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View Full Version : Warriors walk over Rockets



Malc
01-07-2011, 02:48 PM
by Chris Stanford

Looking to shake off a cold spell that has seen them winless in their previous two games, the Kelowna Rockets instead got burned by the red-hot Moose Jaw Warriors at Prospera Place on Thursday night.

With a trio of former Rockets in their lineup at least some of the Warriors were on familiar ice, but in the end it was the visitors four-goal second period that made all the difference and gave them a 4-2 win in their first and only meeting of the season.

Moose Jaw, with forwards Jesse Paradis and Dylan Hood, as well as defenceman Collin Bowman, who all spent time in a Rockets uniform, along with 6-foot-6 local product Cody Beach, came into the contest with a 4-1 record on its current road trip and simply outplayed Kelowna for most of the night.

"I thought they pushed and we didn‘t respond," said Rockets acting head coach Ryan Cuthbert. "It‘s a lot of what we‘ve seen in the last three games here, so it wasn‘t a good effort at all tonight."

The Rockets jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 17:03 of the first period with the teams playing 4-on-4 hockey, courtesy of a Geordie Wudrick point shot off a nice feed from Zak Stebner. But that was one of Kelowna‘s few high points on the night, in the physical affair.

Although the Rockets were helped by forward Mitchell Callahan, making his return to the lineup following a bronze-medal performance with the U.S. team at the world junior championship in Buffalo, they wilted under Moose Jaw‘s mid-game onslaught.

That started at only 2:10 into the second when Joey Kornelsen drew the Warriors even with quick snap shot that beat Adam Brown in the Kelowna net.

Fioretti followed that up at the 5:36 mark, and while Brett Bulmer evened it with his 14th of the season for the Rockets, it was all Warriors after that. Matt Grant put Moose Jaw in front again - for good this time - just 13 minutes into the middle frame on a great solo effort.

The game‘s first star, Spencer Edwards, scored for the second time in as many games, beating Adam Brown for the shorthanded insurance marker. That was all for Brown in the Rockets‘ net, as he let in four goals on 18 shots and was pulled in favour of Jordon Cooke.

While former Rocket Paradis tallied an assist on the Warriors‘ first goal, Beach did him one better and came close to a Gordie Howe hat trick. First, he fought Kelowna‘s Gal Koren in the first of several scraps, and later assisting on their second goal.

"Our line had a lot of chances and couldn‘t quite bear down," said Beach, one of eight Warriors with points on the night. "But it was nice to get on the scoresheet and get out of here with two points. The first 20 minutes, they were hard to play against and I think we wore them down a bit. But the fans are great here and this building‘s looking great."

The Rockets had their chances to get back in it during the final frame. First when Moose Jaw‘s Antonin Honejsek was sent off less than a minute in for a four-minute double minor, and near the midway point on the power play again.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, Thomas Heemskerk turned aside everything thrown at him in the late going to earn his 22nd win of the season.

"I think we‘ve got a good week next week where we can get back to basics and learn how to compete again, because obviously we‘ve lost a lot of that," said Cuthbert, an assistant who had been filling in, along with Dan Lambert, for head coach Ryan Huska.

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=322977