What's in a number?

What does NFL Hall of Famer Harry Carson, MLB Hall of Famer and Cy Young winner Don Drysdale, and the 2013/14 Kelowna Rockets have in common?   The number 53.  Harry Carson is the most successful NFL Player in history to don the number 53, and although always playing second fiddle to Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale was one of the best pitchers in the 1960's with the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers.

Drysdale broke, and set many records in his time pitching with the dodgers including 6 consecutive shut outs and 58 consecutive scoreless innings, and for his efforts, his number 53 is now retired at Dodge Stadium.

The Kelowna Rockets are setting and breaking records themselves this year, including the most wins by the franchise at 53, and most points at 110.  This is no small feat for a team that has an average age of 18.  For the most part, when you see a team with a record of 53-10-0-4, you think, "This is the year that this team built for, this is the final year in a window to win the Memorial Cup", but the thing is, you would be wrong.  As far as I am concerned, this hockey club's best window to win the Memorial Cup is next year.  Their top producers are not even 19 years old yet, and to have a team whose top players are the 16-18 core, is astounding, and almost unheard of.

In the past 10 years, there are a total of 6 teams that have hit the 53+ win mark, those teams include:
2013/14 Kelowna Rockets
2012/13 Portland Winterhawks
2010/11 Saskatoon Blades
2008/09 Calgary Hitment
2008/09 Vancouver Giants
2006/07 Everett Silvertips

To say that this is an elite group to be a part of is an understatement, because if you go back another 8 years before 2003/04 Season, you only have another 3 teams hit that mark.
1997/38 Portland Winter Hawks
1999/00 Calgary Hitmen
2000/01 Red Deer Rebels

For those keeping score at home, that's 9 teams in the past 18 years, to hit the 53+ win mark.

An impressive part about the Rockets current record, is they could not only tie a league record for road victories, but improve their wins number to 58, which would put them in an ever higher category of elite.

That being as impressive as it is, the most impressive part of this record, is that this team has done it with a schedule that would outright bury a lesser team.  The schedule this year, for the Kelowna Rockets has been nothing short of atrocious.  December was when the schedule turned from decent to an atrocity.  Starting on December 7th, after their final home game before the Christmas Break, the team set off on what would seem like a road trip to the moon and back.  They leave to do their Eastern Conference road swing, which is fine because they do it every year, however, in 27 calendar days, the Kelowna Rockets had ONE home stint.  Enter January and the endless 5 games in 4 nights, or 6 in 5, or 3 in 3.  Just this past 12 days, the team has been on the bus alone for a little less than 36 hours.  That's 1.5 days on the bus in 12 days.  Kelowna to Prince George and Back, Kelowna to Kenniwick, WA and back, Kelowna to Vancouver, down to Everett and back.  All in a stretch of 12 days ladies and gentlemen.

That schedule would have destroyed a team that was fighting for it's playoff lives, or even in an intense battle for a 6-7 seed.

This seasonal record is remarkable, and to be able to accomplish what they have, with the schedule they were handed.  I raise my glass to you fella's, this is something that will be remembered for many many years to come.  Kudos.

The Winning Way

Winning is contagious, and addictive, and once you've tasted it's sweet nectar, you want more, and more.....and more.  Last year the Kelowna Rockets set a franchise record for wins at 52, and the team wanted that again this year, and more.  They delivered in spades this weekend, not only making it the first time in franchise history that they put together back to back 50 wins seasons, but hit last years mark of 52, in 7 less games played.

Not only are they re-writing the franchise record books this year, but also those of the league as well.  currently, the Rockets have 27 road victories, good for a share in the 4th most by one team in one single season.  If the team wins out the remainder of it's road season, they will finish with 30 road victories out of 36, and be the sole owners of the record of most road victories in a single season by a single team, and looking back in the years of successful teams, that's one hell of a feat.

Is this the best Rockets team to ever hit the ice?  Hard to say if this edition stacks up with the likes of the 2003/04 team that starred, no less than 6 future NHL players including Josh Gorges, Blake Comeau and Shea Weber, but with a current record of 52-9-0-4, they sure are making a case for themselves.

