Rockets Even Series at 1

[Tipped Off]

I thought the Tips played well. They controlle dthe puck for much of the game, put pressure on Kelowna and had some great opportunities either missed by the Tips or saved by Yeomans. Obviously it's a different game if the Tips can put a couple of those home and take a 2-1 or 3-1 lead in to the Third. Right before the Rockets scored in the Third to take the 2-1 lead, I told my wife, the Tips are creating a lot of opportunities right now, but they are allowing Kelowna to get some by being out of defensive position to do so. Next thing you know, a quick shot on goal, a long rebound, and Coe scores his first ever WHL playoff goal. A minute or so later, the Rockets scored again and a late PP goal by the Tips was too little, too late.

All that aside, the Tiips did exactly what you would have hoped for in the two games in Kelowna. You'd take a playoff split on the road in the playoffs any day. Game 3 is huge now, you have to defend your home Ice.

[Tipped Off]

Rockets rock Everett
Kelowna's Colin Joe's first-ever goal in the Western Hockey League lifts the Rockets to victory and sends the best-of-seven series back to Everett tied 1-1.

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer


KELOWNA, British Columbia - The game was deadlocked. It was a stalemate.

The Everett Silvertips and Kelowna Rockets were evenly matched in their ability to prevent the other from getting a sniff of a goal. It was clear that one flickering moment was going to decide the outcome of the game.

Leave it to perhaps the most unlikely source to provide that deciding moment.

Kelowna defenseman Colin Joe, playing for the first time in the playoffs, scored the tie-breaking goal with less than six minutes remaining - his first goal in the WHL - and the Rockets held on to defeat the Silvertips 3-2 Sunday night.

Joe's goal helped Kelowna even the best-of-seven second-round series at 1-1. Game 3 is Tuesday in Everett.

"He hadn't scored a goal in his career here for two years, so he's very excited," Kelowna assistant coach Ryan Huska said of Joe. "He's been out with a bit of an injury and this was the first time we could get him back in the lineup, and all he did was take a shot."

Joe's shot from the point broke a 1-1 tie at 14:11 of the third period and unlocked a game that had been closed tight. Brent Howarth made it 3-1 with a nice individual effort moments later, and Peter Mueller scored a power-play goal for Everett with 1:31 remaining to make for an exciting finish. Troy Bodie also scored and Derek Yeomans made 26 saves in goal for Kelowna.

"It was a good playoff game," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "I thought both teams competed pretty hard and play was pretty even. You knew the first goal of the third period would probably win it because both teams had pretty tight checking."

"We knew falling behind 1-0 and going into Everett's building that if we were down 2-0, the odds would be against us coming back and winning the series," Yeomans said. "This is a huge game for us and gives us a little bit of confidence going into their building."

John Lammers scored and Leland Irving made 16 saves in goal for Everett, which outshot Kelowna 28-19. The Tips outshot the Rockets 28-18 in Game 1.

"They're a good team and we knew they were going to respond well to the last game," Lammers said. "I thought we played pretty good in the first couple of periods, but somebody's got to win and I guess they wanted it a little more.

"It's a seven-game series, though, and it takes four games to win," Lammers said. "We knew we weren't going to win every game. We wanted to, but they're a good team."

Lammers and Bodie both scored in the first nine minutes of the game, but from there on the defenses clamped down. Though there were a few more scoring chances in the first period, they were few and far between in the second and third.

That all changed as time wound down in regulation. The Rockets won a battle along the right boards in the Everett zone and the puck squirted free to Joe at the center point. Joe, who only played a handful of shifts, blasted a slap shot through traffic and past Irving to break the deadlock at 14:11.

Constantine was not surprised by the identity of the goal scorer.

"If anybody scored I thought it would be their D because our wingers were really bad at allowing point shots," he said. "Our game weakness was the reason they scored."

Howarth appeared to put the game away when he scored 1:20 later. He stickhandled his way into the zone, deked past a defender and fired a shot in off the left post to make it 3-1.

However, Kelowna defenseman Kyle Cumiskey took a holding penalty with 1:56 remaining, and Everett capitalized. With Irving pulled for an extra skater, Mueller received the puck in the left circle with space, then slapped a shot through traffic and past Yeomans to set up a grandstand finish.

Everett pulled Irving again, but Ondrej Fiala was unable to handle a home-run pass with space, then later had a bouncing shot gloved by Yeomans.

Slap shots: Everett defenseman Shaun Heshka, who suffered a knee injury in Game 1, was able to play Sunday. The Tips skated defenseman Eric Doyle during warmups as a precaution, but Doyle was eventually scratched. ... Kyle Beach, Everett's first-round pick in the 2005 Bantam Draft, joined the team Sunday but did not play. Beach's midget team, the Okanagan Rockets, was swept in two games by Alberta in the Telus Cup Regionals, ending Beach's season and allowing the talented power forward to join the Tips. ... Kelowna again played without left wing Lauris Darzins because of a lower-body injury.

Rockets 3, Silvertips 2

Everett 1 0 1 - 2

Kelowna 1 0 2 - 3

First Period-1, Everett, Lammers 2 (Mueller, Wheat), 5:31 (pp). 2, Kelowna, Bodie 4 (Comeau, Ray), 8:32. Penalties-Dowzak, Kelowna (delay of game), 5:00; Kress, Everett (holding), 6:17; Ray, Kelowna (diving), 6:17; Heshka, Everett (roughing), 11:10; Dowzak, Kelowna (tripping), 14:17.

