Malc
12-29-2009, 02:55 PM
By Doyle Potenteau
Just when things couldn‘t get worse for the Kelowna Rockets, they did on Sunday night.
Already reeling with three of their better players out with injuries, the Rockets lost four more bodies in Sunday night‘s 7-3 drubbing at the hands of the visiting Vancouver Giants. Now with seven players out of the lineup – eight, including Brandon McMillan, who‘s away at the world junior championship – Kelowna‘s chances of challenging front-running Vancouver for the B.C. Division pennant seems unlikely.
Unlikely because with the season now past the halfway point, nearly all of Kelowna‘s injuries are pegged at being at least two weeks in length. With the Rockets 12 points in arrears of the Giants, trying to catch a team with two-thirds of a roster in a short time span is a tall task.
“I‘ve never seen anything like this,” said Rockets president and general manager Bruce Hamilton, whose team lost forwards Geordie Wudrick (separated shoulder) and Codey Ito (shoulder) plus defencemen Collin Bowman (ankle) and Mitchell Chapman (fractured ribs) in Sunday night‘s wipeout. “And these aren‘t just nicks and bruises we‘re dealing with.”
All four were shipped to hospital, with their out-of-action diagnoses ranging from two to four weeks. They now join captain Lucas Bloodoff (knee, 2 weeks), Evan Bloodoff (knee, 2 months) and Kyle St. Denis (concussion, indefinite) on the Rockets‘ injury list, which has been littered with bodies this season.
“We don‘t (normally) believe in bringing up 15-year-olds,” said Hamilton, who is calling up a pair of midgets in forwards Colton Heffley (Swift Current) and Tyrell Goulbourne (Edmonton). Both were selected in last spring‘s bantam draft.
“Historically, we don‘t do this, and I think the only 15s we‘ve used over the years were Scott Hannan, Luke Schenn, Tyler Myers, Tyson (Barrie) and Shane McColgan. But we‘re in a state where we have 15 skaters.”
Now with eight players off the roster, the Rockets are having to readjust their plans from chase mode to survival mode.
“Our goaltenders are going to have to step up and help us out,” said Hamilton, whose team has yet to play with a fully healthy lineup this season. “We‘re going to be a young, young team until we get some of our guys back. Once we get back the guys that are missing... if it wasn‘t a bunch of veterans hurt, we‘d be in a different scenario. What we got coming back, when we get them, this team will change quite a bit. But, until then, it‘s going to be tough.”
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=233190
Just when things couldn‘t get worse for the Kelowna Rockets, they did on Sunday night.
Already reeling with three of their better players out with injuries, the Rockets lost four more bodies in Sunday night‘s 7-3 drubbing at the hands of the visiting Vancouver Giants. Now with seven players out of the lineup – eight, including Brandon McMillan, who‘s away at the world junior championship – Kelowna‘s chances of challenging front-running Vancouver for the B.C. Division pennant seems unlikely.
Unlikely because with the season now past the halfway point, nearly all of Kelowna‘s injuries are pegged at being at least two weeks in length. With the Rockets 12 points in arrears of the Giants, trying to catch a team with two-thirds of a roster in a short time span is a tall task.
“I‘ve never seen anything like this,” said Rockets president and general manager Bruce Hamilton, whose team lost forwards Geordie Wudrick (separated shoulder) and Codey Ito (shoulder) plus defencemen Collin Bowman (ankle) and Mitchell Chapman (fractured ribs) in Sunday night‘s wipeout. “And these aren‘t just nicks and bruises we‘re dealing with.”
All four were shipped to hospital, with their out-of-action diagnoses ranging from two to four weeks. They now join captain Lucas Bloodoff (knee, 2 weeks), Evan Bloodoff (knee, 2 months) and Kyle St. Denis (concussion, indefinite) on the Rockets‘ injury list, which has been littered with bodies this season.
“We don‘t (normally) believe in bringing up 15-year-olds,” said Hamilton, who is calling up a pair of midgets in forwards Colton Heffley (Swift Current) and Tyrell Goulbourne (Edmonton). Both were selected in last spring‘s bantam draft.
“Historically, we don‘t do this, and I think the only 15s we‘ve used over the years were Scott Hannan, Luke Schenn, Tyler Myers, Tyson (Barrie) and Shane McColgan. But we‘re in a state where we have 15 skaters.”
Now with eight players off the roster, the Rockets are having to readjust their plans from chase mode to survival mode.
“Our goaltenders are going to have to step up and help us out,” said Hamilton, whose team has yet to play with a fully healthy lineup this season. “We‘re going to be a young, young team until we get some of our guys back. Once we get back the guys that are missing... if it wasn‘t a bunch of veterans hurt, we‘d be in a different scenario. What we got coming back, when we get them, this team will change quite a bit. But, until then, it‘s going to be tough.”
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=233190