Malc
12-28-2009, 02:52 PM
By Doyle Potenteau
Here‘s the good news for the Kelowna Rockets: There‘s another game on Wednesday.
The bad news? They have two days to think about how badly they were outplayed in a 7-3 loss to the Vancouver Giants on Sunday night.
“We didn‘t come out the way we needed to come out,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose squad surrendered three first-period goals, then four more in the final frame. “I thought we were on our heels a lot in the first and we weren‘t skating. I don‘t care who you play, but if you don‘t skate, you‘re not going to win.
“That‘s something we didn‘t do. We didn‘t support pucks, and around the ice, there was a lot of individual play.
“There‘s a lot of things we‘re going to have to go back to the drawing board and get re-focused.”
Adam Brown started for Kelowna, but only lasted 12 minutes 46 seconds before getting the hook when Vancouver scored its third goal on its ninth shot. Mark Guggenberger made 25 saves in relief while Mark Segal made 21 stops for Vancouver.
The loss was Kelowna‘s third in a row, fourth in its last five games and worst home-ice defeat of the season.
Further, the Rockets gave up three power-play goals.
“We got ourselves back into the game via our power play, but then we were undisciplined,” said Huska, whose squad was disorganized and quite undermanned. “Anytime they score that many power-play goals against you, you‘re not going to win a lot of those games.
“So our discipline was poor tonight and our penalty kill was probably worse.”
Even worse, though, was that Kelowna‘s already injury-decimated roster lost three more bodies, with forwards Geordie Wudrick and Codey Ito plus defenceman Collin Bowman suffering injuries. It‘s believed Wudrick suffered a shoulder injury in the first, while Bowman went down with a knee injury in the second. Huska said he didn‘t know what the injuries were, other than that all three went to hospital.
“We‘ll have to wait and see what happens. We‘ll get more information when it comes in,” said Huska. “It is what it is... you can‘t control it. A lot of guys in the room are being given a chance, and they have to take advantage of the ice time they‘re being given now.”
From the Giants‘ viewpoint, the game was an easy two points.
“It was a good game,” said Connauton. “We had a strong first period, then we let up a little in the second, but then we pulled it together in the third. It was definitely a big road win for us. We definitely got the momentum with that 3-0 lead and we were able to take it into the third, stay with it and get the win.”
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s scratches included RW Brandon McMillan (world juniors), LW Lucas Bloodoff (knee, 2-3 weeks), LW Evan Bloodoff (knee, 3 months), and RW Kyle St. Denis (concussion, indefinite).
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=233009
Here‘s the good news for the Kelowna Rockets: There‘s another game on Wednesday.
The bad news? They have two days to think about how badly they were outplayed in a 7-3 loss to the Vancouver Giants on Sunday night.
“We didn‘t come out the way we needed to come out,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose squad surrendered three first-period goals, then four more in the final frame. “I thought we were on our heels a lot in the first and we weren‘t skating. I don‘t care who you play, but if you don‘t skate, you‘re not going to win.
“That‘s something we didn‘t do. We didn‘t support pucks, and around the ice, there was a lot of individual play.
“There‘s a lot of things we‘re going to have to go back to the drawing board and get re-focused.”
Adam Brown started for Kelowna, but only lasted 12 minutes 46 seconds before getting the hook when Vancouver scored its third goal on its ninth shot. Mark Guggenberger made 25 saves in relief while Mark Segal made 21 stops for Vancouver.
The loss was Kelowna‘s third in a row, fourth in its last five games and worst home-ice defeat of the season.
Further, the Rockets gave up three power-play goals.
“We got ourselves back into the game via our power play, but then we were undisciplined,” said Huska, whose squad was disorganized and quite undermanned. “Anytime they score that many power-play goals against you, you‘re not going to win a lot of those games.
“So our discipline was poor tonight and our penalty kill was probably worse.”
Even worse, though, was that Kelowna‘s already injury-decimated roster lost three more bodies, with forwards Geordie Wudrick and Codey Ito plus defenceman Collin Bowman suffering injuries. It‘s believed Wudrick suffered a shoulder injury in the first, while Bowman went down with a knee injury in the second. Huska said he didn‘t know what the injuries were, other than that all three went to hospital.
“We‘ll have to wait and see what happens. We‘ll get more information when it comes in,” said Huska. “It is what it is... you can‘t control it. A lot of guys in the room are being given a chance, and they have to take advantage of the ice time they‘re being given now.”
From the Giants‘ viewpoint, the game was an easy two points.
“It was a good game,” said Connauton. “We had a strong first period, then we let up a little in the second, but then we pulled it together in the third. It was definitely a big road win for us. We definitely got the momentum with that 3-0 lead and we were able to take it into the third, stay with it and get the win.”
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s scratches included RW Brandon McMillan (world juniors), LW Lucas Bloodoff (knee, 2-3 weeks), LW Evan Bloodoff (knee, 3 months), and RW Kyle St. Denis (concussion, indefinite).
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=233009