View Full Version : FIRST ROUND PLAYOFFS
Kal Tire 2010 WHL Western Conference Quarter-Final
EVERETT vs. KELOWNA
(Series G)
Game 1 - Fri Mar 19 7:35 PM Kelowna at Everett
Game 2 - Sat Mar 20 7:05 PM Kelowna at Everett
Game 3 - Tue Mar 23 7:00 PM Everett at Kelowna
Game 4 - Wed Mar 24 7:00 PM Everett at Kelowna
Game 5 - Fri Mar 26 7:35 PM * Kelowna at Everett
Game 6 - Sat Mar 27 7:00 PM * Everett at Kelowna
Game 7 - Mon Mar 29 7:05 PM * Kelowna at Everett
Redwic
03-19-2010, 11:54 AM
I want to wish your team good luck. I expect a hard-fought series, but with the Silvertips coming out on top.
I hope to see and meet some Rockets fans coming down to Everett this weekend.
By Doyle Potenteau
The Kelowna Rockets received good news on Thursday. Good thing, because it looks like there‘s bad news coming.
First, the good news.
Winger Shane McColgan was named the WHL‘s Western Conference rookie of the year, an accolade that was far from surprising. The 17-year-old from Manhattan Beach, Calif., was second in team scoring with 69 points (25 goals, 44 assists), numbers which tied him for second in the league‘s rookie scoring race.
Also, Tyson Barrie was named the Western Conference‘s top defenceman, while forward Spencer Main was named the West‘s scholastic player.
Barrie led Kelowna in scoring this season with a 72-point campaign in what‘s his third WHL season. In 202 regular-season games, including seven when he was called up as a 15-year-old, the 18-year-old Victoria product has tallied 40 goals and 130 assists for 170 points.
As for Main, the six-foot sophomore centre from North Vancouver and recently turned 18-year-old had eight goals and 19 points in 53 games.
Now for the tough news, which comes in the form of the Everett Silvertips.
Everett hosts Games 1 and 2 of its first-round series with Kelowna, courtesy of the Silvertips‘ 97-point season, which earned them the No. 3 seed in the West. Kelowna, with 76 points, finished sixth.
Their positioning alone, with Kelowna trailing by 21 points, automatically gives Everett a big edge. Factor in the Rockets‘ 1-4 record this season against the ‘Tips, and it‘ll take a big effort for Kelowna to pull off this upset.
Of course, this being the playoffs, both teams are on edge. Two weeks ago, I predicted Kelowna would only win two of its last six games. Of course, the team went five-for-six, and management and coaches have constantly needled me since.
That I‘m picking Everett in six will certainly add to the needling. Below are the reasons why.
Coaching: The edge goes to Everett, but it‘s so close I almost called this a wash. As a former NHL bench boss, Hartsburg has a much longer coaching resume than Kelowna‘s Ryan Huska. However, Huska counters that with more junior experience, especially in the playoffs, plus more experienced assistants.
Goaltending: Edge to Everett. The Silvertips have a dynamic duo in Thomas Heemskerk and Kent Simpson, who finished 1-2 this season in league save percentage, the de facto stat when it comes to judging goaltenders. Heemskerk, 19, had a save percentage of 92.7 per cent, while Simpson, 17, was second at 92.5. Meanwhile, Kelowna‘s Adam Brown was 15th at 90.5, while Mark Guggenberger‘s stat for his injury-plagued season (groin) was 88.
Kelowna is likely to lead with the 18-year-old Brown, who went 4-0 in his starts this month. But while the Rockets are playing the hot goalie right now, should Brown have an off-game and gets pulled, there‘s no statistical proof that Guggenberger has regained his winning form from last season. In five starts since February, Guggenberger is 2-3, with one of those wins being a 16-save, 5-0 shutout victory against Seattle.
Defence: Edge to Everett. The Rockets have two better high-end defencemen in Barrie and 20-year-old Dallas Jackson, but the Silvertips counter with better depth. Here‘s proof: led by rookies Radko Gudas (7 goals, 37 points) and Ryan Murray (5 goals, 27 points), Everett‘s slightly older blue-line gang gave up the league‘s fewest goals at 175. The Rockets surrendered 225 goals. Also, while Jackson was 14th in league defenceman scoring with 45 points (14-31), he has just seven playoff games under his belt.
