Malc
02-19-2011, 01:35 PM
By DOYLE POTENTEAU
Not much separated the Kelowna Rockets and Spokane Chiefs on Friday night. Not much except two glaring items: A day-and-night difference in power plays and a poor start by Kelowna.
Levko Koper had a three-point night for Spokane, tallying two goals and one assist, as the Chiefs beat the Rockets 3-2 at Prospera Place. Spokane opened the scoring with a power-play goal late in the first period - a frame which saw Kelowna get outshot 17-3 - then closed it out with another extra-man marker early in the third.
"Early in the game, there was one team playing. We stood around and watched," said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose team, over the final two periods, was step for step with Spokane.
"Once we started to get a little bit physical and we got our legs under us, then we got better. But you can‘t beat good teams when you don‘t play for 60 minutes, and you can‘t beat good teams when you don‘t have all 20 guys going."
Brenden Kichton, with a goal and an assist, also scored for Spokane, which was 2-for-4 on a highly effective power play. The Chiefs, who are 7-4 in their last 11 games, kept Kelowna off the shot clock until the 12-minute mark of the first period, though the Rockets rang a shot off the post 90 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Notably, Spokane had two shots ring off the post in the first minute.
Colton Sissons, with his 15th goal, and Evan Bloodoff, with his 17th, replied for Kelowna in the second period. The Rockets‘ power play, which was listless at best, was 0-for-2.
Adam Brown made 36 saves for Kelowna, which finished its four-game season series with Spokane at 2-2. Mac Engel, who was clutch in the final minutes as the Rockets turned up the heat, made 22 saves for the Chiefs.
While Spokane emerged with a well-deserved win, it‘s not as if Kelowna was blown out. In fact, the Rockets played the Chiefs hard, and did so with a depleted roster missing two key defencemen and forward Brett Bulmer (leg injury), who is second in team scoring.
"We win when we play hard as a team. There‘s no secret to our group," said Huska. "It‘s not one guy; we need lots of guys contributing, generating and playing hard for each other. We need to do that for 60 minutes.
"We had some chances (at the end) that we missed... maybe we should have shot instead of passing it a few times. But it just wasn‘t enough from enough guys."
Said Sissons: "(Spokane) has a good special teams, and they were better than us tonight. It could have been a different result had we had a full lineup, but we need a 60-minute effort and it wasn‘t there."
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories.php?i=334547
Not much separated the Kelowna Rockets and Spokane Chiefs on Friday night. Not much except two glaring items: A day-and-night difference in power plays and a poor start by Kelowna.
Levko Koper had a three-point night for Spokane, tallying two goals and one assist, as the Chiefs beat the Rockets 3-2 at Prospera Place. Spokane opened the scoring with a power-play goal late in the first period - a frame which saw Kelowna get outshot 17-3 - then closed it out with another extra-man marker early in the third.
"Early in the game, there was one team playing. We stood around and watched," said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose team, over the final two periods, was step for step with Spokane.
"Once we started to get a little bit physical and we got our legs under us, then we got better. But you can‘t beat good teams when you don‘t play for 60 minutes, and you can‘t beat good teams when you don‘t have all 20 guys going."
Brenden Kichton, with a goal and an assist, also scored for Spokane, which was 2-for-4 on a highly effective power play. The Chiefs, who are 7-4 in their last 11 games, kept Kelowna off the shot clock until the 12-minute mark of the first period, though the Rockets rang a shot off the post 90 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Notably, Spokane had two shots ring off the post in the first minute.
Colton Sissons, with his 15th goal, and Evan Bloodoff, with his 17th, replied for Kelowna in the second period. The Rockets‘ power play, which was listless at best, was 0-for-2.
Adam Brown made 36 saves for Kelowna, which finished its four-game season series with Spokane at 2-2. Mac Engel, who was clutch in the final minutes as the Rockets turned up the heat, made 22 saves for the Chiefs.
While Spokane emerged with a well-deserved win, it‘s not as if Kelowna was blown out. In fact, the Rockets played the Chiefs hard, and did so with a depleted roster missing two key defencemen and forward Brett Bulmer (leg injury), who is second in team scoring.
"We win when we play hard as a team. There‘s no secret to our group," said Huska. "It‘s not one guy; we need lots of guys contributing, generating and playing hard for each other. We need to do that for 60 minutes.
"We had some chances (at the end) that we missed... maybe we should have shot instead of passing it a few times. But it just wasn‘t enough from enough guys."
Said Sissons: "(Spokane) has a good special teams, and they were better than us tonight. It could have been a different result had we had a full lineup, but we need a 60-minute effort and it wasn‘t there."
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories.php?i=334547