By Doyle Potenteau

Signed and sealed. By next fall, Cody Almond should also be on his way.

On Monday, the Minnesota Wild announced they signed Kelowna Rockets centre Cody Almond to an entry-level NHL contract. Terms were not released, but entry-level signings tend to be three-year deals. The Wild selected Almond in the fifth round, 140th overall, of the NHL‘s 2007 draft.

“We were negotiating for the last two or three weeks, and the team made it official just recently,” said Almond, 19. “It‘s an awesome feeling (to be signed). I knew a week or so ago, so I was really excited. It took a little pressure off me, and it allowed me to focus on playing hard and trying to win with Kelowna.”

Of course, unsigned drafted players are under pressure to perform. For if they don‘t, deals don‘t get signed, which, in turn, usually means a longer, tougher road to the NHL.

If at all.

Four years ago, at the NHL‘s 2005 draft, Minnesota selected former Rockets netminder Kris Westblom at 65th overall, but the Wild never offered up a pro contract. This past season, Westblom just finished playing his first season of college hockey with Acadia. Earlier this month, Westblom was named to Atlantic University Sport‘s all-rookie team.

As for Almond, having inked a deal, this is likely his last season of junior hockey.

The list is long of former Rockets who signed NHL contracts then immediately moved on the next season, including forward Blake Comeau (New York Islanders) and goaltender Kelly Guard (Ottawa Senators), both of whom signed during the playoffs.

For now, though, Almond‘s focus is on Kelowna‘s upcoming second-round series with the Tri-City Americans – a series that features two teams with potent offences.

“We‘re similar teams,” said Almond. “Both of our strengths are offence, and there‘ll be a lot of good forwards in this series. I think it‘ll come down to who battles harder and who wants it more.”

Almond‘s comments came after Monday‘s practice, a session that saw most the team skate except centre Mikael Backlund. According to the Rockets, the 6-foot-1 forward is suffering from an undisclosed lower-body injury.

“It‘s a lower-body thing with him, and it‘s just a matter of us really not pushing him too hard right now,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose team will have had eight days of rest under their belts when Game 1 starts Friday night in Tri-City. The Americans also play host to Game 2 on Saturday, with the series shifting to Kelowna for Games 3 and 4 next Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We‘ll use this time to get guys healthy, to get rid of bumps and bruises,” said Huska. “But we‘ll also have to be creative along the way, too, because it is a longer layoff. We‘re going to have to keep the guys on edge a little bit.”

Statistically, there‘s little to choose between these two teams. Kelowna finished regular-season play with 267 goals for, 178 against and 98 points, while Tri-City‘s respective numbers were 263, 184 and 101. Further, the only two advantages are that Kelowna has better offensive depth, while Tri-City has a world-class goalie in Chet Pickard.

Apart from those two items, everything else is a wash. Why, even the season series between Kelowna and Tri-City was split down the middle at 2-2.

“In the regular season, both teams put up some pretty good numbers,” said Rockets captain Colin Long. “Both are pretty fast teams and both are pretty evenly matched. It should be a good series.”

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