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.