Malc
02-16-2009, 02:58 PM
By Doyle Potenteau
Call it a quiet, but winning, night for Mikael Backlund and the Kelowna Rockets.
In what was a predictable victory and effort for the Rockets, Backlund had a three-point night with two goals and an assist as the Rockets defeated the Prince George Cougars 5-1 in WHL action on Saturday. Predictable because the suddenly hot Rockets were coming off a strong 3-2 overtime victory on Friday against the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Giants.
Contrast that to Prince George, an eighth-place team that has some good, young players but can't yet match Kelowna in terms of quality. In turn, Saturday's end result was a silent game in which the Rockets did more than enough to win, but didn't match the effort in Friday's energy-filled affair against Vancouver.
"As a team, we had a pretty good game," said Backlund, who now has seven goals and 16 points in 15 games. "We struggled in the second, but we had a big start and a big end. So it was an OK game for us.
"We had that big game (against Vancouver) and, yes, it's hard to come back after a win like that. But I thought we did a good job and we won the game, which is the most important thing."
Ian Duval, Lucas Bloodoff and Ryley Grantham also scored for Kelowna (35-19-1-2), which led 3-0 and 4-1 at the period breaks. Saturday's contest was the final regular-season meeting between the two B.C. Division franchises, a nine-game series which Kelowna won 6-2-0-1.
Greg Fraser replied for Prince George (23-34-0-2), which was outscored 39-21 by Kelowna this season. Last season, the Cougars were 1-7 against the Rockets.
Adam Brown made 25 saves for the Rockets, who went two-for-two on the weekend. Joe Caligiuri made 30 stops for the Cougars.
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna's scratches were D Kyle Verdino and RW Spencer Main. Prince George's scratches were Dana Tyrell (knee, out for season), Brian Matte (collarbone, 4-to-6 weeks) and Matt Cumming... Kelowna was 0-for-4 on the power play; Prince George was 0-for-5... The three stars were Backlund, Evan Bloodoff and Stepan Novotny.
Call it a quiet, but winning, night for Mikael Backlund and the Kelowna Rockets.
In what was a predictable victory and effort for the Rockets, Backlund had a three-point night with two goals and an assist as the Rockets defeated the Prince George Cougars 5-1 in WHL action on Saturday. Predictable because the suddenly hot Rockets were coming off a strong 3-2 overtime victory on Friday against the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Giants.
Contrast that to Prince George, an eighth-place team that has some good, young players but can't yet match Kelowna in terms of quality. In turn, Saturday's end result was a silent game in which the Rockets did more than enough to win, but didn't match the effort in Friday's energy-filled affair against Vancouver.
"As a team, we had a pretty good game," said Backlund, who now has seven goals and 16 points in 15 games. "We struggled in the second, but we had a big start and a big end. So it was an OK game for us.
"We had that big game (against Vancouver) and, yes, it's hard to come back after a win like that. But I thought we did a good job and we won the game, which is the most important thing."
Ian Duval, Lucas Bloodoff and Ryley Grantham also scored for Kelowna (35-19-1-2), which led 3-0 and 4-1 at the period breaks. Saturday's contest was the final regular-season meeting between the two B.C. Division franchises, a nine-game series which Kelowna won 6-2-0-1.
Greg Fraser replied for Prince George (23-34-0-2), which was outscored 39-21 by Kelowna this season. Last season, the Cougars were 1-7 against the Rockets.
Adam Brown made 25 saves for the Rockets, who went two-for-two on the weekend. Joe Caligiuri made 30 stops for the Cougars.
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna's scratches were D Kyle Verdino and RW Spencer Main. Prince George's scratches were Dana Tyrell (knee, out for season), Brian Matte (collarbone, 4-to-6 weeks) and Matt Cumming... Kelowna was 0-for-4 on the power play; Prince George was 0-for-5... The three stars were Backlund, Evan Bloodoff and Stepan Novotny.