Peaks and valleys par for the course

• The Kelowna Rockets were looking at moving into sole possession of first place in the BC Division with a win Saturday night. The Medicine Hat Tigers had other ideas. Linden Vey scored twice and added two assists leading the Tigers to a 5-2 win. Vey was credited with the game winner in the second period before scoring an empty netter with five seconds left in regulation time.
• The Tigers scored three of their five goals on the power play with Vey's empty netter coming shorthanded. The visitors special teams were 'special' while the Rockets struggled on both the power play and penalty kill. The Rockets were 1 for 6 with the man advantage including going 0 for 4 in the third period when they were attempting to mount a comeback.
• A rough night for the officials with Derek Zalaski and Matt Thurston making several weak calls. Two terrible calls resulted in power play goals by the Tigers. Jessey Astles gets called for charging while Tyson Barrie takes a tripping minor in the second period. Zalaski calls the penalty on Astles after he clearly misses a hit and runs into a Tiger defenceman's stick. The Barrie penalty comes after Tigers forward Linden Vey losses his balance close to the net and simply falls down.
• The Rockets also lost Spencer Main and Geordie Wudrick for essentially 17 minutes after both were involved in fights after taking exception to hits on fellow teammates. Both received instigator penalties, plus five minute majors for fighting and 10 minute misconducts.
• As poor as the officiating was in this game, the good teams are able to work through those struggles. The Rockets just weren't resilient enough after an emotional win the night previous against Portland. It seemed like the harder they tried to pull themselves out of the funk the more fractured their game became.
• The Rockets found themselves down 2-0 early in the second period before defenceman Tyson Barrie took matters into his own hands with a nice individual effort. Barrie streaked around a Tigers defenceman and appeared to deke around goaltender Tyler Bunz on the forehand. At the last second, Barrie goes to the back hand to make it a one goal game.
• I was really impressed with the Tigers power play. Using five forwards the majority of the night, the puck movement was quick and crisp. Wacey Hamilton was often the trigger man with one timers.
• The Rockets close out a four game home stand Wednesday against Prince George. It's a chance for the Rockets to move into first place with a victory.