Game day in Kootenay Country

Left to right, Geordie Wudrick, Zak Stebner, Tyson Barrie and Evan Bloodoff pose after a quick skate this morning at the Cranbrook Rec-Plex.

• It should be a good game tonight at the Rec-Plex against two teams that rarely see one other. In all honesty, it's a shame really. To think the Ice used to play in the BC Division which created a great rivalry between the two teams. Who can ever forget the time Rockets defenceman Shea Weber crushed Ice forward Nigel Dawes at centre ice in one of many playoff battles? Man, the Kootenay Ice had some great teams back then.
  
• I will always remember the Rockets going down to defeat in the Western Conference final against the Ice at the Rec-Plex. The Ice would go on to win the Memorial Cup. No shame in losing to them that year.
  
• In five of the last six seasons the Ice have won over 40 games. That my friends is an impressive feat. I am not sure Ice management get the credit they deserve for those impressive totals. GM Jeff Chynoweth is one of the best in the league at identifying talent.
  
• I always wonder if Kootenay Ice fans were spoiled by too much success by the team when they relocated from Edmonton in 1998? Winning a Memorial Cup in 2002 was obviously the teams high point, but that early success may have set the bar too high? You see that in Swift Current, where the Broncos won a Memorial Cup title in 1989 and now fans expect nothing less. To a certain degree you notice that in Kelowna too. You just don't see it in the stands as the Rockets have a bigger fan base to draw from.
  
• The Rec-Plex does not feature a video screen on the score-clock. On this trip both the Kootenay Ice and Medicine Hat Tigers are without one. I thought all teams had to have video boards in place by 2012? I could be wrong.
• Max Adolph won't play tonight. Adolph is hampered by a concussion. Defenceman Mitchell Chapman also won't play tonight against the Ice.
• I did my best this morning to help the local economy. A quick hair cut; a stop at Safeway and a quick coffee in the downtown core was part of the plan. The gentleman that cut my hair was a talkative fella. He had lots to say about the Ice and what an asset they are to the community.