No secrets in game seven

• Tips head coach Craig Hartsburg told me this morning that 19 year-old Radko Gudas will play tonight. Gudas has missed the last four games with a shoulder injury. Gudas was seen taking light contact on his shoulder during this mornings workout at Comcast Arena. Gudas, a Western Conference second team all-star, led the Tips with a +45 rating and collected 151 penalty minutes. I would be surprised if he made those big open ice hits that we are accustomed to seeing, but never say never.
• Hartsburg also confirmed to me that d-man Chris de la Lande won't play. The 19 year-old was hurt in game three in Kelowna.
• Do you need to be motivated for game seven? You shouldn't. As a player, this is what you thirst for. You want nothing more than to play in a one game showdown where your hockey season is on the line. Few players get to experience a game seven at this level. The 40 players (18 skaters and two goaltenders x2) participating tonight should consider themselves the lucky few.
• The Rockets should be playing for the crest on the front of their jersey, but indeed it goes far beyond that in my view. Play for injured forward Cody Chikie, who will most certainly see some playing time in the second round if his team indeed advances. Chikie's season was essentially over once he broke his collar bone late in the season. That could all change with a gutsy effort from his teammates in game seven.
• Play for Kyle St. Denis. St-D would give a bad shoulder or a bum knee for a clear head. St. Denis would take any one's spot, backup goaltender included, to be on the Rockets bench tonight wearing his Rockets uniform. Feel fortunate you are in the lineup in game seven and play like it.
• I thought Tips head coach Craig Hartsburg said it best when explaining what the Rockets have that his team doesn't. He said, "the Rockets have intangibles that we don't. They play with grit, something we are learning to play with." The Rockets have the experience of playing in pressure packed games.
• All that's left is the opening face-off. May the team with the best determination, desire and work ethic win. The team that puts it all on the line tonight deserves to move on. It should be the best game of the series.