Losing ways in Lethbridge are finally over

Ryan Cuthbert remembers it.

For the Kelowna Rockets organization, it was a distant memory.

The Rockets arrived at the Enmax Centre Wednesday night riding an eight game winless streak in Lethbridge dating back to February of 2003.

It was February 9^th of that season that Ryan Cuthbert, the then captain of the Rockets, scored once and added an assist and was named the first star in a 4-3 win.

This time Cuthbert was behind the Rockets bench as a coach as the winless streak came to an end with a 3-2 shootout victory.

Kevin Smith and Brett Bulmer scored in regulation before Geordie Wudrick and Shane McColgan scored in the shootout as the Rockets improved to 2 and 2 on a five game Alberta road trip.

• Dylan Tait had something to prove against his old team and didn’t disappoint. The Rockets 5^th round pick in the 2006 draft made several solid saves in an attempt to bury his old team. The 19 year-old goaltenders best stop came off of Rockets forward Zach Franko in overtime. Franko found himself with the puck at centre ice with time ticking down. Franko skated inside the zone, faked a shot, skated past the Hurricanes defenceman and found himself one-one-one with Tait. Franko went to the backhand and roofed the puck high, only to see it niftily snagged out of mid-air by Tait’s glove.

• Jordon Cooke was solid in goal for the Rockets. The 17 year-old showed an especially quick glove hand, robbing Hurricanes forward Cam Braes on no less than two occasions.

• Is there anyone better in the WHL at scoring shootout goals that Geordie Wudrick? Wudrick again scored with a nice back hand which saw the puck cleanly go through the legs of Tait. Even if Tait had seen the move before, I am not sure he could have stop him.

• Madison Bowey made his WHL debut Wednesday night. The Rockets second rounder saw playing time alongside 17 year-old Mackenzie Johnston. The 15 year-old found himself on the score-sheet in his first game after being accessed a penalty in the opening period.

• Brett Bulmer celebrated his 100^th WHL game with his 11^th goal of the season.

• Forward Mitchell Callahan played his final game with the Rockets Wednesday night before heading off early Thursday morning for the start of the USA world junior team training camp.

• The Rockets remain a point back of Vancouver for first place in the BC Division. The Giants beat Everett 3-0. The Rockets have 18 wins, the most of any team in the division. As strange as this may sound, only Portland (25) has more wins in the Western Conference than the Rockets.

• The Rockets had gone six straight games without allowing a power play goal. That ended Wednesday night as the Hurricanes, with the second worst power play in the league, scored with the extra man just four minutes into the game. Up to that point, the Rockets were 25 for 25 on penalty kills.