Offence: Edge to Everett. While having the series‘ best forward in Brandon McMillan helps Kelowna‘s cause, at the end of the day, Everett again has more depth. Ignoring the fact that a defenceman led Kelowna‘s points parade and was followed by a rookie, only three Rockets managed more than 50 points. The Silvertips, meanwhile, had five forwards with more than 50 points (Shane Harper, Tyler Maxwell, Kellan Tochkin, Byron Froese and Chris Langkow), and all five had 20 or more goals.
Of course, the Rockets can counter with speedy winger Evan Bloodoff, who was hampered by an early season knee surgery, but that, in turn, can be countered with trade acquisition Clayton Cumiskey, who spent part of the season with the woeful Edmonton Oil Kings and has deceiving numbers (8-27-35).
Special teams: Edge to Kelowna, with better power play (22.5 per cent to 19.0 per cent) and penalty killing numbers (81.7 per cent to 75.9 per cent).
Prognosis: Goaltending and defence are pillars of strengths in the post-season, and the Silvertips are solidly built in those areas. Add in better offensive depth, and the numbers favour Everett. For Kelowna to win, the Rockets will need to play tough and punch Everett in the mouth to draw penalties and get the power play going. And, of course, the Rockets must change their season-long trend of giving up soft goals if they want to beat the Silvertips.
Prediction: A low-scoring series, with Everett beating consistently inconsistent Kelowna in six.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=251240
By Doyle Potenteau
With cowbells a clangin‘ in the background, Daniel Iwanski and the Everett Silvertips gutted out a 5-4 overtime victory over the Kelowna Rockets in WHL playoff action on Friday night.
In a game featuring 85 shots on goal and 20 players reaching the scoresheet, Iwanski gave Everett a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series by cashing in a two-on-one rush five minutes into overtime. Skating down the right side, Clayton Cumiskey saucered a perfect centering pass, which Iwanski slapped home.
For Kelowna, the loss was both disheartening and encouraging. Disheartening because the Rockets battled back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead late in the third period only to lose. Encouraging because they pushed one of the Western Conference‘s top teams to overtime.
Byron Froese, Zack Dailey, Kellan Tochkin and Curtis Kulchar, who forced overtime at 15:34 of the third, also scored for Everett. Antoine Corbin, Geordie Wudrick, Brett Bulmer and Collin Bowman replied for Kelowna.
Adam Brown 46 saves for the Rockets, while Thomas Heemskerk made 30 saves for the Silvertips, who outshot Kelowna 51-34.
The Silvertips started Game 1 with a strong first period, as the hosts outshot Kelowna 17-8 and Froese scoring from the slot following a slick feed from Shane Harper at 16:54. The power-play goal came 1:10 into a slashing penalty to Dallas Jackson. Jackson was actually hit with two minors, as both he and Tochkin both received roughing penalties following a small fracas.
The story of the first, however, was how well Everett walled up the slot, resulting in an easy 20 minutes for Heemskerk.
In the second, the Rockets pushed back, but only after Dailey punched in a Harper power-play rebound at 4:40 to make it 2-0. Harper first tried jamming the puck past Brown at the left post, resulting in a rebound skittering out front, where Dailey pounced, scored, then skated to the corner and slammed into the glass.
Eight minutes later, though, Kelowna jumped on the scoreboard with a somewhat fortunate goal. Corbin tried ripping a shot from the left blue-line boards, but didn‘t get all of it. His attempt, though, still had enough on it to get past Heemskerk. Six minutes later, just seconds after a Kelowna power play expired, the Rockets levelled the score when Wudrick raced down the left side on a one-on-one rush and knifed home a far-post shot. Wudrick used Everett‘s defenceman as a screen, and Heemskerk had no chance. Both teams had 13 shots on net.
