Rockets blast Cats into decaying orbit
(Sports) Saturday, 10 November 2007, 01:07 PST
JIM SWANSON Citizen Sports Editor
Cougars forward Jordie Deagle looks for help while trying to avoid the check of Kelowna Rockets defenceman Collin Bowman Friday night at CN Centre, where the Rockets spanked the Cats 5-1 in the first of a two-game WHL weekend set. (Citizen photo by David Mah) Two teams, in about the same spot in the rebuilding process, and nearly dead-even in the standings, met Friday at CN Centre.
If the Prince George Cougars weren’t missing three key players due to injury, maybe it would have been a better night to compare progress with the Kelowna Rockets.
Without Jesse Dudas, Evan Fuller and Dale Hunt, the Cougars (9-12-0-0) - weren’t they at .500 a week ago? -- dropped their third in a row by a 5-1 count. The Rockets (10-7-1-1), who missed the playoffs last spring, have now won five straight, and will be looking to make it six in tonight’s rematch (7 p.m.).
The reviews were not good, from any source - not media row, not the paying customers announced at 2,782, and not the Cougars personnel involved in the outcome. You didn’t have to have a tin can flush to the team’s dressing room door to overhear one of the veterans raising hell with his teammates in a bomb-filled post-game players meeting.
“Our battle level was awful - the worst I’ve seen it, and we looked like the team that played the first couple of weeks of the season,” said Cougars head coach Drew Schoneck, harkening back to a 1-6 start that was salvaged by a stellar East Division road swing.
“I know the guys are probably tired, but we got outworked tonight, bottom line. (Kelowna) played a good game, came in and got pucks deep and got in on the forecheck, and it was something we didn’t deal with. We didn’t bring nearly enough.”
It begs the question -- is the East Division that week? Take away the road games in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which yielded four wins in six tries, and these Cougars are 5-10-0-0 against everyone else.
Stop if you’ve read this somewhere before. Penalty killing proved the Cougars’ undoing Friday - Kelowna’s first two goals came with the man advantage, while the Cats failed in three chances through the same period of time.
As simple as that, you have your difference. The Rockets, who came into the game with the league’s worst penalty kill rate, stopped Prince George on four of five chances. With the Cats allowing those two man-advantage goals, they had the dubious last spot on the ladder by the end of the night (73.2 per cent, 34 power play goals allowed in 21 games).
Consider Schoneck irked by that statistical dagger.
“Our penalty killing is what it is - we have to have guys who are more committed to that,” said Schoneck.
“Look at the (first) two goals - we get outbattled on the first one for a puck we had on our stick, and the second one goes in on a weak shot. Our guys have to want it more than the other team’s power play, and right now we’re relying too heavily on three guys, and getting other guys out on the penalty kill so we don’t wear those guys down all the time has cost us.”
The Rockets opened the scoring late in the first period on a power play.
Cougars defenceman Garrett Thiessen had to contend with three Kelowna forecheckers, and Jamie Benn nabbed the puck behind the net and waltzed out, untouched, to the top of the crease and beat Real Cyr along the ice.
Somehow, two assists were handed out on what should’ve been an unassisted goal.
Prince George winger Corey Tyrell hit the left post early in the second, the best threat the Cougars had through two periods and the only time a puck got behind Kelowna goaltender Kris Westblom well into the third.
Seven seconds into a second-period boarding minor to captain Greg Gardner, Rockets rookie defenceman Tyson Barrie snuck a shot through 28 legs and 14 torsos - or so it seemed - and behind Cyr for a 2-0 Kelowna lead.
Two Kelowna goals early in the third put it away. Milan Kytnar tallied twice in the final frame and Lucas Bloodoff had another, while Gardner replied with his 11th goal of the season on a power play. Westblom ended the night with 20 saves.
Kytnar’s second goal was the definition of ‘softy,’ and Cyr’s performance won’t help him get extended time in the crease. With 19-year-old Tommy Tartaglione making the five starts previous, and likely to get the call tonight, these are not rosy days for Cyr, who not so long ago was a Cougars playoff hero. Patience has to be running short. Cyr (5-6-0, 4.68 goals-against average, .860 save percentage) faced 35 shots Friday.
The Rockets were glad to win a special teams battle for once.
“We were hoping to have a night where the power play came up big for us,” said Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska.
“We were also hoping to have a night where our penalty killing was a positive for us. We were sharp in those areas and that was important for us.”
KITTY LITTER: Dana Tyrell’s assist Wednesday in Vancouver was the 100th point of his WHL career. He needs one more goal to reach 50 as a Cougar... Gardner, a fifth-year Cougar, has now played 287 games, fourth-most in team history. If he plays every game remaining in the regular season, he’ll finish with 338, two more than record-holder Chris Falloon. Only Falloon (336) and Eric Hunter (323) have played more than 300 games as a Cougar... Ty Wishart, who is four assists away from 100 as a Cougar and 44 back of Blake Robson’s career record, passed the 200-game and 100-point marks earlier this season. Dudas topped 50 assists a few weeks ago, and Jordie Deagle is now in triple digits in games played. Fuller needs three more games to hit 200, newcomer Matt Sokol is five games away from 100, and Kalvin Sagert is 12 games shy of 300 in a career that began with stops in Kamloops and Lethbridge.
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