Malc
10-29-2009, 01:50 PM
By Doyle Potenteau
The Calgary Hitmen came to play Wednesday night. So, too, did Adam Brown.
In a game filled with hard hits and fights plus raw emotions dating back to May, Brown turned the tables on Calgary, posting 35 saves for Kelowna as the Rockets beat the Hitmen 4-1 in WHL action at Prospera Place. The heated affair – and the air boiled over plenty last night, thanks in part to poor officiating – was the first meeting between the two teams since Kelowna beat Calgary in last season‘s league championship.
That series was memorable for many reasons, including the great hockey it produced. Last night, it was if no time had passed between Kelowna and Calgary.
“It was a really physical game,” said Brown, who earned first-star honours for keeping the league‘s best team at bay. “We really answered the bell after the first (period); they came out banging and we came right back at them.”
“I was a little surprised,” Rockets head coach Ryan Huska said on how physical the game was, “with some of the little things that went on. But it doesn‘t matter and it worked out in our favour. Our guys responded very well after the first period; I thought we pushed back, and they did a pretty good job in that area.”
Asked if the Hitmen came into the contest with a chip on their shoulder after what happened last spring, with Kelowna winning the best-of-seven league final in six games, Huska said it was a possibility.
“It could have been, but our power play was good in the first period,” he said. “That helped back them off a little bit, and I think we could have scored a few more on the four-on-threes; maybe that ends it too, I don‘t know. But as I said, we pushed back in the second and third periods.”
Once everyone‘s emotions cooled after the game, the Hitmen agreed, that, yes, the chip was there.
“There was definitely a lot of emotion pent-up,” said Hitmen forward Joel Broda, who scored Calgary‘s lone goal and was also denied on an early first-period penalty shot. “There was so much emotion, with the way (the final) went down (last season) . . . there was a lot of emotion on both sides. We knew it was going to be a war out there, a playoff-style game, and it was exactly that.”
“There was a lot of emotion,” said Hitmen netminder Martin Jones. “We had a lot of intensity and we were really emotional in our dressing room; we were pretty fired up and we definitely wanted to come out strong, to kinda send a message and maybe get a little retribution.
“But we got a little over-excited and we didn‘t do it in the right way because we lost the game. Definitely, it was emotional and there was some baggage from last season. But we didn‘t approach it the right way.”
Stepan Novotny, with two goals, both power-play markers in the opening frame, Cody Chikie, with his sixth goal of the season, and Brett Bulmer scored for Kelowna (8-6-1-0). Novotny‘s markers were his 11th and 12th goals of the season.
Lucas Bloodoff, named Kelowna‘s captain earlier Wednesday, had two assists in his first game with the ’C‘ on his jersey.
Broda‘s marker for Calgary (12-4-0-0) was his was seventh, a soft tap-in following a nice feed from Brandon Kozun.
Jones made 32 saves for the Hitmen, who had a five-game winning streak come to an end and are on a three-game B.C. Division road trip.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=220746
The Calgary Hitmen came to play Wednesday night. So, too, did Adam Brown.
In a game filled with hard hits and fights plus raw emotions dating back to May, Brown turned the tables on Calgary, posting 35 saves for Kelowna as the Rockets beat the Hitmen 4-1 in WHL action at Prospera Place. The heated affair – and the air boiled over plenty last night, thanks in part to poor officiating – was the first meeting between the two teams since Kelowna beat Calgary in last season‘s league championship.
That series was memorable for many reasons, including the great hockey it produced. Last night, it was if no time had passed between Kelowna and Calgary.
“It was a really physical game,” said Brown, who earned first-star honours for keeping the league‘s best team at bay. “We really answered the bell after the first (period); they came out banging and we came right back at them.”
“I was a little surprised,” Rockets head coach Ryan Huska said on how physical the game was, “with some of the little things that went on. But it doesn‘t matter and it worked out in our favour. Our guys responded very well after the first period; I thought we pushed back, and they did a pretty good job in that area.”
Asked if the Hitmen came into the contest with a chip on their shoulder after what happened last spring, with Kelowna winning the best-of-seven league final in six games, Huska said it was a possibility.
“It could have been, but our power play was good in the first period,” he said. “That helped back them off a little bit, and I think we could have scored a few more on the four-on-threes; maybe that ends it too, I don‘t know. But as I said, we pushed back in the second and third periods.”
Once everyone‘s emotions cooled after the game, the Hitmen agreed, that, yes, the chip was there.
“There was definitely a lot of emotion pent-up,” said Hitmen forward Joel Broda, who scored Calgary‘s lone goal and was also denied on an early first-period penalty shot. “There was so much emotion, with the way (the final) went down (last season) . . . there was a lot of emotion on both sides. We knew it was going to be a war out there, a playoff-style game, and it was exactly that.”
“There was a lot of emotion,” said Hitmen netminder Martin Jones. “We had a lot of intensity and we were really emotional in our dressing room; we were pretty fired up and we definitely wanted to come out strong, to kinda send a message and maybe get a little retribution.
“But we got a little over-excited and we didn‘t do it in the right way because we lost the game. Definitely, it was emotional and there was some baggage from last season. But we didn‘t approach it the right way.”
Stepan Novotny, with two goals, both power-play markers in the opening frame, Cody Chikie, with his sixth goal of the season, and Brett Bulmer scored for Kelowna (8-6-1-0). Novotny‘s markers were his 11th and 12th goals of the season.
Lucas Bloodoff, named Kelowna‘s captain earlier Wednesday, had two assists in his first game with the ’C‘ on his jersey.
Broda‘s marker for Calgary (12-4-0-0) was his was seventh, a soft tap-in following a nice feed from Brandon Kozun.
Jones made 32 saves for the Hitmen, who had a five-game winning streak come to an end and are on a three-game B.C. Division road trip.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=220746