In the third, Everett made it 3-2 five minutes into the frame when Tochkin zipped in a rebound on an extended goal-mouth scramble. That marker, though, was countered three minutes later at 8:42 when Bulmer, showing soft hands from atop the crease, lifted home a power-play goal to make it 3-3. Then, just 30 seconds later at 9:12, Bowman gave Kelowna a 4-3 lead with a shot from the right blue-line boards that was redirected off an Everett stick. The goal, which went to review but was upheld, stunned both the Tips and their fans, as Everett was outshooting Kelowna 39-27 at that point.
In turn, the Rockets had the wind knocked out of their sails at 15:34 when Kulchar surprised both Kelowna and the crowd with a quick, clean shot from the right blue-line boards. However, before the period ended, Kulchar almost played hero-turned-goat when he took a high-sticking penalty at 18:05, giving Kelowna a golden chance to end the game with a power-play goal.
But Everett came up with a big penalty kill to send the game into overtime, albeit with Kelowna on the power play for five seconds. The Silvertips finished regulation time by outshooting Kelowna 48-32.
ICE CHIPS: Scratches – Kelowna: C Cody Chikie (shoulder, 1-2 weeks), D MacKenzie Johnston, C Sean Aschim and RW Kyle St. Denis (concussion, indefinite). Everett: D Gabe Minville, C Tyler Giebel, C Josh Winquist, D Nicholas Walters and D Paul Sohor.
http://www.kelownarockets.com/hockey/news-display.php?section_id=3&public_id=1937
By Doyle Potenteau
At Comcast Arena, Harper scored twice for Everett, including a beauty midway through the second period, as the Silvertips beat the Rockets 5-2 in WHL playoff action before a crowd of 5,032.
“They have a good team, and if you give them too much room off the rush, they make you pay,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose team had a great first period by outhitting the Silvertips, but couldn‘t match Everett‘s offence. “They did a good job of that (on Saturday night). And their power play was very good.
“Those are two areas where we need to do a better job. We have to defend better off the rush, and making sure we‘re staying out of the box.”
Markus McCrea, Chris Langkow and Ryan Murray also scored for Everett, which led 1-0 and 3-1 at the period breaks and is now 6-1 against Kelowna this season.
Geordie Wudrick, who made it 1-1 early in the second period, and Lucas Bloodoff, with 47.8 seconds left in the game, replied for the Rockets, who were outshot 31-26.
Harper‘s second goal of the game, tallied at 13:19 of the middle frame, underscored the offensive skill that Kelowna has been lacking this season. Skating down the right side, Chris Langkow headmanned an Everett 3-on-2 rush, then, after skating in to Kelowna territory, dropped the puck to Zack Dailey at the top of the right circle. From there, Dailey zipped it cross-ice to the left circle to Harper, who then coolly slotted home his second goal of the night into a half-empty net to finish off the impressive three-way passing play.
Harper‘s first of the night was a power-play marker at 14:20 of the first, and, like his second, it was also a nice goal. Standing by himself to the right of Rockets goaltender Adam Brown, Harper, a 21-year-old from Valencia, Calif., snapped home a crisp cross-crease pass to open the scoring.
That goal proved important because it came against the grain of play, as the Rockets were running the ‘Tips out of their own building with a ferocious forecheck.
“We have to be physical and that‘s the way we need to play,” said Huska. “The problem is that it wasn‘t sustained long enough. After they got that power-play goal, it took the wind out of our sails a little bit. But we have to, no matter what, keep on going the same way.
“That‘s what we have to get back to: Pushing the envelope, forechecking hard and trying to create a little offence by going hard after pucks and bodies.”
“To be honest, the way we came out was not the way we wanted,” said Harper, who also had an assist for a three-point night. “Luckily in the second and third, we came out and played pressure like we wanted to and it ended up working for us.”
http://www.kelownarockets.com/hockey/news-display.php?section_id=3&public_id=1941
by Wayne Moore
The Kelowna Rockets need to play harder and smarter if they have designs of moving on in the Western Hockey League playoffs.
