Malc
05-16-2009, 12:44 PM
By Kevin Parnell
Things couldn’t have gone much better for the Kelowna Rockets during the opening game of the 2009 Memorial Cup in Rimouski.
The Rockets dominated the Rimouski Oceanic in every facet of the game: Stifling the host club with a forecheck the Quebec team couldn’t handle en route to a 4-1 win.
Right from the first shift, Kelowna took the play to the Oceanic, a team that lost just twice in the final 30 games of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s regular season but hadn’t played in three weeks.
It was only the incredible play of Oceanic netminder Maxime Gougeon that kept the score respectable as the Rockets poured it on all night with quality scoring chance after quality scoring chance, outshooting the Oceanic 42-20.
After nearly seven minutes of sustained pressure off the start of the game Tyler Myers opened the scoring with a long wrist shot that eluded Gougeon, who couldn’t see through several bodies in front.
That seemed to spark Rimouski who finally had a good chance on Rockets netminder Mark Guggenberger after the Myers goal. Guggenberger shut the door, then later made two nice saves on a 5-on-3 Rimouski power play that the Rockets killed off.
The Rockets killed off two lengthy 5-on-3’s and both coaches thought it was the turning point in the game.
“I think that really was the biggest part of the game,” said Rockets coach Ryan Huska. “If Rimouski scores early it’s a different game. A lot of the time with 5-on-3’s it comes down to being fortunate to get some bounces and I thought we had that puck luck tonight”
Rimouski coach Clement Jodoin agreed.
“We had the 5-on-3 early and I would say if we would have scored the momentum of the game, with the energy of the crowd, would have been different.”
Oceanic goaltender Gougeon was brilliant as he kept Rimouski in the game throughout. Gougeon made a trio of game-saving stops in the first, turning aside Ian Duval, Mikael Backlund and Jamie Benn to keep the score 1-0 after the first period as Kelowna fired 17 shots on the Oceanic net.
Benn made it 2-0 with an easy tap in on an early second period power play when a Myers point blast caromed off a defender’s skate to a wide open Benn at the side of the Rimouski net.
The sweetest effort of the night came from Ian Duval, who showed deft hands when he picked up a nice saucer pass from Mikael Backlund with one hand on his stick. Duval went in on Gougeon and put a perfect shot into the top corner to make the score 3-0. Lucas Bloodoff tipped in a point shot from Tyson Barrie to make the score 4-0 early in the third period.
Despite what appeared to be a dominant effort Huska said his team could be more consistent.
“I don’t think we were consistent,” he said. “I thought we had spurts where we played very well and we had spurts where we allowed Rimouski too much room in the neutral zone. If we continue down that path we’re going to have a hard time. We have to do a better job of tightening things up defensively if we hope to have long term success in the tournament.”
A lively Rimouski crowd that began cheering 10 minutes before the teams took the ice had little to cheer about until late in the third period when the Oceanic got on the scoreboard. Philippe Cornet grabbed a loose puck out of a face-off scramble and zipped a low wrister past Guggenberger to make the score 4-1 and send the crowd of 4,695 into a frenzy.
The atmosphere was electric in the building to open the 2009 Memorial Cup with a jam-packed crowd clapping in unison and rocking all night long despite the one-sided game.
“It was great,” said Colin Long of the atmosphere. “It’s a small rink with a low roof and it seems like it echoes off that roof. It’s fun playing in places like this. Getting the win was big. We wanted to come out with a strong effort. We wanted to get a good start and I thought we did that. I think everyone knows we can play better for a full 60 minutes.”
The Rockets are now off until Monday when they play Drummondville.
Scoring summary
First Period
1. Kelowna Tyler Myers (1) (Benn, Dowzac) 6:33
Second Period
2. Kelowns Jamie Benn (1) (Myers Backlund) 4:33
3. Kelowna Ian Duval (1) (Backlund) 5:52
4. Kelowna Lucas Bloodoff (1) (Barrie, Benn) 1:29
Third Period
5. Rimouski Philippe Cornet (1) (Veilleux, Fortier)
Shots on goal
Kelowna 17-15-10 42
Rimouski 8-4-8 20
Power plays
Kelowna 1 for 3
Rimouski 0 for 5
http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/sports/hockey/45188177.html
Things couldn’t have gone much better for the Kelowna Rockets during the opening game of the 2009 Memorial Cup in Rimouski.
