- Evan Bloodoff was due. After going 17 games without a goal, the 20 year-old celebrated the end of the longest scoring drought of his career with the game winner in the Kelowna Rockets 2-1 overtime win Saturday night over the Prince George Cougars. The goal was the result of Bloodoff passing the puck to teammate Tyson Barrie just inside the blue line on a two-on-one. Barrie fired a shot at Cougars goaltender James Priestner, who bobbled the puck, before Bloodoff crashed the net and poked in the rebound. It was Bloodoff's 3rd goal of the season.
- The Rockets moved one game above the .500 mark for the first time this season. Now 12-11-0-0, the Rockets find themselves in 3rd place in the BC Division and 7th place in the Western Conference.
- After a terrible start followed by a solid second period in a 4-2 win Friday night over the Cougars, things would be reversed Saturday night. The Rockets took the play to the Cougars scoring the first goal just 15 seconds into the opening face-off. Andreas Stene scored his first career goal to give the Rockets the early lead. The second period saw the Rockets register just three shots on goal with the first of those three coming with about 6 minutes left in the period. Fortunately the Rockets regained their footing in the third, forcing overtime.
- The Rockets can thank goaltender Adam Brown for getting them to overtime. Brown made several tremendous saves, including a right pad save off of Spencer Asuchak in the second period. With Brown essentially on his stomach and the puck on Asuchak's stick at the side of the net, Brown flared out his pad and denied the Cougars forward of a sure goal. Brown is simply in a zone right now and few are playing better at the position than the 19 year-old.
- Tyson Barrie collected two assists, giving him 188 career points. Those two points moves him past Burt Henderson and into first place as the Rockets all-time leader in points among defenceman.
- Geordie Wudrick celebrated his 300th career game Saturday night with a solid preformance. Wudrick played alongside Evan Bloodoff and Andreas Stene, creating the Rockets best line in this game.
- Another disappointing crowd at the CN Centre Saturday night. Just over 16 hundred took in the game. If I was a betting man, that number could have been closer to one thousand.
- The Rockets have now won 8 of their last nine games with the only blemish being a 4-0 loss in Kamloops last Saturday. With 11 games before Christmas, the team will play seven of them on the road.
- On the way home, at the strike of midnight, teammates paused the movie they were watching and sang happy birthday to Evan Bloodoff. He officially turned 20 Sunday morning.
- Thanks for baring with me this weekend as I am still trying to shake off this cold. Part of the battle is excessive coughing, which takes away from the flow of the game. It was a struggle, but thanks for being patient.
- Up next; Regina at home on Wednesday followed by a road game in Spokane Saturday night.
Here is audio of Bloodoff's game winner.
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