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Malc
03-24-2009, 01:37 PM
By Doyle Potenteau

Mikael Backlund is anxious.

Anxious to start playing again and get a good taste of post-season life.

“I‘ve been waiting for the playoffs since I came here. It‘s why I came here,” said Backlund, who joined the Kelowna Rockets in early January, just six days after helping Sweden to a silver-medal showing at the 2009 world junior hockey championship in Ottawa.

Since then, he‘s been helping the Rockets turn the corner on what was an up-and-down season.

Or, more correctly, was helping up until 11 days ago, when he suffered an undisclosed injury in Kelowna‘s 6-4 victory over the Blazers in Kamloops. He‘s been sidelined since, and has missed four games, though it appears Backlund may play tonight, for he practiced on Monday and looked healthy. Backlund, who‘s believed to have suffered a concussion, also practiced Saturday, the first time he hit the ice since getting injured.

The Rockets and Blazers resume their first-round meeting with Game 3 this evening, 7 p.m. at Kamloops. Kelowna leads the best-of-seven series 2-0, and could sweep the Blazers with wins tonight and Wednesday night in Game 4.

But first things first: Will Backlund play? The Rockets say maybe. Backlund says he sure hopes so.

“As far as we know right now, yes, (although) it‘s a day to day thing,” said Kelowna coach Ryan Huska. “Mikael looked good on the ice (Monday) and it‘s in our plans to have him in the lineup (today).”

Asked if having Backlund back will boost Kelowna‘s already soaring confidence, Huska said yes.
“Sure it does,” he said. “Getting a high-end player back in the lineup – if we get him in (today) – I think players feed off that. They get excited because he‘s a very dynamic player.”

If Backlund does play, regardless if he‘s 100 per cent healthy or not, he‘ll certainly make a difference. In 28 regular-season games with Kelowna, the 6-foot-1 centre recorded 12 goals and 30 points.

“My head feels good, so...” Backlund said when asked what type of injury he suffered, an answer which didn‘t confirm or deny a suspected concussion. “It‘s sad I missed our first two games, but, hey, that‘s life.”

As for what he saw from the stands at Prospera Place in Games 1 and 2, Backlund said there was plenty to like, though some work needs to be done.

“They were good games, and our team is much better,” said Backlund. “In the second period (of Game 2), we had a lot of power plays, but we didn‘t score. If we can score then, we can shut the game down, so we have to be better on the power play.

“But it still feels like we‘re the better team. We didn‘t play well in the first game and we still won. It‘s good to have confidence, especially in the playoffs, because, without it, you can‘t win.”

Backlund said his undisclosed injury wasn‘t the first time he‘s been hurt, stating he was sidelined for three months after undergoing knee surgery (patella) in his draft season.

With Backlund back in the lineup, the Rockets can boast of having arguably the best 1-2 punch in the league. Normally, Kelowna‘s first line consists of Jamie Benn (82 points) and Colin Long (91) plus a rotating winger, while the second line is comprised of Backlund (30), Cody Almond (66 points in 70 games) and Ian Duval (61 in 57).

“It‘s great to have him back,” said Almond. “He‘s looking good, so it should be fun to play with him again. The three of us fit together pretty well because we get along well; it seems we have chemistry, so, right off the bat, we should be doing well.”

If, for some reason, the trio doesn‘t click, Huska can load Backlund alongside Benn and Long – a trio which one WHL general manager said “That‘s one heck of a line.”

“It‘s good to see him back on the ice,” Long said of Backlund. “We love seeing him at the rink because he has such a great attitude. And anyone who‘s that calibre of a player, you know you‘re going to get a lift.”

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=174071

Malc
03-24-2009, 02:02 PM
By Gregg Drinnan

The task facing the Kamloops Blazers is formidable. But the players know what they have to do.

“We have to do what they did to us at home,” Kamloops right-winger Tyler Shattock said. “We have to win two at home. We’re confident we can win at home.”

The Blazers go into tonight’s WHL playoff game — Interior Savings Centre, 7 o’clock — in something of a hole. Not only do they trail Kelowna 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, but the Rockets have beaten them 11 straight times this season. Five of those 11 victories came right in The ATM, where the Rockets seem to make themselves right at home — eggs over easy; raspberry jam on the toast is fine.

“We have to harness what we do at the start of the games,” Shattock said. “We can’t fall off like we have in the last two games.”

In each of the first two games of this series, which Kelowna won 4-2 and 6-1 on Friday and Saturday nights in Prospera Place, the Blazers held an edge in play in the early going, only to fade when the Rockets found their legs and began to push back.

“It was more of us just not doing what made us successful at the start of the games,” Shattock said. “I mean, we were outshooting them (10-1) at one point (Saturday night). Then we got into penalty trouble and that’s what happens.”

The Blazers may have played their best 10 minutes of the 11 games against the Rockets to start Saturday’s game. And only Kelowna goaltender Mark Guggenberger kept the visitors from a two- or three-goal lead.

“It’s frustrating,” Shattock said of the lack of rewards for their solid early play, “but we have to realize that sometimes goaltenders are going to be good and you have to keep putting more pucks on him and eventually they’re going to go by him.

“He hasn’t played a lot of playoff games so we have to keep getting shots on him and hopefully he cracks here.”

Guggenberger, a sophomore acquired from the Swift Current Broncos in January, hadn’t played in a WHL playoff game prior to Friday. Now he is 2-0 and gunning for a third victory tonight.

The Blazers had two wonderful chances on an early first-period power play Saturday. First, left-winger Shayne Wiebe found himself in too tight to do anything with a backhand attempt. Then, following a strange bounce off the end boards, right-winger Jimmy Bubnick was robbed by Guggenberger who dove across the crease and took away a goal with the paddle of his stick.

“It’s good to get the momentum like that,” echoed Kamloops defenceman Kurt Torbohm, “and not to score is tough... we can’t lay off and get frustrated. We have to keep going. It is frustrating but we have to keep going.”

While the Blazers will be looking forward to playing at home, where they were 19-14-2-1, the Rockets are 19-14-1-2 on the road. And when it comes to playing the Blazers, they are rather confident.

“We have to feel confident but we know they’re a good team over there,” Kelowna defenceman Brandon McMillan said after Saturday’s game. “We have to go in there with the same mindset we had here and outwork them and outplay them. But it’s going to be tough and we all know that in here.

“We hoped to win two in our building. But they’re playing us tough and we have to keep battling hard.”

Kelowna centre Colin Long blamed his side’s two slow starts on “a little bit of nerves.”

“It took us the first 10 minutes to get going,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think the Rockets can afford to start slowly on the road. “I don’t think so. In here we may have gotten away with it a couple of times, but it something that know we have to change.”

JUST NOTES: When Kamloops D Josh Caron and Kelowna F Lucas Bloodoff duked it out Saturday, it was their second fight of the season. They also scrapped on Feb. in Kelowna... In their last 23 games, the Rockets have limited the oppostion to two goals or fewer on 19 occasions... Kelowna F Mikael Backlund, who hasn't played since suffering a suspected concussion in Kamloops on March 13, practised Monday and may play tonight. “Mikael looked good on the ice (Monday) and it’s in our plans to have him in the lineup (tonight),” Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska told the Kelowna Daily Courier... Backlund is likely to play the right side with centre Cody Almond and Ian Duval, while centre Colin Long plays between Jamie Benn and a rotating right winger.

http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2009/03/blazers-know-what-awaits-them.html