However, the success of this team will be measured in the playoffs, as is the story for any and all sports organizations.  Take the Vancouver Canucks for example.  The year is 2010, the Canucks are the class of the NHL going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, yet they struggle through the first few rounds, just to lose to Boston in the Final Game of the year.  Regular Season doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Be proud of your regular season, and heck, even use it to intimidate your first round opponent, but once the puck drops in the first round of the playoffs, every single team is back to 0-0-0-0 and those 40-50 point gaps are reduced to nothing.  An even keel, and a determined 8th seed can spell disaster for even the mightiest of teams.

Will that winning addiction keep this Rockets team steaming forward to a birth in the Memorial Cup in London in May?  My gut says "Yes", my Brain says "Wait and see"

Stay Tuned!

Development League for all....but Officials?

If the past couple of months have taught me anything about the WHL that I did not yet know, it's that the officiating is below sub-par.  More times than not this year, fans are blaming refs for losses, yes, that's common in every league around the world, but to be frank, more times than not, the blame is properly placed on the WHL officials.  If you do the math, you will notice that Penalty Minutes (PIM) are down this year from last, however, that does not paint a proper picture as to the quality of officiating.  Even though PIM are down from last year, officiating is causing issues more this year than any other in recent memory.

This blog entry will come across slightly "whiney" so bare with me.  There are plenty of examples of the poor officiating across the league, but I am only aware of the recent issues the Kelowna Rockets have had with the officials, so if you know of certain games from your team, please leave a comment below with the game and the issue below so hopefully awareness is spread to those who need to be aware.  There are many examples of poor officiating with the Kelowna Rockets this year and others before it, and I will give you one of the most recent examples that I can remember.  

Last friday night, the Kelowna Rockets hosted the Prince George Cougars.  The game started out rather normally, and after the first period the Rockets had a 2 to 1 advatage on Power Play chances, rather normal wouldn't you say?  Come the end of the game, the PP Chances were 7 for PG, including THREE 5 on 3's with two of those being consecutive, and 2 for Kelowna.  To have a difference like that, against a home team, you would think the Rockets were playing dirty hockey, however, they were not.  The officials made knee-jerk reaction calls, calls on plays that did not effect the flow of the play, and missed more than I can count against both teams.  Two of the penalties that were called that night were Delay of Game, normally calls that you can't get angry at the officials for, that is, until the Referee signals the puck hit the glass, just to have his linesman come over, and initiate a 2 minute "conference" with all 4 officials to reverse the referee's decision, and this is not a rare occurance anymore.

It seems like the officials in the WHL are no longer sure of themselves, and are always relying on the back/front referee, or his linesmen, for help on most calls.  Is this a byproduct of the two referee system, and referee's with the feeling that they don't need to pay as close attention as they used to?  Or is this a byproduct of poor development, guidance and coaching?

The Western Hockey League touts itself highly not only as a development league for players and coaches alike, but also officials, who also have NHL aspirations.  The only problem with that, is the league is not putting nearly enough time and effort into the development of the officials of the WHL.  If you did the research, I am fairly certain that the amount of officials that have graduated to NHL/AHL from the WHL in the past 5 years, would be no more than 10, and that to me, indicates a problem with the systems the WHL has in place for the officials.

If the WHL wants to improve their officials, they need to invest more into the program and invest in their officials.  Right now, it feels to not only me, but many fans across the league, like these referees are told to throw on a striped jersey, a pair of skates, and tossed on the ice with a pat on the ass and a hearty "Good Luck".

It's high time the WHL Figure out their Officiating program.

Now on the Power(less) Play

The Kelowna Rockets need to get out of their own heads.  This team has gone far too long with a sub-mediocre powerplay that they are now making rookie-esque mistakes, such as making one too many passes, or not shooting when a lane opens, and closing those shooting lanes themselves by passing into ones that are clogged, and then being pressured to making a bad decision because you no longer have a passing or shooting lane.

