Thursday, November 4, 2010

Brown named 1st star in road win


  • When Adam Brown is on his game, the Kelowna Rockets are a good bet to win. Brown was the best player on the ice Wednesday night in the Rockets' 5-2 win in Kamloops. Brown made several sensational saves in the teams 6th win of the season. Brown was named the games #1 star. His best save of the game? A breakaway stop off of Blazers forward Brendan Ranford in the third period was just proof on this night that beating the 19 year-old goaltender wouldn't be easy.
  • While Brown was holding court at one end of the ice, his California counterpart Mitchell Callahan was putting up some impressive numbers at the other end. Callahan had another four point night with a goal and three assists. Callahan becomes the first Rockets forward since Jamie Benn in 2008 to register back-to-back four point games. One more solid offensive outing by Callahan and the selection committee will have no other choice but to name him the WHL Player of the Week.
  • Is it Mitch Callahan or Mitchell Callahan? The Blazers lineup sheet had it as Mitch Callahan. Interesting.
  • Sweet 16! Rookie sixteen year-old forward Colton Heffley scored his first WHL goal Wednesday night, and not to be outdone, fellow 16 year-old defenceman Damon Severson did the exact same thing with his first career goal early in the third period.
  • Brett Bulmer may have only scored into an empty net, but it was his best game of the season. The 18 year-old forward was more involved in the play and was a threat when the puck was on his stick. Lets hope Wednesday's game was a sign of things to come.
  • The power play again created some good things. In fact, the power play generated three of the four goals the Rockets scored in the third period. Those goals with the extra man put the game out of reach.
  • In the last two games the Rockets power play has been 5 for 9. That's a success rate of 55.5 percent over the last two nights.
  • While the power play appears to be back on track, don't overlook the penalty killing unit. Suspect calls provided the Blazers with five chances to possibly bury the Rockets when the home team had a 2-1 lead, but the Rockets came away unscathed. The ugliest call of the night came when forward Cody Chikie was penalized for goaltender interference. A close second was a penalty shot awarded to Rockets forward Evan Bloodoff in the third.
  • A former teammate of Rockets assistant coach Dan Lambert took in Wednesday's game. Peter Soberlak, who won a Memorial Cup title with Lambert as a member of the Swift Current Broncos in 1989, is now a sports psychologist. In fact, Soberlak is now the Rockets sports psychologist, taking over from Dr. Murray Smith. I will post the interview I had with Soberlak later today.

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