Monday, October 18, 2010

Barrie's back and five time Stanley Cup champ coming

  • Kelowna Rockets defenceman Mitchell Chapman should learn today how long he will be suspended after a kneeing incident Friday in Chilliwack. Chapman didn't play in Saturday's game against the Portland Winterhawks and could miss games against Vancouver, Everett and possibly Brandon this week.
  • While Chapman won't play Wednesday, Tyson Barrie will. The Rockets team captain says he plans to be on the ice when the Rockets host the Giants. Oddly enough, it was against the Giants in Vancouver that Barrie last laced up the skates.
  • In watching Ty Rattie's second goal of the game Saturday night, the shot wide of the net by teammate Sven Bartschi from the top of the right face-off circle has to be a designed play. The slap shot misses the net but comes off the end boards and goes directly onto the stick of Rattie, who bangs it past Adam Brown. Few teams can execute that play but the Hawks have enough skill to make it look easy.
  • It was tough watching fans Saturday heading to the exits at the 10 minute mark of the third period. I haven't seen that happen in Kelowna in years.
  • The Chilliwack Bruins were awarded 13 shots on goal after the first period buzzer sounded in Friday's 4-3 loss to the Rockets. Yet when the two teams skated onto the ice for the second period the Bruins had 15. Interesting.
  • Outside of two games in Portland October 29th and 30th, the Rockets do not play a game outside of the province of BC for the next five weeks.
  • If you missed it, former Kelowna Rockets forward Colin Long is playing with the East Coast Hockey League's Las Vegas Wranglers.
  • Outside of this season, when was the last time the Rockets lost four of their first five home games? It was the start of the 2007-08 campaign when the Rockets had only one win in five home games. The team was technically1-3-1-0 at Prospera Place to start the season.
  • It's interesting to see seven out of the top ten point producers in the WHL are from the Western Conference. Two Red Deer Rebels and a Swift Current Bronco spoil the clean sweep of what many people still consider the 'concentrate on defense conference'.
  • Glenn Anderson is coming to Kelowna. Anderson will be the guest speaker for the Okanagan College's fundraising breakfast at the Coast Capri Hotel October 28th. Anderson was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 2008 and won five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers.
  • With the Rockets playing six games in 9 days, I didn't even have a chance to view the WHL 'Plays of the Week' until Sunday night. Rockets forward Shane McColgan was awarded the best goal of the week after his shootout marker against the Everett Silvertips.

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