Double or nothing: Rockets in command coming home

By Doyle Potenteau

No one saw this coming.

Not Ryan Huska, not Mark Guggenberger. Especially not the Calgary Hitmen.

Mikael Backlund scored twice for Kelowna, while Guggenberger made 27 saves, as the Rockets rode a strong defensive performance in defeating the Hitmen 5-2 in Game 2 of the WHL championship series on Saturday night.

The Rockets now lead the best-of-seven set 2-0, with Games 3 and 4 set for Monday and Wednesday at Kelowna.

“I thought we had a slow start to the game,” said Huska, Kelowna‘s head coach, whose team scored four times in the third period to break a 1-1 deadlock. “Calgary came out hard and we got good goaltending when we needed it and that was the big-time difference. As the game wore on, because we were able to hang around in the first portion, we found a way to get our legs.

“We played much better towards the end of the second and into the third because our goaltender kept us in the game early on when we shouldn‘t have been.”

In almost a repeat of Game 1, the Rockets blocked a score of shots, relied on Guggenberger, then poured it on in the third. Kelowna outshot Calgary 10-8 in the third period of Game 1, then 15-7 in Game 2.

“We came out and liked our first period,” said Hitmen coach Dave Lowry, whose team hadn‘t lost back-to-back games in 86 contests. “Going into the third period, I thought we were in a pretty good position. The unfortunate thing is, they took the play to us, they elevated it and they got a little bit of momentum and they capitalized on their chances.

“We didn‘t have enough to push back, but it takes four to win.”

Entering the WHL final, not many were giving Kelowna a chance, with most pundits predicting a Calgary victory in four or five games. But having taken two at the Saddledome – where the Hitmen were 32-4 in regular-season play – the Rockets are clearly in the driver‘s seat now. But whether they‘ll be riding into Game 3 with top scorer Jamie Benn isn‘t yet known.

Midway through the first period, Kelowna lost Benn to injury when Calgary defenceman Keith Seabrook drilled the Victoria product just above the Hitmen‘s goal-line. Benn went flying, crashed hard into Calgary‘s endboards and was motionless, and helmet-less, on the ice for several seconds. Minutes later, Benn skated to Kelowna‘s dressing room, with Rockets trainer Jeff Thorburn assisting him, and he didn‘t return to action. In Game 1, Seabrook also drilled Benn with a hard hit.

“We brought our (team) doctor with us, and it was his call not to let Jamie play,” Huska said of Benn, who, from a distance, appeared clear-eyed and fine after the game. “Jamie wanted to play; he‘s going to be fine and we‘re looking forward to having him back in our lineup in Kelowna.”

Ian Duval, Evan Bloodoff, with one goal and two assists, and Colin Long also scored for Kelowna, which is now 14-4 in the playoffs, including 7-3 on the road. Tomas Karpov and Seabrook replied for Calgary, which has now lost three times to Kelowna this season (1-3).
Martin Jones made 22 saves for the Hitmen, while Guggenberger stopped 15 of 16 shots in the second period.

Asked if he could see Saturday‘s big win coming, Guggenberger said no.

“I can‘t say I did,” said Guggenberger, who played Game 2 with a plug inside his left nostril and two stitches to prevent a nose bleed suffered in Game 1. “But I‘m more than happy with the results.”

After a scoreless first period, Calgary opened the scoring early in the second, Karpov with his fourth of the playoffs at 2:45. Parked along Kelowna‘s endboards, Ian Schultz fed a centring pass to the low left faceoff circle, where Karpov snapped home a low shot. The goal was a result of good pressure by Calgary and missed defensive coverage by Kelowna.

Twelve minutes later, though, the Rockets replied, Bloodoff with his third of the playoffs. Charging down the right side while also fending off Hitmen defenceman Paul Postma, Ian Duval chipped the puck past Calgary‘s top blue-liner to the slot, where Bloodoff backhanded the puck past Jones. Notably, Bloodoff beat Calgary‘s second-best defenceman, Seabrook, in the race to the Hitmen crease.

In the third, the Rockets busted out with two quick goals in the first five minutes for a 3-1 lead.

Bloodoff, with speed, raced down right wing, crossed Calgary‘s blue-line, then cut to the goal, beating Seabrook in the process and putting a shot on net. Jones made the save, but didn‘t cover the puck and Duval swooped in to knock home the glove-side rebound. The goal, Duval‘s 10th, came at 3:40.