That is according to head coach Ryan Huska as the Rockets get ready for games three and four of their first round series with the Everett Silvertips Tuesday and Wednesday at Prospera Place.
Huska says the Rockets had the run of the play in the first period in games one and two, but ill-advised penalties in both games sapped their momentum and allowed the Silvertips to get the first goal on the power-play.
"We did a lot of good things in the first two games but we did a lot of bad things too," says Huska.
"We have to be better with our discipline, but we have to stay physical."
Huska says it's not the physical penalties that have been getting the team in trouble but rather the lazy hooking and holding penalties behind the play.
"We also need to be harder on the forecheck and spend more time in their end of the rink. We need to fight for everything we get."
He says being down 2-0 in the series is not where the team wanted to be, but says it's now up to the players to take care of business at home and go from there.
"We need to be hungry," added Huska.
Adam Brown, who allowed five goals in each of the first two games will get the start in game three Tuesday.
Brown has faced 82 shots so far in the series including 51 during a 5-4 overtime defeat in game one.
Should a fifth game be needed in the series it would be played Friday night in Everett with a sixth game if necessary back at Prospera Place Saturday.
http://www.castanet.net/news/Sports/53485/Rockets-need-to-play-harder-smarter
By Doyle Potenteau
Hockey is a lot like poker. Or, at least it was on Tuesday night, as Ryan Huska pulled out an ace and his team didn‘t fold.
At Prospera Place, back-up goaltender Mark Guggenberger rallied the Kelowna Rockets to a must-win victory, as the home team overcame an early 3-1 deficit by scoring four unanswered goals for a 5-3 decision over the Everett Silvertips. The game‘s turning point came after Huska replaced starter Adam Brown with Guggenberger midway through the first period.
“I‘m moreso happy that we didn‘t fold after the first,” said Huska, Kelowna‘s head coach. “I thought we were tentative early on, but we continued to gain momentum as the game went on, and that‘s something we‘re proud of.”
The Rockets certainly weren‘t proud of their start after the Silvertips scored just 42 seconds in, then made it 2-1 at 11:28. Enter Guggenberger, Kelowna‘s starting goalie last season who stopped 22 of 23 shots in relief.
“The first goal I know Adam would have liked back, and (there‘s) not much you could do about the second one,” Huska said of Brown, who gave up two goals on nine shots. “But it was more about getting a little change and getting us going. (Mark) was good; there were a few that snuck by him, and one hit the post, but coming in cold like that, I thought he did a very good job.”
Said Guggenberger: “It‘s tough, any time you get the call and you‘re not expecting to play. I just tried to dial in as quick as I could, and it helped to really get the boys going in the second (period) and take a little pressure off me.
“We knew we had to get this game. (Game 4) is going to be another big one, because we‘d love to go down to Everett tied up.”
Geordie Wudrick and Mitchell Callahan, both with two goals apiece, and Brett Bulmer scored for Kelowna. Wudrick made it 3-2 early in the second with a power-play goal, then Callahan levelled the score seven minutes later at 10:14. In the third, Bulmer buried a cross-crease pass to give Kelowna a 4-3 lead. Callahan later closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal.
Scott MacDonald, with his first playoff goal, Shane Harper, with his third, and Byron Froese, with his second, scored for Everett. Kent Simpson made 33 stops for the Tips, who had several chances in the second to ice the game, but couldn‘t beat a steady effort by Guggenberger.
“I thought Guggenberger played on his head; he played very, very well,” said Callahan. “It was good motivation and a good confidence booster for us by making the big saves. He generated a lot of energy for us.”
“I don‘t think we played our game tonight,” said Silvertips captain Zack Dailey. “We took a night off on the work scale, and they were working hard, and they took it to us the last two periods.
“We weren‘t getting pucks deep, we turned a lot of pucks over trying to be too cute and we tried to put skill ahead of work. Whenever you do that, it doesn‘t work."
Teammate Shane Harper echoed Dailey‘s comments.
“It‘s a series now,” said Harper. “Next game, it could be 2-2, that‘s how close it is. We could have had a good grip on the series... it could have been 3-0 and now it‘s 2-1. That‘s pretty huge.
