Opposing goalies receive 1st star status

• The Kelowna Rockets did a good job this week. They did a good job of making opposing goaltenders look pretty darn good.  In a 3-2 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday night, Daniel Wapple was named the first star in a losing cause. A night later, this time on the road in a 4-2 loss to Seattle, Brandon Glover made 37 saves and again earned first star honours.  Both goaltenders did what they had to do - stop the puck - but often the Rockets made them look good by shooting at them, not around them. Seventy three (73) shots over two games should be enough to score more than just five goals.

• Myles Bell closed out the month of November with 16 points in 12 games and then promptly opened the month of December with a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the T-Birds. Bell now has 18 goals and has tied his point total from all of last season.     

• I always wonder what happens when a team plays six games in nine nights and the mental mistakes those create to a particular player who usually doesn’t find himself in that position. I thought that was the case on two of the T-Birds goals where a defenceman falls down for no apparent reason creating a two-on-one. Both miscues result in goals against and are the difference between a win and a loss.

• Despite a rough start Saturday night, which saw the Rockets down 2-0 after 20 minutes, it was a heck of a comeback for a team that typically plays with the lead. A goal from rookie Rourke Chartier followed by a wonderful set up by Ryan Olsen for Myles Bell’s team leading 18^th of the season had the Rockets on even terms late in the third period.  The killer was giving up the game winner less than a minute later when Seattle d-man Shea Theodore fired a point shot that seemed to change directions past goaltender Jackson Whistle. It was Whistle’s first loss of the season after going six straight starts with a win.

• The Rockets won’t give up four goals often. If they do it usually equates into a loss. It did Saturday night. It also did October 27^th in a 5-3 loss in Edmonton. The Rockets went 12 straight games without surrendering more than three goals against.

• The Rockets played Saturday’s game without captain Colton Sissons. Sissons, who centres Kelowna’s number one line with Bell and Dylen McKinlay, was hurt Friday after being checked from behind. Sissons hopes to get healthy in a hurry as his name will likely be added to a list of players that will be invited to take part in Team Canada’s main camp in Calgary later this month. The Rockets also missed the services of Carter Rigby, who was suspended one game for his involvement in a skirmish at the buzzer in Fridays win against the Warriors. Rigby was suspended because he was not on the ice when the buzzer sounded, yet got involved in an altercation at the conclusion of the game.

• Six. Count them. Six. The Rocket hit six cross bar and posts on the weekend.  A little puck luck wouldn’t have hurt. Twenty year-old J.T Barnett was particularly snake bitten Saturday in Seattle. Barnett hit a cross bar, failed to convert after splitting two T-Bird defenseman in the second period and saw a shot beat Glover before going dangerously towards the goal line but staying out.             

• If you are wondering, Myles Bell led all Rockets in November with 16 points (8+8=16). Ryan Olsen had 10 points (8+2=10) while Rourke Chartier was third with (5+4=9).

• Saturday’s loss against Seattle is the first of 11 games in December. Of those 11, seven will be played on the road. The only four home games are against Swift Current, Prince George, Kamloops and Everett.