Less than two minutes later, Bloodoff pulled off a repeat, only he turned the corner on Hitmen blue-liner Matt MacKenzie this time. And knocking in the rebound was Backlund.

“I can say to Evan that it was probably his best game he‘s played for our hockey club in three years,” said Huska. “He‘s got great speed and our challenge to Evan is to use it all the time because there aren‘t a lot of defencemen in this league who can handle his wide speed.
“He was a big difference for us tonight, and a lot of times when you‘re not playing well, if you can dumb your game down a little and throw pucks at the net and get guys crashing hard, that‘s how you turn things around.

“And Evan was a big reason why our game turned around.”

Backlund also wound up scoring five minutes later to make it 4-1. Backlund‘s second of the night came at 10:21, a rebound on a Lucas Bloodoff shot after Hitmen defenceman Paul Postma turned over the puck.

Seabrook made it 4-2 at 12:52, and Long closed out the scoring at 19:58 with an empty-net goal.

ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s scratches were RW Spencer Main, RW Kyle St. Denis, and D Kyle Verdino. Kelowna was 0-for-2 on the power play; Calgary was 0-for-5. Tyler Myers finished with a +/- of +4. Paul Postma (WHL Player of the Year) and Brandon Kozun both finished with a +/- of -4.

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/st....php?id=183352

By Doyle Potenteau

The Kelowna Rockets should have been an ecstatic, emotional bunch on Saturday night. Instead, it was as if they just finished piling lumber for eight hours.

A win tonight will really pile the pressure on the Calgary Hitmen.

The WHL‘s championship series resumes tonight with Game 3 in Kelowna, 7 p.m. at Prospera Place, with the Rockets holding a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Hitmen entered the battle for the Ed Chynoweth Cup as the favourites, having compiled a league-best 122 points and a nigh-unbeatable home record of 32-4. Now, however, it‘s the underdog Rockets who are in the driver‘s seat after posting two solid wins in Calgary.

“They were both good road games for us,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose team recorded 3-1 and 5-2 decisions on Friday and Saturday, respectively, with goaltender Mark Guggenberger leading the way.

Given Calgary‘s home record, it was safe to assume Kelowna‘s dressing room would be rocking. Instead, there were no celebrations, no smirks, no high-fives. It was, it seems, business as usual.

“We relied on our goaltender a lot in certain portions of both games,” continued Huska. “Calgary is a very good hockey club, and in order to beat them, you need everyone playing very well, and that includes your goalie.

“Mark was probably, in those first two games, our best player.”

Through two games against Calgary, Guggenberger has stopped 55 of 58 shots, which translates into a 1.50 goals-against average and a save percentage of .948. His Calgary counterpart, Martin Jones, has a save percentage of .869 and a goals-against average of 3.50.

But as well as Guggenberger has played, the secret to Kelowna‘s success has been blocking shots.

Calgary‘s offence thrives on its defence shooting pucks. The Rockets, however, countered that strength in Games 1 and 2 by placing bodies in Calgary‘s shooting lanes, resulting in blocked shots by the score. While the WHL has no official statistic for blocked shots, it‘s safe to say the Hitmen have had 25 shots blocked, if not more – which means 25 fewer scoring chances.

“Our guys have committed to blocking shots,” said Huska, whose team was also better in both third periods. “That‘s something we‘re going to have to do if we want a chance of winning this series. But they had their scoring chances and they forced a lot of turnovers on us.

“If you want to hope to beat Calgary in the playoffs, like we do, we have to make sure we‘re paying the price and limit their opportunities, if we can, by blocking shots and playing tight in front of our net.”

Said Hitmen coach Dave Lowry: “We have to continually press to go to the net, we have to continue to get guys in front of the net. The goal we scored at the end was a direct result of getting pucks by their guys.

“They do a very good job of blocking shots and they pay the price to win hockey games. We have to make sure, as a group, we stay committed to getting to those areas. As our desperation increased in the third, we got pucks through, we got traffic and we scored our goal.”

Kelowna‘s back-to-back weekend wins were Calgary‘s first back-to-back losses this season.

“We‘re very disappointed,” Lowry said on Saturday after Kelowna‘s 5-2 victory in Game 2. “We‘re a very good hockey team and we‘re playing a very good hockey team. In playoff hockey, the team that makes the least amount of mistakes is usually the team that wins the game.