Second Period-No goals. Penalties-Hromas, Everett (hooking), 11:00; Dowzak, Kelowna (roughing), 14:50.

Third Period-3, Kelowna, Joe 1 (Comeau, Bodie), 14:11. 4, Kelowna, Howarth 3 (Edler), 15:31. 5, Everett, Mueller 4 (Fiala, Lammers), 18:29 (pp). Penalties-Comeau, Kelowna (checking from behind), 3:53; Thoring, Everett (high sticking-high sticking), 15:55; Keller, Kelowna (roughing), 15:55; Cumiskey, Kelowna (holding), 18:04.

Shots on goal-Everett 12-5-11-28. Kelowna 9-4-6-19. Power-play opportunities-Everett 2 of 5. Kelowna 0 of 3.

Goalies-Everett, Irving 5-2 (19 shots, 16 saves). Kelowna, Yeomans 5-3 (28 shots, 26 saves).

[Tipped Off]

Joe knows hockey
By Doyle Potenteau
Monday, April 10, 2006, 12:00 AM

Kelowna Daily Courier

The Kelowna Rockets are now on even terms with the Everett Silvertips, thanks to two unlikely sources: Colin Joe and Brent Howarth.

Joe scored his first career goal, a screened shot from the blue-line, late in the third period to break a 1-1 tie, then Howarth knifed home the game winner 80 seconds later as Kelowna beat Everett 3-2 in Western Hockey League playoff action Sunday night at Prospera Place.

The Western Conference best-of-seven semifinal series is now tied 1-1, with Games 3 and 4 set to take place Tuesday and Wednesday in Everett.

That Joe, a sophomore defenceman, and Howarth, a third-year winger, scored two of Kelowna’s three goals proved surprising for a myriad of reasons, but mainly these three: One, Joe had been nursing a sore shoulder; Two, Howarth has been used mainly in a defensive role for the defending league champions; and Three, Kelowna’s big guns have all but been muzzled, though Blake Comeau did register two assists.

Yet, in Game 2, it was the Rockets’ lesser lights, especially Joe, playing in his first playoff game this season, that brightened up an otherwise sour crowd, one that was fed up with Kelowna being outworked and outplayed by Everett for most of the game.

“I guess he’d been working on that goal for two years now,” Rockets assistant coach Ryan Huska said of Joe’s first goal. “He’s very excited and he’s been out with a bit of an injury, and this was the first time we could get him back in the lineup after his injury was finished. All he did was get a shot through, and we’ve been telling our kids just to get shots through and on net.”

While Joe did what he was told, what the Rockets couldn’t do Sunday night was establish any flow, as anyone who attended Game 2 will attest to.

“I don’t think there was a lot of flow,” agreed Huska. “For (Everett’s) sake, I think that’s something they like to see. For our sake, not so much. I know we’d like to see a little more speed through the neutral zone and try to create offensive opportunities by using our speed.

“But they do such a good job with their structure and their discipline. They make it difficult sometimes.”

Troy Bodie also reached the scoresheet for Kelowna, which scored three straight after Everett opened the scoring five minutes after the opening whistle. John Lammers and Peter Mueller, who closed out the scoring, replied for Everett, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Leland Irving made 16 saves for the Silvertips, while Derek Yeomans made 26 saves for the Rockets, who, for the second time in as many games, were outshot, this time 28-19.

“Overall, both teams did a good job eliminating (scoring) chances,” said Yeomans. “There was lots of neutral-zone play and that’s what we expect in this series from Everett. We’re going to have to play very disciplined if we want to limit their chances and limit their scoring.”

Irving was hoping his team would leave the Okanagan with a 2-0 lead.
“We didn’t get the bounces (Sunday),” said Irving. “Coming into (Kelowna), we thought going 1-1 would be OK. But after winning that first game, we . . . knew everything it was going to take to win. We weren’t able to come through.

“It was a little disappointing and we have to come out with a better effort.”
Added Everett coach Kevin Constantine: “I don’t feel anything about splits. The team that wins four goes on to the next round, and the other guys go home.”

Of note, an interested bystander last night was Kelowna resident and Everett bantam draft pick Kyle Beach. A member of the Okanagan Rockets, Beach’s season with his B.C. Major Midget League squad came to an end Saturday in Calgary, as the Buffaloes defeated the Kelowna squad 2-0 in a best-of-three series for the right to represent the Pacific region at the Telus Cup in P.E.I. later this month.

On Sunday, the Silvertips flew Beach from Calgary to Kelowna, and the six-foot-three winger quickly exchanged his Okanagan red and teal for Everett green and white. Beach, who says he hurt his knee in Calgary, hopes to be playing Tuesday and Wednesday.

“(Losing to Calgary 9-3 and 8-1) wasn’t the greatest way to end the season,” said Beach. “But now I’m up here and I’m going to worry about these playoffs.

“It doesn’t matter what colour I have; I'm going to do what I can to help the team.”

ICE CHIPS: Kelowna’s scratches were Lauris Darzins (knee), Kevin Reinholt, Cody Almond, Colin Long, Josiah Anderson and Rob Roteliuk. Everett’s scratches were Eric Doyle, Zach Sim, Jonathan Milhouse, Shane Harper and Ryan Sawka. . . . Kelowna was zero-for-three on the power play. Everett was two-for-five.