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.

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