“We didn‘t come out in the other two periods as hard as we did in the first. We started the first the way we wanted too, and they tied it up in the second. I guess we weren‘t the same.”
ICE CHIPS: Scratches – Kelowna: C Cody Chikie (shoulder, 1-2 weeks), C Sean Aschim, D MacKenzie Johnston and RW Kyle St. Denis (concussion, indefinite). Everett: D Radko Gudas (upper body), D Gabe Minville, C Tyler Giebel, C Josh Winquist and D Nicholas Walters. In special teams play, Kelowna was 2-for-2 on the power play while Everett was 1-for-4.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=252352
By Larry Fisher
The Kelowna Rockets weren‘t going to be denied.
Geordie Wudrick, with his second goal of the game and sixth of the series, scored the winner 46 seconds into double overtime to top the Everett Silvertips 5-4 at Prospera Place on Wednesday night.
With the win, Kelowna evened the best-of-seven, first-round WHL playoff series 2-2, ensuring there will be a Game 6 back in Kelowna on Saturday night. Game 5 goes Friday in Everett.
In an entertaining affair full of turning points and momentum shifts, Wudrick provided the dramatic ending. With the Rockets enjoying a power play that carried over from the first overtime, defenceman Tyson Barrie carried the puck into Silvertips‘ territory and fed a cross-ice pass to Wudrick, who fired a laser over the glove of Everett goalie Thomas Heemskerk.
“I just had my head down,” Wudrick said. “To be honest, my legs were seizing up, I was getting pretty tired, and I just put it on net and luckily it went top corner.”
A mid-season acquisition, Wudrick‘s addition has paid serious dividends in this series. The 19-year-old power forward has scored in all four games, but none bigger than Wednesday‘s winner. That decisive goal came with Silvertips forward Chris Langkow in the sin bin, guilty of a tripping infraction in his own zone with 40 seconds left in the first overtime. Langkow had assisted on his team‘s first two goals, as Everett opened a 2-0 lead early, but trailed 3-2 after the first period, before leading 4-3 through 40 minutes.
After combining for eight goals through regulation, the goalies redeemed themselves in overtime. Heemskerk was stellar, turning aside 14 shots, including several point-blank opportunities. Kelowna ‘keeper Mark Guggenberger was equal to the task, making 10 saves.
Guggenberger, making his first start of the series after replacing Adam Brown with the Rockets trailing 2-0 in Tuesday‘s Game 3, finished with 39 saves to earn his second win in as many nights. The Rockets, who were outshot 43-35 on Wednesday, also rallied for a 5-3 win on Tuesday with Guggenberger stopping 22 of 23 shots in relief.
Heemskerk, who started Game 1 of the series last Friday but watched Games 2 and 3 behind Kent Simpson, made 30 saves in his return.
Shane Harper, with his fourth goal of the series to open the scoring 1:58 into the contest, Markus McCrea, Clayton Cumiskey and Ryan Murray lit the lamp for Everett.
Spencer Main, with his first career playoff goal, Brett Bulmer and Antoine Corbin replied for Kelowna in regulation.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=252654
“You have to take advantage of your home games for sure,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska of his team’s performance. “But now we have to find a way to win one game there. Hopefully that’s something that we can build off of tonight’s game... carry a little momentum over and try to put together a full game.
“I didn’t like our second period tonight, but if we can put together a full game you never know what can happen.”
“Probably Dallas’ best game of the playoffs so far, by far” said the coach. “Maybe his best game that he’s played for us here. He was very good for us tonight and we’re going to need that in Everett on Friday.”
If there‘s been two constants in this crazy, back-and-forth series between the Kelowna Rockets and Everett Silvertips, it‘s been this: Everett has scored first.
And, quite importantly for the Rockets, the home team wins.
On Friday night at Comcast Arena, it was same old, same old, as the Silvertips scored first once again, this time at the one-minute mark. However, unlike Games 1, 3 and 4 of this best-of-seven set, where the Rockets fought back from big deficits, Everett actually made its lead stand up, as the Silvertips jumped out to a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-0 victory in Game 5.