“The unfortunate part for us is we got down, we spotted them and had to open it up. We made a couple of poor decisions and made a couple of weak plays and the puck was in our net. Like I said, we‘ll leave here, but we also believe in our room that we‘re a very good hockey team.

“Right now, it‘s 2-0, and our mindset, it‘s not going to change. We‘re going to prepare to play and to win the next game.”

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/st....php?id=183498

By PATRICK KING Sportsnet.ca

Ian Duval wouldn't talk about revenge or satisfaction Saturday but both appeared evident in his smile.

The former Calgary Hitmen forward haunted his former team in Game 2 the Western Hockey League's final Saturday with a goal and an assist. Duval's break-away speed created the Kelowna Rockets' first goal then the go-ahead goal early in the third period en route to Kelowna's 5-2 win in Game 2.

"There's a lot of familiar faces on the other side but when you get out there you're competing for a championship so it all changes when you're out there," Duval said. "You're not buddy-buddy."

Duval became a casualty in the numbers game before this season with the Hitmen. Calgary had five overage players but with just three overage slots available, Duval, and goaltender Dan Spence, who later joined the Ontario Hockey League's Sarnia Sting, became expendable.

The product of Winnipeg, Man. was eventually dealt to the rebuilding Moose Jaw Warriors after missing training camp with mononucleosis. The Rockets then added Duval at the WHL's trade deadline, a move that fell well below the radar after Kelowna's big addition of Mikael Backlund from Sweden which garnered most of the headlines.

The trade for Duval may not have been noticed in most circles at the time but not in the Rockets' locker room.

"He's just as big a part of this team as the other guys that we got at the deadline," defenceman Tyler Myers explained. "He's been in the league for a while so he's got a lot of experience and he's gone deep in the playoffs so he's definitely been a big part of our dressing room and he's been a great leader for us."

Duval cites scoring the overtime winning goal in Game 7 of a first round matchup with the Kootenay Ice two seasons ago as his fondest memory in a Hitmen uniform. But as far as gaining any satisfaction by scoring against his former team was concerned, Duval deferred to the excitement of playing for the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

"It's a lot of fun coming back here, especially being in an NHL barn," he said. "I know the guys in the room are excited to be here and we're just here trying to win the championship."

"I think the thing that he wants more than anything right now is to win," Rockets head coach Ryan Huska said.

"Any time you spend as long of a time as Ian did here it's going to be special if he's able to come in and help contribute and help our club win, for sure."

Duval's speed was one of his assets sought after by the Rockets. Kelowna paired him with Evan Bloodoff, giving the Rockets a burst of speed that Calgary had difficulty containing all evening.

Bloodoff was the game's first star with a goal and two assists. Huska held little back in the post-game press conference when asked about his emerging speedster's game.

"I can say to Evan that this is probably the best game he's played for our hockey club in three years," he said. "He's got great speed and I think our challenge to Evan is to get him to use it all the time because there aren't a lot of defencemen in our league that can handle his wide speed."

The same can be said for his linemate and former Hitmen.

"(Duval) challenges me all the time in practice with that speed," said Myers, one of the top defencemen in the league. "It's nice to have him on our side. He had an unbelievable game (Saturday) and you have to give him a lot of credit."

The Rockets wouldn't take much time to celebrate their victory Saturday but didn't hide that they felt fortunate to have won both games against Calgary. The Hitmen lost just four times at home all season, one of those coming to Kelowna, and have now lost back-to-back home games.

Kelowna is in the driver's seat in the WHL final with the possibility of hosting three of the final five games, should this series require seven games.

The Hitmen now find themselves in a situation they haven't faced throughout the playoffs, needing to bounce back from a loss after going undefeated through the first three rounds.

"They took the play to us," Calgary head coach Dave Lowry said. "They elevated it and they got a little bit of momentum and they capitalized on their chances. We didn't have enough to push back but it takes four (games) to win."

"They're going to adjust and they're going to be ready for Game 3," Duval said. "They're a great team and we can't sit back and expect them to die and fall over. Next game is huge for us."

Notes - Kelowna forward Jamie Benn left Game 2 after taking a vicious hit from Calgary defenceman Keith Seabrook in the first period. It was the second such night where Seabrook delivered a crushing hit on Benn. The Rockets forward is expected back for Game 3 as Huska said the team's doctor made the decision for Benn not to return Saturday.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/junio...itmen_rockets/