Malc
03-26-2009, 01:57 PM
By Dana Soleski
The Kelowna Rockets finished what they started on Wednesday night.
After a pair on wins on home ice and a stunning overtime victory in game three, the Rockets completed a sweep of Kamloops in the opening round of the 2009 WHL Playoffs with a 5-3 win last evening.
Jamie Benn led the attack, as he did the entire series. The Rockets’ regular season MVP scored once and added 3 assists in the game and finished the series with 3 goals and 7 assists.
By sweeping, the Rockets won all 13 regular season and playoff meetings vs. the Blazers.
"Going 13-0 ... there’s a bunch of good wins in there," Benn told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. "It’s nice to win the series."
Like they did on Tuesday, the Rockets battled from behind to secure the series clincher. Kelowna trailed on 3 separate occasions before a run of three unanswered goals put them ahead for good.
Benn’s goal at 19:17 of the first sent the teams off after 20 tied 1-1. Twice in the second, the Blazers regained their one-goal lead. But Ian Duval, Tyson Barrie and Stepan Novotny connected within a 6-minute span to make it 5-3, Kelowna after 40 minutes.
Rockets’ Head Coach, Ryan Huska, told Potenteau that he was obviously pleased with the comeback.
"To be honest, we showed some pretty good resilience the whole series," said Huska. "When we got behind, we kept fighting back and we did a lot of good things."
Tyler Myers had the other Rockets’ goal and was, once again, a force on the Kelowna blue line. He followed Benn in the Daily Courier three star honours, ahead of Mitchell Callahan.
The Rockets will now have some time to rest and prepare for their semi-final series. If all goes according to expectation, their opponent with be the Tri-City Americans. The Amerks lead Everett 2-1 in their quarter-final series with game four coming on Friday.
On thing the Rockets will want to improve go forward is their power play. Although the unit scored twice on Wednesday, they struggled through much of the series. In addition, they surrendered four shorthanded goals in the process.
Kyle St. Denis remained on the sidelines for the series while continuing to recover from the effects of a concussion. No word on his availability for round two which won’t likely open until late next week.
http://www.kelownarockets.com/Story.aspx?ID=552
The Kelowna Rockets finished what they started on Wednesday night.
After a pair on wins on home ice and a stunning overtime victory in game three, the Rockets completed a sweep of Kamloops in the opening round of the 2009 WHL Playoffs with a 5-3 win last evening.
Jamie Benn led the attack, as he did the entire series. The Rockets’ regular season MVP scored once and added 3 assists in the game and finished the series with 3 goals and 7 assists.
By sweeping, the Rockets won all 13 regular season and playoff meetings vs. the Blazers.
"Going 13-0 ... there’s a bunch of good wins in there," Benn told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. "It’s nice to win the series."
Like they did on Tuesday, the Rockets battled from behind to secure the series clincher. Kelowna trailed on 3 separate occasions before a run of three unanswered goals put them ahead for good.
Benn’s goal at 19:17 of the first sent the teams off after 20 tied 1-1. Twice in the second, the Blazers regained their one-goal lead. But Ian Duval, Tyson Barrie and Stepan Novotny connected within a 6-minute span to make it 5-3, Kelowna after 40 minutes.
Rockets’ Head Coach, Ryan Huska, told Potenteau that he was obviously pleased with the comeback.
"To be honest, we showed some pretty good resilience the whole series," said Huska. "When we got behind, we kept fighting back and we did a lot of good things."
Tyler Myers had the other Rockets’ goal and was, once again, a force on the Kelowna blue line. He followed Benn in the Daily Courier three star honours, ahead of Mitchell Callahan.
The Rockets will now have some time to rest and prepare for their semi-final series. If all goes according to expectation, their opponent with be the Tri-City Americans. The Amerks lead Everett 2-1 in their quarter-final series with game four coming on Friday.
On thing the Rockets will want to improve go forward is their power play. Although the unit scored twice on Wednesday, they struggled through much of the series. In addition, they surrendered four shorthanded goals in the process.
Kyle St. Denis remained on the sidelines for the series while continuing to recover from the effects of a concussion. No word on his availability for round two which won’t likely open until late next week.
http://www.kelownarockets.com/Story.aspx?ID=552