Now trailing 3-2 and facing elimination in this evening‘s Game 6 at Prospera Place, the question for the Rockets is this: When will they finally quit having slow starts?
For it‘s only a matter of time before a team finally stumbles in the bog of playoff comeback land.
“They have scored early in each game, and it‘s usually a breakdown or a mental mistake by one of our guys. That usually puts you behind the eight-ball, especially when you‘re on the road,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose team is 2-0 against Everett on home ice in this series.
“Eventually, those (early-lead) doors close up and you can‘t come back. They‘ll make adjustments and you can‘t come back all the time. So you can‘t be spotting teams leads and think that you‘re going to get yourself into games. We need to play with a lead.”
Tyler Maxwell, with two goals, Daniel Iwanski and Shane Harper, with his fifth, scored for the Silvertips. The ‘Tips led 1-0 and 3-0 at the breaks.
Kent Simpson turned aside 21 shots for Everett for his first career playoff shutout, while Mark Guggenberger made 29 stops for Kelowna.
Of Everett‘s four goals, Maxwell's second of the game, a short-handed effort at 11 minutes of the second, proved to be the difference.
The Silvertips played the game with just five defencemen after Chris de la Lande was scratched due to an injury suffered during game four Wednesday.
ICE CHIPS: Scratches – Kelowna: C Cody Chikie (shoulder), C Sean Aschim, D MacKenzie Johnston and RW Kyle St. Denis (concussion, indefinite). Everett: D Radko Gudas (upper body), D Chris de la Lande, D Gabe Minville, C Tyler Giebel and D Nicholas Walters. . . . Friday‘s attendance was 4,361. . . . Kelowna was 0-for-3 on the power play; Everett was 1-for-5. . . . The last time Kelowna was shut out in a playoff game was April 11, 2007, 2-0 in Game 3 in Everett.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=253279
Wild. Dull. Unpredictable. Crazy.
You name it, it happened Saturday night at Prospera Place. And now, after a game filled with wild, crazy swings that ultimately went Kelowna‘s way, the Rockets can now do the unthinkable on Monday night: Knock off the Everett Silvertips.
At Prospera Place, Tyson Barrie scored twice for Kelowna, and Lucas Bloodoff netted the game winner midway through the third period, as the Rockets staved off elimination with a 5-4 victory over Everett in WHL playoff action. With the win, Kelowna levelled the best-of-seven series at 3-3, with the deciding game going Monday, 7:05 p.m. at Comcast Arena in Everett, Wash.
“We knew our backs were against the wall and it was do or die,” said Barrie, the game‘s first star, whose team rallied in the third for the win. “We came out with a good effort and we had some unlucky bounces, but things came together in the third. We showed a lot of character, I thought.”
The game, a topsy-turvy affair that saw Kelowna outshoot Everett 17-5 in the first period and 35-16 through 60 minutes, began when MacDonald opening the scoring just minutes in for the visiting ‘Tips. McColgan, with his first of the playoffs, levelled the score at 18:15 of the first period as the Rockets, despite outshooting the Silvertips, looked shaky.
After the second period, many thought Kelowna‘s season was coming to an end, as Everett rallied from a 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 lead. In the final frame, though, the Rockets swung back and scored twice, with Barrie hammering a power-play slapshot at 9:11 to make it 4-4, then Bloodoff jamming in a wrap-around attempt just 22 seconds later to make it 5-4.
From there, the game was Kelowna‘s to keep, and the Rockets hung on to their momentum despite Everett pulling its goalie for an extra attacker in the final minute.
“I thought we were the better team tonight,” said Barrie. “We had a lot of shots on net and we started gaining momentum. When we got those two goals in the third, that was huge for us and now we‘re going to try and carry this into Monday.”
The Rockets will need every ounce of momentum to win in Comcast. So far, the home team has won every game in this series, including Everett manhandling Kelowna 4-0 in Game 5 on Friday night.
“We‘re going to try and break that,” Barrie said of the home-team advantage. “Obviously, both teams are playing better at home, but I think we have the momentum and we‘re going to try and carry that into Everett.