The Rockets dominated the Rimouski Oceanic in every facet of the game: Stifling the host club with a forecheck the Quebec team couldn’t handle en route to a 4-1 win.
Right from the first shift, Kelowna took the play to the Oceanic, a team that lost just twice in the final 30 games of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s regular season but hadn’t played in three weeks.
It was only the incredible play of Oceanic netminder Maxime Gougeon that kept the score respectable as the Rockets poured it on all night with quality scoring chance after quality scoring chance, outshooting the Oceanic 42-20.
After nearly seven minutes of sustained pressure off the start of the game Tyler Myers opened the scoring with a long wrist shot that eluded Gougeon, who couldn’t see through several bodies in front.
That seemed to spark Rimouski who finally had a good chance on Rockets netminder Mark Guggenberger after the Myers goal. Guggenberger shut the door, then later made two nice saves on a 5-on-3 Rimouski power play that the Rockets killed off.
The Rockets killed off two lengthy 5-on-3’s and both coaches thought it was the turning point in the game.
“I think that really was the biggest part of the game,” said Rockets coach Ryan Huska. “If Rimouski scores early it’s a different game. A lot of the time with 5-on-3’s it comes down to being fortunate to get some bounces and I thought we had that puck luck tonight”
Rimouski coach Clement Jodoin agreed.
“We had the 5-on-3 early and I would say if we would have scored the momentum of the game, with the energy of the crowd, would have been different.”
Oceanic goaltender Gougeon was brilliant as he kept Rimouski in the game throughout. Gougeon made a trio of game-saving stops in the first, turning aside Ian Duval, Mikael Backlund and Jamie Benn to keep the score 1-0 after the first period as Kelowna fired 17 shots on the Oceanic net.
Benn made it 2-0 with an easy tap in on an early second period power play when a Myers point blast caromed off a defender’s skate to a wide open Benn at the side of the Rimouski net.
The sweetest effort of the night came from Ian Duval, who showed deft hands when he picked up a nice saucer pass from Mikael Backlund with one hand on his stick. Duval went in on Gougeon and put a perfect shot into the top corner to make the score 3-0. Lucas Bloodoff tipped in a point shot from Tyson Barrie to make the score 4-0 early in the third period.
Despite what appeared to be a dominant effort Huska said his team could be more consistent.
“I don’t think we were consistent,” he said. “I thought we had spurts where we played very well and we had spurts where we allowed Rimouski too much room in the neutral zone. If we continue down that path we’re going to have a hard time. We have to do a better job of tightening things up defensively if we hope to have long term success in the tournament.”
A lively Rimouski crowd that began cheering 10 minutes before the teams took the ice had little to cheer about until late in the third period when the Oceanic got on the scoreboard. Philippe Cornet grabbed a loose puck out of a face-off scramble and zipped a low wrister past Guggenberger to make the score 4-1 and send the crowd of 4,695 into a frenzy.
The atmosphere was electric in the building to open the 2009 Memorial Cup with a jam-packed crowd clapping in unison and rocking all night long despite the one-sided game.
“It was great,” said Colin Long of the atmosphere. “It’s a small rink with a low roof and it seems like it echoes off that roof. It’s fun playing in places like this. Getting the win was big. We wanted to come out with a strong effort. We wanted to get a good start and I thought we did that. I think everyone knows we can play better for a full 60 minutes.”
The Rockets are now off until Monday when they play Drummondville.
Scoring summary
First Period
1. Kelowna Tyler Myers (1) (Benn, Dowzac) 6:33
Second Period
2. Kelowns Jamie Benn (1) (Myers Backlund) 4:33
3. Kelowna Ian Duval (1) (Backlund) 5:52
4. Kelowna Lucas Bloodoff (1) (Barrie, Benn) 1:29
Third Period
5. Rimouski Philippe Cornet (1) (Veilleux, Fortier)
Shots on goal
Kelowna 17-15-10 42
Rimouski 8-4-8 20
Power plays
Kelowna 1 for 3
Rimouski 0 for 5
http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/kelownacapitalnews/sports/hockey/45188177.html