Ryan Huska's powerplay is based on a system that puts no body in front of the goaltender, instead, moves that body to between the faceoff circles, is a smaller player, and is fed the puck from the corners and with his small size, can attempt to make something happen from there.  This system has never really worked, Huska needs to take the powerplay and try something completely different.  The past 5 years, the Rockets Powerplay has been ranked,

2013/14 - 10th (Current)
2012/13 - 4th
2011/12 - 10th
2010/11 - 11th
2009/10 - 8th

That is not a good powerplay average on a 5 year trend, and it's gotten to a point where I feel teams are coming into Prospera Place and know they can take liberties on this team, and get away with it.  That can and will spell disaster for this team in the long run.  If you're not making teams pay for taking liberties on your top players, then eventually a top 6 forward, or top 4 D-Man is going to get injured.

If the Rockets plan on going any further than the Western Conference QUARTER Finals this spring, they better figure their powerplay out, or they will  find themselves scratching their collective heads on the golf course in late march wondering what in the hell just happened.

Just ask the Seattle Thunderbirds who went 0 for 27 in last years First round playoff match vs the Kelowna Rockets

Kelowna Rockets, first team in Canadian Hockey League to win 40 games

Some teams consider a 40 win season a huge success, and is actually a stat in the record books, (Most consecutive 40 win seasons), so to say that with the victory against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the Kelowna Rockets becoming the first CHL Club to reach the 40 win benchmark in a mere 48 games is unfathomable.

There have been teams in the past that have gotten to the 40 win mark quickly, very quickly, in fact, with the 2012/13 Portland Winterhawks reaching the mark 50 games in, and prior to that, the 2008/09 Calgary Hitmen (who finished that season with a 59-9-3-1 record) reaching 40 wins in 49 games.  Prior the Rockets 40 wins in 48 games, you would have to go back almost to the 1980's before you find a club who has reached this mark any quicker (educated guess, not statistically substantiated).

What I find is making this season especially impressive, is the fact that no other team in the WHL is even challenging the Rockets for the top spot in the league.  The Rockets currently have a 13 point lead on the next closest team being the Portland Winterhawks, and they still have 1 game in hand on the Hawks.

*   *   *

The Victoria Royals continue their winning ways tonight against the Vancouver Giants, winning 3-1, trying to keep their hopes alive for catching the Kelowna Rockets for the BC Division crown.  The Royals have had the Rockets number this year, handing the Rockets 3 of their 8 losses on the season.  2 in regulation and 1 in the Shootout, including 2 of the Rockets 4 losses at home this year, and the Royals have yet to lose to the Rockets at Prospera Place this year.

That being said, I'm not sure the 14 point gap between the Rockets and the Royals is fully indicative of how a 7 game series would play out against these two rivals.  All I can say is that it would be a great series to watch.

*   *   *

Since Matthew Dumba has joined the Portland Winterhawks, the Hawks have not lost a game, winning all 4 with Dumba in the lineup.  I'm not 100% sold on the fact that Dumba is the solution to the problem on the back end of the Hawks, but it definitely adds more fire power.  As witnessed at the World Junior Championships, Dumba can, and will take a bad penalty when the going gets tough, and that might spell disaster for the Hawks in the playoffs if them and the Kelowna Rockets meet at any point.  

It's been proven that the hawks are weak on the back end when Kelowna was in Portland back on December 31 and January 2nd.  Most Hawk fans will have you believe that the team was shorthanded with their top players, but the fact is that only 1 of those players gone was a D-Man, that being Derek Pouliot.  The Winterhawks needed to do more at the deadline to bolster their D-Core, and they did, but will adding Dumba and a couple players who have never played at this level be enough to handle Kelowna's relentless onslaught of 4 line hockey?  I don't have the answer, nor will I speculate on that, all I can say is if Kelowna and Portland meet in the playoffs, it is going to be special.

Stay Tuned!

Fantastic Through the East

It's no secret how good the Kelowna Rockets are, and the Eastern Conference leading Calgary Hitmen found that out the hard way on Sunday Afternoon.  I read this week, from one of my adversaries through the years, the best test for a team is to play a contender on the 3rd game of a 3 in 3, and how you fair, is how good your team really is.  If that is the case, then the Rockets passed that test with flying colors.  Not only did they play the Eastern Leading Hitmen on the 3rd game in 3 nights, but that 3rd game was an afternoon game, with a puckdrop time of 2:00PM, esentially playing their 2nd game in less than 24 hours, with bus legs to boot.

