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View Full Version : Rockets’ work not done yet



Malc
05-07-2009, 01:57 PM
By Doyle Potenteau

Brett Sonne swept away any ideas the Kelowna Rockets had of sweeping the Calgary Hitmen.

Sonne had two goals and two assists for Calgary, and Martin Jones made 35 saves, as the Hitmen defeated the Rockets 6-2 in Game 4 of the Western Hockey League championship to prevent a four-game sweep on Wednesday night.

The best-of-seven series, which Kelowna leads 3-1, resumes tonight with Game 5 in Calgary. Game time at the Pengrowth Saddledome is 6 p.m. PST.

“We got some breaks, and tonight was a night where we worked for our opportunities,” said Hitmen head coach Dave Lowry, whose team did exactly that and scored five unanswered goals in the final 30 minutes. “We were very diligent in doing the little things right and our guys were committed and were rewarded for it.”

Rockets head coach Ryan Huska said while Calgary played well, his team didn‘t and simply failed to play desperate hockey.

“When it came down to it, we didn‘t play with enough urgency,” said Huska, whose squad squandered a 53-second two-man power play midway through the second period. At the time, Kelowna was leading 2-1.

Had the Rockets scored, Kelowna would have likely forged an unassailable lead. Instead, the Hitmen blocked shooting lanes and escaped harm. Three minutes later, Calgary scored the first of their five unanswered goals.

“We didn‘t have enough urgency and desperation that we needed to win,” continued Huska. “It was the majority of our top-end guys who weren‘t at their very best. We need to have a much better effort, urgency-wise, (tonight). If you look at our group, there weren‘t a lot of shot blocks or physical play.

“We just allowed way too much open ice, and that‘s not the style of hockey we play.”

Alex Plante, Bostjan Golicic, Brandon Kozun and Carson McMillan also scored for Calgary, while Mikael Backlund, with two, replied for the Rockets, who will play host to Game 6 on Saturday night at 7 p.m. if needed. Mark Guggenberger made 28 saves for Kelowna.

For Sonne, who is Calgary‘s leading playoff scorer, the points were his first of the series.

“When you‘re put in a position where you have to produce and help your team win, and you‘re not doing that, it‘s frustrating,” said Sonne. “But at the same time, as long as we got a win and I didn‘t get any points, I‘d be happy with that.

“We‘re down two games still, and we know we have a lot of work to do. But it felt good to get some bounces, for sure.”

Concerning Kelowna‘s missed five-on-three, where Calgary did a good job of blocking shooting lanes, Huska said “they‘re a great thing, or they‘re a killer.”

“You have to capitalize, and we had some chances, but we didn‘t execute,” he said. “At this time of the year, you expect that from the guys who are on the five-on-three. They‘re your most offensively gifted guys, and they have to execute. That‘s just the way it is.

“And when you don‘t, the momentum goes the other way, and that‘s exactly what happened tonight.”

Calgary opened the scoring early in the first period, Plante on the power play at 1:17. With Rockets captain Colin Long in the penalty box for hooking, Plante took a hard shot from the left blue-line boards, and the puck sailed true, beating Guggenberger high glove side.

“We took a dumb penalty early on in the first shift,” said Huska. “I can‘t sugarcoat it any other way; it‘s one of our leaders who takes a penalty in the first minute of play, and that puts you right back on your heels. It‘s tough to get momentum and jump going when you‘re killing a penalty and they score on the first shift.”

Seven minutes later, the Rockets thought they countered when Jones misplayed a Mitchell Callahan shot and the puck squeezed five-hole. However, the goal was called off as, at the time, Sonne and Kelowna‘s Ryley Grantham were in a wrestling match at the right halfwall. The play was not reviewable because the whistle went before the puck crossed Calgary‘s goal-line.

In the second, the Rockets struck back with two quick markers, both by Backlund. His first of the night came 35 seconds after the opening faceoff, as he stripped Calgary centre Kyle Bortis of the puck just inside the Hitmen blue-line, then ripped a shot on net, beating Jones glove-side. Backlund‘s second came five minutes later after he started the play by feeding a long pass to Ian Duval up the right side. From there, Duval raced into Calgary‘s end, hit the brakes, then put a shot on goal and Backlund sped in for the rebound.

Kelowna‘s 2-1 lead wound up having a short life span, though, as Calgary scored three times in the back-half of the period.

Golicic, at the right post, levelled the score at 12:05, redirecting a behind-the-net pass. At 16:51, Sonne put Calgary in the lead at 3-2, stuffing in a power-play rebound following a slapshot from the left side. Kozun then put the visitors up 4-2 at 18:36 with a controversial goal after scoring from the low slot. Kozun‘s goal, his seventh of the playoffs, came just seconds after all four officials missed a too-many men call on Calgary when the puck bounced out to the Hitmen bench and touched a player during a change.

“We haven‘t seen the video, but, from the bench, it looked like there were six,” said Huska. “I don‘t know, but sometimes my glasses might deceive me.”

When the period ended, the standing-room only crowd of 6,526 – the second-largest crowd in Prospera Place history – yelled their displeasure at the four officials.

The largest crowd was 6,547 on May 23, 2004, when the Rockets defeated the Gatineau Olympiques 2-1 for the Memorial Cup.

In the third, Sonne made it 5-2 Hitmen at 8:22 when he buried a rebound following a Keith Seabrook shot from the blue-line. McMillan closed out the scoring with Calgary‘s third power-play goal of the night at 18:11.

Calgary finished with 3 / 5 on the power-play, Kelowna 0 / 5.

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=184298