Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Rockets game notes vs. Cougars

Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets face the Prince George Cougars for the first of eight times this season. The Rockets return the visit with back-to-back games at the CN Centre November 18th and 19th and February 3rd and 4th. These two teams met nine times last season, with five of those games being played in Kelowna. The Rockets were 4-1-0-0 at Prospera Place, out-scoring the Cougars 25-14. On the road the Rockets were 2-2-0-0 and were out-scored 10-8. Overall, the Rockets were 6-3-0-0 in the seasonal series against their BC Division rivals. These two teams met in last year’s opening round, with the Rockets sweeping the series in four games. Following tonight’s game, the Rockets open a home and home series with the Kamloops Blazers this Friday and Saturday night. Overall, the Rockets have just one win in their last nine games (1-7-1-0) and have been out-scored 39-25 over that period.

This and That: Over the last four seasons, excluding this year, the Rockets are 24-24-0-0 in the month of October….This October they are 3-7-1-0…The Rockets are winless in six straight road games (0-5-1-0) with their only win coming in Everett on September 24th…The Rockets lost seven straight road games (0-6-1-0) during the 2009-2010 season…Colton Sissons has seven goals in his first eleven games. Last season, as a WHL rookie, it took Sissons 34 games to score his seventh goal of the season….Four of his seven goals have come on the power play…Damon Severson’s five assist effort October 20th against Vancouver tied at club record set by Colin Long, when the slick skating forward had five assists in one game during the 2007-2008 campaign. Josh Gorges also had a five point game (1+4=5) in 2002-2003…Sissons has worn the ‘C’ on his jersey in all twelve regular season games this season, but has not officially been declared the captain by the hockey club ….Adam Brown is second – all-time - in games played by a Kelowna Rockets goaltender. Brown has 157 career appearances. The franchise leader is Kevin Swanson, who played in 167 games in 1998-2001…The Rockets were 4-8-0-0 after twelve games last season…The Rockets have scored 40 goals in twelve games this season after scoring just 33 goals in their first twelve games one season ago…The Rockets have allowed forty-nine goals against in twelve games this season after giving up fifty goals in the first twelve games last season….Second year forward Jason Siebert will miss the first half of this season after his broken wrist didn’t heal properly. Siebert missed the final 48 regular season games and the playoffs last season. The Abbotsford product was the team’s first overall pick in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft….The Rockets are playing their 1453rd regular season game tonight and will hit the 15 hundred mark when they host Red Deer on February 18th…The Rockets are in the midst of playing nine straight games against teams in the BC Division. This is game seven of that stretch (1-4-1-0) …Ryan Huska has 162 wins behind the Rockets bench…Ryan Donaldson made his Rockets debut Sunday in Vancouver. Donaldson was the Rockets 5th round pick from the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft…The Rockets have scored a power play goal in four straight games and are 5 for 23 (21.7%) over that period.

Who’s Hot: Shane McColgan has a nine game point streak (2+9=11)… Colton Sissons has points in nine of his first twelve games. Sissons has 7+3=10 over that period…Adam Brown has started in goal in ten of the first twelve games…Who’s Not: Zach Franko has one goal in his last ten games and has 1+1 over that stretch…Tyson Baillie has one goal in his last nine games after scoring twice in the first three games.

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