Thursday, November 25, 2010

Brown and the temperature headed in same direction

  • Adam Brown's goals against average and the mercury in the Okanagan are headed in the same direction. It's going down...down....down. But while the temperatures plummet, Brown is red hot. The 19 year-old saw his average in the month of November drop to 1.96 thanks to a 32 save performance in the Kelowna Rockets 6-1 win over the Regina Pats Wednesday night. Brown is now 8 and 1 in November and is a sure bet to be considered for the CHL Goaltender of the Month. Named the games second star, Brown again made several timely saves in the teams 13th win of the season.
  • Geordie Wudrick scored three times in the win and now has two-three goal games in his last seven and nine goals over that period. Wudrick would open the scoring late in the first period and would close the scoring with his hat trick goal with .7 seconds left on the clock. Wudrick appears to be prospering with line-mate Evan Bloodoff. Wudrick started the season with one goal in his first 13 games.
  • It was Wudrick's third career hat trick.
  • Don't let the score fool you. This was a 3-1 game with 52 seconds remaining in the third period. Mitchell Callahan, into an empty net, Andreas Stene and Wudrick score three goals in the final 52 seconds to make it a 6-1 final.
  • While three goals in 52 seconds sounds impressive, the WHL record is 12 seconds set by the Kelowna Rockets in February of 1996 when Jason Deleurme, Brett McLean and Tyler Prosofsky scored three goals in that span. The Rockets beat Prince George 11-2.
  • The Pats top line which featured Jordan Weal and Carter Ashton were the most dangerous, but Ashton took two bad penalties that resulted in power play goals. Ashton, a first round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, was a team worst -3.
  • I felt bad for Pats goaltender Damien Ketlo. At the end of the night it will look like he struggled, but that clearly was not the case. Ketlo made some nice saves and essentially allowed his team to be in a two goal game late in the contest. Goaltending was not the problem on this night in my opinion. A lack of support from his teammates and missed chances in the offensive zone were the Pats downfall.
  • Mitchell Callahan had a goal and an assist giving him 101 points on his WHL career. Callahan earned his 100th point on Damon Severson's second period power play goal.
  • Andreas Stene has goals in back-to-back games. Before the game it was announced that Stene and teammate Gal Koren will play for their respective countries at the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championship.
  • I had a chance to meet Pats assistant coach Shaun Sutter before the game. He had nothing but kind words to say about this blog. I saw Pats president Brent Parker before the game in the media room, but didn't have a chance to say hello.
  • When you do research before the game you often find out something you never knew. As an example, did you know that Kyle St. Denis was taken ahead of Jordan Eberle in the WHL Bantam Draft? The Pats took St. Denis in the 5th round and Eberle in the 7th.
  • Don't forget tonight (November 25th) Rockets' players will be at the Keg to raise funds for the Spirit Foundation. The players will be serving tables in the bar and dining room between 6 and 8 pm will all tips being donated to the Keg Spirit Foundation. The Foundation has raised about 5 million dollars nationally over the last couple of years for a number of children's and mentorship type charities like Kelowna's Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

11 comments:

MG said...

"The Pats took St. Denis in the 5th round and Eberle in the 7th."

Kinda of puts our squabbling about Corbin for a third round pick into perspective. At the age which these children are drafted into the WHL anything could happen with a player taken in any round as the development years before they can play might or might not do wonders.

I stll don't like the trade :)

Ryan said...

You will like the trade less with Corbin getting 2 more points last night. 6 in 4 games for a guy not good enough to beat our Johnson, Wall, Chapman and Smith. Mind-boggling.

Regan Bartel said...

No question the Raiders win this trade short term. But do they win it long term? Lets see who that 3rd rounder is and then we can debate.

MG said...

Sometimes trades are more about getting rid of a guy than getting something for him, maybe this was case, maybe not, but Hamilton is no dummy and must have his reasons.

Lets hope we get a real stud in the future.

Aly said...

I also want to add that sometimes a player needs to be traded to get fired up.. We seem to be doing fine without him

Jared Comeau said...

Let's look at our past 10 years of 3rd round picks and then tell me we won this trade.

2010 - Tyson Baillie ???
2009 - Ryan Berlin (Who?)
2008 - Tanner Clark (Who?)
2007 - Traded
2006 - Jonas Lapushinsky (Who?)
2005 - Traded
2004 - Brendan Lines (Who?)
2003 - Colin Joe (LOL...Who?)
2002 - Nathan Pederson (Sigh....Who?)
2001 - Brennon Ewen (..........)
2000 - Kyle Gailey

Regan......we got hosed..........

Unknown said...

i could not agree more aly , corbin is doing fine where he,s at and we keep winning ....

Unknown said...

i could not agree more aly corbin is doing fine where he,s at and we keep winning ....

Regan Bartel said...

Third round struggles, no question.

daryl said...

my take on the Corbin trade is he wanted an opportunity to play and in Kelowna that wasn't going to happen... so he asked to be traded and the organization agreed... His numbers in PA are a result of a change of scenery and a team with the williness and space to give him ice time...good for him and PA and this organization isn't exactly hurting as a result... we're winning and playing pretty well defensively and developing a couple pretty good looking 16 yr olds along side with Barrie... all speculation on my part but that's my take... I really liked Corbin's shot but we're not hurting as a result of the trade and nobody knows who we might get with that third rounder...

Gord McGarva said...

Brett Bulmer Round 11, 223rd overall. That one worked out well.

Brett Bulmer 2010 NHL Draft - Round 2, 39th overall to the Minnesota Wild.

Lorne Frey and his scouting team find many great draft picks.

There will always be good and poor draft picks, selecting kids that young can not be easy. Some good ones even get missed by every team.

Mitchell Callahan, try out in 2008. Selected by Detroit in 2009, Round 6, 180th overall.

A few players selected high in the draft never even report.