Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Rockets game notes vs. Tips

Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets enter tonight’s contest riding a two game road winning streak. The Rockets have recorded back-to-back wins over Prince George (2-0) and Chilliwack (2-1). The Rockets last loss on the road was in Prince George last Friday night in a 3-2 setback. Despite those two road wins the Rockets are just 2 and 6 in their last 8 games overall. One of those losses came back on November 13th when the Tips beat the Rockets 4-2. Overall the Rockets are 0-2-0-0 against the Tips this season, having been out-scored 9-6 in those two games. Following tonight’s game these two teams close out the seasonal series with games January 6th and February 10th. Tonight’s game is the start of a stretch where the Rockets play 7 of their next 9 games on the road. After home games Friday (Edmonton) and Saturday (Tri City) the Rockets are on the road for 6 games in 9 nights on an Eastern Conference road trip.

Seasonal Series Breakdown: The Rockets have out-shot the Tips in both games, by a combined total of 75-53. The Rockets are 4/16 (25%) on the power play in the seasonal series while the Tips are 4/11 (36.3%).
Period: 1 2 3 OT Total
Rockets: 2 2 2 0 6
Tips: 2 4 3 0 9

Last Game Recap: Shane McColgan and Tyler Halliday scored power play goals in a 4-2 home ice loss Saturday night to the Kootenay Ice. The Rockets were 2 for 8 on the power play while giving up two goals on 8 penalty killing opportunities. Adam Brown took the loss in goal making 24 saves.

Who’s Hot – Who’s Not: Brandon McMillan has no goals in his last 8 games but has points in 8 of his last 12…Shane McColgan has goals in back-to-back games (3+0=3)…Kyle St. Denis is three goals shy of his career high of 16 set two seasons ago…Geordie Wudrick has goals in two of the five games he has played with the Rockets this season and has a point in three of those five games (2+1=3). Lucas Bloodoff has not scored a goal in seven games and has just one goal in his last 15 games. Bloodoff had five goals in his first 9 games to start the season.

Game Day Tidbits: Curt Gogol leads the WHL with 99 penalty minutes this season. Gogol was suspended for five games by the WHL on Monday after a charging major against the Kootenay Ice Saturday night…Adam Brown is tied with Tri City’s Drew Owsley for the league lead in games played by a goaltender (26)….Brown has played the most minutes of any goaltender in the WHL….Brown is three games shy of the 29 he played all of last season…Mark Guggenberger is close to returning to the lineup. The 20 year-old goaltender is practicing with the team and could return as early as next week…The Rockets have been involved in thirteen (13) one goal games this season. The Rockets are 6-6-1-0 in those thirteen games…Kyle St. Denis leads the team with 8 power play goals….Mitchell Callahan and Brandon McMillan are a team high +4….Curt Gogol now has 243 career WHL penalty minutes….Brandon McMillan has a team high 21 assist, one better than Tyson Barrie’s 20…McColgan is three points back of Medicine Hat’s Emerson Item and Portland’s Nino Neiderreitter for the WHL scoring lead by rookies…Tyson Barrie is riding a career high 15 game point streak after missing 8 straight games after being injured against Kamloops on September 25th. Barrie has 5+19=24 over those fifteen games. Calgary’s Brandon Kozun has the longest point streak in the WHL this season (16)…The Rockets are 13-14-1-0 after twenty-eight games this season. Last year the Rockets were 16-12-0-0 after twenty-seven games…The Rockets have scored 89 goals in twenty-eight games this season after scoring 105 times in the teams first twenty-eight games one season ago…The Rockets have allowed 83 goals against this season after surrendering 81 goals after twenty-eight games last year…Ryan Huska has 98 regular season victories as the Rockets head coach.

Best point producers in November:
Barrie: 2+13=15
McMillan: 3+10=13
McColgan: 3+3=6
St. Denis: 5+1=6
Callahan: 2+2=4
Bloodoff: 1+3=4
Bowman: 1+3-4

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