockets were a 4-1 winner over Calgary, yet dropped a one goal decision to Spokane (4-3 L). The Rockets conclude the home stand Friday against Chilliwack before facing the Blazers in Kamloops Saturday night. Following the home stand the Rockets play 14 of their next 19 games on the road. The Rockets are 12 and 3 in their last 15 regular season meetings against the Cougars at Prospera Place.
Representing the ‘Dub’: Two members of the Rockets will play for the WHL when a touring Russian team makes a stop in Victoria and Kelowna next month as part of the Subway Super Series. Brandon McMillan will be joined by teammate Tyson Barrie. McMillan will play in the game in Kelowna on November 26th while Barrie will play in both games. Ryan Huska is an assistant coach for both games along with Giants bench boss Don Hay.
Last Game Recap? Tyson Barrie scored twice in a 4-3 loss to the Spokane Chiefs last Friday night. Shane McColgan picked up two assists and was a +3. Adam Brown was sharp making 31 saves in the loss. The Rockets were out-shot 35-34 with the home team going 0 for 4 on the power play while the Chiefs were 2 for 4 with the man advantage.
One man up: The Rockets have scored twenty-one power play goals (21/73=28.8%) in their last thirteen games. The Rockets have scored a power play goal in thirteen of the sixteen games this season. They failed to score a power play goal against Kamloops September 25th, Tri City October 23rd and against Spokane October 30th. The Rockets own the 5th best power play in the league.
Who’s Hot – Who’s Not: Brandon McMillan has points in eight of the nine games he’s played this season. McMillan returned last Friday after missing 6 games with a cracked bone in his foot. McMillan has 4+11=15 this season. Stepan Novotny has points in 11 of the 16 games this season. Shane McColgan had his ten game point streak snapped against Vancouver October 25th. McColgan had (6+11=17) over that period. Kyle St. Denis has fifteen points in his last twelve games (8+7=15). Lucas Bloodoff has goals in five of his last eleven games.
Game Day Tidbits: The Rockets have been involved in seven-one goal games this season. The Rockets are 3-3-1-0 in those seven games…In the Rockets next four games they face a team with a .500 or worse record…In their next 12 games only four of those teams are .500 or better…In the month of November the Rockets will play 12 games in 24 nights…Rookie defenseman MacKenzie Johnston earned his first career point, an assist, in last Friday’s loss to the Spokane Chiefs. Johnston’s assist came on Mitchell Callahan’s 3rd period goal….Stepan Novotny leads the team with 6 power play goals….Mitchell Callahan is a team high +7….Curt Gogol has 190 career WHL penalty minutes. ..Shane McColgan has a team high 15 assist, four better than Brandon McMillan’s 11…McColgan is a point back of Medicine Hat’s Emerson Item for the WHL scoring lead by rookies. Item has played four more games….Tyson Barrie is riding a 4 game point streak after missing 8 straight games after being injured against Kamloops on September 25th. Barrie has 3+6=9 over those four games…The Rockets are 8-7-1-0 after sixteen games this season. Last year the Rockets were 9-7-0-0 after sixteen games…The Rockets have scored 62 goals in sixteen games this season after scoring 61 times in the teams first sixteen games one season ago…The Rockets have allowed 56 goals against this season after surrendering 50 goals after sixteen games last year…Ryan Huska has 93 regular season victories as the Rockets head coach.
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