“It‘s Game 7, so there‘s going to be a lot of excitement in both groups. If you can‘t get up for that, then just stay home because these are the games that are fun to play in, these are the games you want to be part of. You have to realize what‘s on the line: This is a chance for a lot of guys to show what they have, and the better the team does, the better you do individually.”
Heading into the first-round affair, nearly every WHL pundit was predicting an Everett victory. And maybe had the Tips hung onto their 4-3 lead, they would be celebrating a series victory. But in what‘s seemingly been tradition for Everett in this series, the Tips can‘t hold off the Rockets.
“For two periods it was a typical playoff game, where both teams have played a lot of hockey and there were a lot of mistakes,” said Silvertips head coach Craig Hartsburg, whose team wasted leads in Games 3 and 4 in Kelowna. “We had a chance going into the third and we just didn’t get it done.
“For whatever reason – I have no idea – but in this building when we get a lead we seem to want to sit back and play on our heels. Against a team like that they just keep coming at you. We didn’t do the job to put pressure on them. They’ve got a lot of character, a lot of guys who have won on that side, and they just keep coming.
“This series has been a roller coaster, really. It’s been a great series, I think both teams have competed hard and played desperate, and that’s why it’s been a roller coaster, because one team can’t dominate the other very long, so it seems to go back and forth.”
Codey Ito also scored for Kelowna. Scott MacDonald, Daniel Iwanski, Byron Froese and Shane Harper replied for Everett. Mark Guggenberger made 12 saves for the Rockets, while Kent Simpson turned aside 30 shots for the Silvertips.
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s scratches were C Cody Chikie (shoulder), C Sean Aschim, D MacKenzie Johnston and RW Kyle St. Denis (concussion). Everett‘s scratches were D Radko Gudas (upper body), D Gabe Minville, C Tyler Giebel and D Chris de la Lande (upper body).
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=253427
“I thought it was a good game for us tonight, I was happy with the way our guys responded on a situation where there was back-to-back nights,” said Huska. “Tonight was the first night where, for the bulk of the game, we battled pretty hard and played the way we wanted to play and now our challenge is to go to Everett and do the same thing there.”
By Doyle Potenteau
The last thing the Kelowna Rockets needed to give up on Monday night was a soft goal. Mark Guggenberger made sure that didn‘t happen.
At Everett, Wash., Guggenberger made 40 saves for Kelowna and the Rockets knocked off the Everett Silvertips in Game 7 on Monday night at Comcast Arena, posting a 2-1 win to claim the best-of-seven series 4-3. With the win, Kelowna, unheralded heading into the WHL‘s post-season, advances to the second round. And in the next round, the Rockets will play Tri-City.
But more on Monday‘s unlikely result.
Unlikely because Everett finished 21 points ahead of Kelowna in regular-season standings. Unlikely because the Tips also scored first in each game – until Monday – and the home team had won each game – until Monday.
Enter Guggenberger, who put in a first-star effort by making big save after big save. Over the final two periods, the Silvertips poured it on and outshot the Rockets 34-15.
“We kinda knew that Mark would have to be our best player tonight, and he was that, without a doubt,” a jubilant Rockets head coach Ryan Huska said after the game, which was played before a loud crowd of 4,784. “He made save after save for us.”
Geordie Wudrick, who opened the scoring at 1:36 of the first period with a power-play tally, and Lucas Bloodoff, with the winner midway through the second, scored for Kelowna. Chris Langkow scored the lone goal for Everett, while Kent Simpson stopped 20 shots.
For Guggenberger, the win was sweet redemption for a season marred with doubt and injury. Last season‘s starter seemed to have lost his job to Adam Brown, but Guggenberger came to life in the playoffs, earning four wins in five appearances.
“Seeing all my guys battle in front of me and blocking shots, doing whatever it takes,” said Guggenberger, “it was a great feeling to win.
“Coming into the series (against Everett) – we had this written (in the locker-room) – everyone counted us out, but I think we can compete with any team in the league. This just gave us a chance to show it.”
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