The Kelowna Rockets looked fresher than momma's pumpkin pie at thanksgiving dinner, and the Calgary Hitmen, (who had a lenghty 12 game home ice winning streak going) looked lethargic, lacksidasical and just not good.  I don't know if chemistry was to blame, or lack-there-of from the recent trades the team made, but something seemed off.

The victory in the Saddledome topped off a successful central division road trip winning 3 games of the 4 they played (they did not play the Red Deer Rebels during this Central swing) and rebounding from a setback in Edmonton that led to the team losing back to back road games, which was the first occurance of that this year for the Rockets.  Needless to say, the team rebounded in Lethbridge with a 5-1 Victory 2 nights later.

The victory in Lethbridge, however, was not as easy as most would have thought it to be.  The #1 ranked team in the CHL taking on the worst team in the WHL was more competitive than even the experts thought it would be, for the most part.  The 'Canes brought their "A" game against the Rockets and even opened the scoring in the first period before the Rockets would tie the game going into the intermission.  The first period was as good a period as I'm sure the 'Bridge city had seen all year from this young, inexperienced team, and i will admit it even put this Rockets' fan on edge.  Later on in the game, the Rockets would flex their muscles, however, and score 5 unanswered goals to win the game 5-1, but don't let the score fool you, the Hurricanes played a fantastic game.

The game in Medicine Hat was a true test of character for the road weary Rockets, and their fatigue showed after 1 period of play, going down 3-0 to the Tigers before the end of the first period, but as this team usually does, came out in the second period and took over the game from there.  Rourke Chartier started the comeback with a goal, only 52 seconds into the 2nd stanza and the Tigers almost seemed to say to themselves "uh oh", and the giant was awoke, storming the Tigers for 4 unanswered goals before Trevor Cox would make the game interesting for the final 8 minutes of the game, but the Rockets simply set up shop at the blue line and it was all over.

The penalty kill was again, the story of the swing through the Central Division, killing off 24 of 25 penalties and continue to solidify their top penalty kill ranking at 87.7%.  The penalty kill has been the true story of the season for the Kelowna Rockets.  The first year the Rockets went to the Memorial Cup back in the 2003 season, the Rockets also led the league in Penalty Kill percentage, same can be said for the year the Rockets won the Memorial Cup.

Other similarities between this years Kelowna Rockets and past years of success is back in 2009, the last time the Rockets made a trip to the Memorial Cup.  The top competition and other Memorial Cup contender, eventually the team's opposition in the WHL Final, were the Calgary Hitmen, who are currently, like I said earlier, on top of the Eastern Conference Standings and currently in 2nd place overall in the WHL.  Another similarity to that year?  Mid season the Kelowna Rockets brought in a European by the name of Mikael Backlund, who helped the team defeat the Hitmen in the WHL Finals.  Enter, Marek Tvrdon, another Euro brought in mid season who has plans of helping push this team through the playoffs and earning a berth in London, Ontario, and the 2014 Memorial Cup Tournament.

Stay Tuned.

Open Letter to Zach Franko

To Zach Franko:

On last nights pregame show with Regan Bartel, you gave thanks to not only the Kelowna Rockets organization and your billets and friends, but also to the fans.  Well, we, the fans, would like to take this opportunity to thank you, for absolutely everything you have done for this Kelowna Rockets organization and the community.  Your smiling face, personable demeanor and downright friendliness will be missed more than you know.

From your visits to elementary schools, to your other, countless community outreaches, to your crafty play inside opposition ice, there will be no match to what you did during your time in Kelowna.  It's rare, for fans to feel the pain of a traded player, as teammates, family members or close friends do, but when you are as well liked as you were, it hits harder to home for even the fans.  To see a fan favorite traded in his final year, from a team with amazing chemistry and friendship is heartbreaking.

It's with a heavy heart that we have to say goodbye to you, Mr. Franko, but always remember, in the hearts and eyes of the fans, you are, and forever will be, a Kelowna Rocket.  We look forward to seeing you at many an alumni gatherings for some golf and friendly hockey game.

The most best of luck to you Zach Franko with the Kootenay Ice and in all your future endeavors.

Sincerely;
The Kelowna Rockets Fans