Malc
12-17-2008, 03:24 PM
By Doyle Potenteau
Shane McColgan‘s debut was a good one. Too bad it was also a losing one. Colin Archer scored the game‘s only goal as the Red Deer Rebels defeated the Kelowna Rockets 1-0 in WHL action on Tuesday night. The loss was Kelowna‘s third in a row and first shutout defeat of the season.
About the only bright spots for Kelowna were McColgan and fellow midget-aged callup Brett Bulmer. Centre Cody Almond and Brandon McMillan, pressed into service as an emergency defenceman also kept Kelowna close. Other than those four, the night was forgettable.
"Our young guys were very good for us," said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska. "Brett played very hard; he had three or four shots on goal, he handled pucks well and I thought he did a lot of good things for us, which was nice to see. For Shane in his first game, he used his speed very well. He looked good and you can see he has a nice offensive ability to see the ice very well. The more he plays, the better he‘s going to become. He‘s going to be a fantastic player."
The Rockets are without five key players. Winger Jamie Benn and defenceman Tyler Myers are with Team Canada at the world junior hockey championship in Ottawa. Forward Stepan Novotny is trying out for the Czech Republic. Defenceman Tysen Barrie is recovering from a concussion. Forward Kyle St. Denis is recovering from a broken bone in his wrist.
At least they had McColgan. On his first shift of the game, the 15-year-old Manhattan Beach, Calif., native was on the ice for only five seconds before hitting Red Deer‘s Tommi Kivisto into the boards. "That‘s the one thing you notice: He‘s 15 and he‘s trying to go through guys," said Huska. "He‘ll play really hard all the time, and, like I said, the more he plays, the better he‘s going to become. Brett and Shane, you‘d have to consider them two of our best forwards for tonight."
From McColgan‘s point of view, his debut was OK. Not bad, not great, just OK – although as the game progressed, he started showing good flashes of offence, especially on the power play with good passing decisions.
"The first period and a half, yeah, maybe I was a little nervous. But that‘s normal," said McColgan. "The team played well but we didn‘t get many shots in the first, but we‘ll be back and get a better mindset for tomorrow."
Concerning his early hit, the first of a good handful for the five-foot-10 winger, McColgan said "I‘m not afraid to go in there and hit the big guys. I was just trying to get my feet under me in the first period." Archer, the trailing player on a three-on-two, scored just three minutes into the contest, roofing a wrister from the right hash marks for Red Deer (14-18-0-5). The goal was his second of the season as the Rebels posted their second consecutive shutout. For Kelowna (19-14-0-0), there isn‘t much time to dwell on what went wrong in Red Deer. Tonight, the Rockets close out their three-game Alberta Division road trip against the Edmonton Oil Kings (15-18-2-3). Adam Brown made 26 saves for the Rockets, while Darcy Kuemper turned aside 29 shots for the Rebels. Asked if he was surprised by Tuesday‘s score, Huska said no.
"Not really," he said. "I would have liked it to have been the other way around. If we would have had a couple more power plays, we might have been able to find one goal and we could have gotten into overtime or a shootout. But they‘re a young team and we‘re a young team. It was almost like a midget hockey game, to be honest. It was a little frustrating, but that‘s just the way it is right now."
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s best defenceman against Red Deer was McMillan. The Delta product normally plays forward, but with Myers away and Barrie injured, Kelowna‘s defence is down to five players. So McMillan was thrown back on the blue-line during the weekend to help shore up the defence... He was also Kelowna‘s best defenceman in a 4-3 loss to Calgary on Sunday.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=153645
Shane McColgan‘s debut was a good one. Too bad it was also a losing one. Colin Archer scored the game‘s only goal as the Red Deer Rebels defeated the Kelowna Rockets 1-0 in WHL action on Tuesday night. The loss was Kelowna‘s third in a row and first shutout defeat of the season.
About the only bright spots for Kelowna were McColgan and fellow midget-aged callup Brett Bulmer. Centre Cody Almond and Brandon McMillan, pressed into service as an emergency defenceman also kept Kelowna close. Other than those four, the night was forgettable.
"Our young guys were very good for us," said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska. "Brett played very hard; he had three or four shots on goal, he handled pucks well and I thought he did a lot of good things for us, which was nice to see. For Shane in his first game, he used his speed very well. He looked good and you can see he has a nice offensive ability to see the ice very well. The more he plays, the better he‘s going to become. He‘s going to be a fantastic player."
The Rockets are without five key players. Winger Jamie Benn and defenceman Tyler Myers are with Team Canada at the world junior hockey championship in Ottawa. Forward Stepan Novotny is trying out for the Czech Republic. Defenceman Tysen Barrie is recovering from a concussion. Forward Kyle St. Denis is recovering from a broken bone in his wrist.
At least they had McColgan. On his first shift of the game, the 15-year-old Manhattan Beach, Calif., native was on the ice for only five seconds before hitting Red Deer‘s Tommi Kivisto into the boards. "That‘s the one thing you notice: He‘s 15 and he‘s trying to go through guys," said Huska. "He‘ll play really hard all the time, and, like I said, the more he plays, the better he‘s going to become. Brett and Shane, you‘d have to consider them two of our best forwards for tonight."
From McColgan‘s point of view, his debut was OK. Not bad, not great, just OK – although as the game progressed, he started showing good flashes of offence, especially on the power play with good passing decisions.
"The first period and a half, yeah, maybe I was a little nervous. But that‘s normal," said McColgan. "The team played well but we didn‘t get many shots in the first, but we‘ll be back and get a better mindset for tomorrow."
Concerning his early hit, the first of a good handful for the five-foot-10 winger, McColgan said "I‘m not afraid to go in there and hit the big guys. I was just trying to get my feet under me in the first period." Archer, the trailing player on a three-on-two, scored just three minutes into the contest, roofing a wrister from the right hash marks for Red Deer (14-18-0-5). The goal was his second of the season as the Rebels posted their second consecutive shutout. For Kelowna (19-14-0-0), there isn‘t much time to dwell on what went wrong in Red Deer. Tonight, the Rockets close out their three-game Alberta Division road trip against the Edmonton Oil Kings (15-18-2-3). Adam Brown made 26 saves for the Rockets, while Darcy Kuemper turned aside 29 shots for the Rebels. Asked if he was surprised by Tuesday‘s score, Huska said no.
"Not really," he said. "I would have liked it to have been the other way around. If we would have had a couple more power plays, we might have been able to find one goal and we could have gotten into overtime or a shootout. But they‘re a young team and we‘re a young team. It was almost like a midget hockey game, to be honest. It was a little frustrating, but that‘s just the way it is right now."
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s best defenceman against Red Deer was McMillan. The Delta product normally plays forward, but with Myers away and Barrie injured, Kelowna‘s defence is down to five players. So McMillan was thrown back on the blue-line during the weekend to help shore up the defence... He was also Kelowna‘s best defenceman in a 4-3 loss to Calgary on Sunday.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=153645