Hitmen v Rockets for the League Championship

[dondo]

open ice hit -- your guy has his head down and its a shoulder, no elbow.. sorry but it shouldn't have even been a penalty -- and no it wasn't charging -- quick button hook and no four strides or leaving his feet the hit was clean.

By the books even its a clean hit, but recently the various leagues seem to think they need to crack down on head shots, even when the player being hit has their head down. If this becomes a trend then you will see players skating through the neutral zone with their head down "so they can't get hit", the same way they deliberately turn their back to the play "so they can't get hit" -- last time I looked that was hockey. Its a rough game and if you don't keep your head up you are fair game and to be blunt that's the way it should be.

I could say a lot of the same things about the games where the Rockets weren't getting tagged for any calls that should have been called. I think Calgary got a bit of a break from the zebras last night (Kirk and Savage making up for the fiasco they called in the first game in Kelowna), but it wasn't blatant.

The difference was that the Hitmen have seemed to have solved the Rockets suffocating D and are getting to the front of the net. I originally predicted a Calgary sweep as I didn't feel that Guggie was good enough to thwart the Hitmen's wicked offensive punch. Will the Hitmen actually be able to "sweep" after losing three games straight? Could be an interesting finish if the Cowtown heroes force a game 7.

[fan1]

Congrats to the Rockets. The series had everything... for this fan.I will remember the call in OT. Pretty weak.

[Rockets1231]

First off Congrats to Calgary, you played great and battled right to the bitter end. Jones was amazing in this series, I thought he might steal the game tonight, it was starting to look like it, he was making brilliant save after brilliant save. Bit unfortunate that the Championship Winning Goal came on the PP. It was a penalty for sure, but not one that I think should be called in overtime, especially with the series on the line. Both teams had their fair share of posts and lucky bounces tonight, Kelowna dominated the shot clock, but I thought the game was a lot closer than this showed, it could have went either way. I'm glad Kelowna pulled it out cause I sure didn't want it going back to the Saddledome for a Game 7. Congrats again to the Hitmen on a great season. Dub Champs baby, wooooooooo!!!!!!

[AlanC]

Bit unfortunate that the Championship Winning Goal came on the PP. It was a penalty for sure, but not one that I think should be called in overtime, especially with the series on the line.

It was a crappy call since you can see Duval embellished the hook, so perhaps it should have been two for hooking to Plante, and two for diving to Duval.

But, and I'm a Hitmen fan here....who cares about the call. Kelowna kicked Calgary's butt up and down the ice for 68 minutes and there is absolutely no question they deserved to win the game. However they won it, they deserved to win it. Period....any beefing about the call by Hitmen fans is unfortunate sour grapes. By rights this game should have been 6-2 or 7-2 for the Rockets in regulation, not 3-2 in OT.

Good luck to the Rockets in Rimouski....if they play like they did in games 1, 2, 3, and 6 of this series, I can't see anyone beating them.

[fan1]

I wouldn't say sour grapes, if you aked Calgary's goalie that they didn't deserve to win and they got out played ?? i would think Jones would have a different answer. The call he made, can be made every shift of of every hockey game played. Can't change it, but a big game in a big serious like this. who will be remember Kelowna for winning and Calgary wondering where did that call come from with the game on the line.

[Hitmen1]

A disappointing end to a great season. I am not really sure what to say but the better team did win the game tonight. Jonesy did all he could to steal the win but it wasn't meant to be. As we have all got use to, another poor call by the refs cost the Hitmen in OT, not that they would won the game, but at least let them play. I think the whole series was won by the Rockets in game 1. They went into the Dome and proved to themselves that the Hitmen could be beat and really for 4 + games were the better team in the series. For the Hitmen, not facing any adversity throughout the season hurt them in this series. I will have more tomorrow or the next day. Watch for my playoff wrap up on my blog as well. The boys made me proud this year. Hopefully next season is more of the same.

[armypower]

It's over, credit to Kelowna ,they played hard and deserved the championship...
Congrats to the Hitmen for a great season, thought this was our year for our first Memorial cup,hopefully we won't have to wait long for one....Didn't like the call on Plante in overtime,hate to see the season end that way...We'll lose a few guys next year but am expecting a good year again,always entertaining hockey to watch...Hopefully Kelowna can carry this on and bring a Memorial cup
home.....

[dondo]

congrats to Kelowna and great season for the Hitmen -- the curse of the Scotty Munroe continues.. Good series to watch though, some really good hockey played by both teams. In the end I think the Rockets simply wanted it more and were willing to do what was necessary to make that happen.

[Chief Jeff]

I don't think it is a coincedence that the teams with the most American players have now won the last two league titles. Elite level players are now coming out of California and other states and to stay competive you will HAVE to at least look at these kids. Blum, Reese, Stretch, Long, Bowman, Wahl, Johnson, Harper, etc are all elite players in this league and if you don't have any American players you are putting yourself at a competive disadvantage.

[AlanC]

I don't think it is a coincedence that the teams with the most American players have now won the last two league titles. Elite level players are now coming out of California and other states and to stay competive you will HAVE to at least look at these kids. Blum, Reese, Stretch, Long, Bowman, Wahl, Johnson, Harper, etc are all elite players in this league and if you don't have any American players you are putting yourself at a competive disadvantage.

It's not a case of teams not wanting American players. The problem is those American players either not wanting to play in the WHL or only wanting to play for certain teams.

If more American players were willing to play anywhere in the WHL, like many Canadian players are, every team in the league would have them. And there surely are some American kids who just want to play in the WHL and don't care where, but there's also a lot of them who will only play in certain places, and the Prince Alberts and Moose Jaws of the league aren't among them.

I can tell you for a fact that 21 of the 22 teams in the WHL have at least one American on their protected lists (only Brandon doesn't) and 15 of those teams have 5 or more Americans - in other words, at least 10% of their protected lists. There are tons of American players out there being wooed by the WHL....most of them just don't report except to a few teams. Why do you think that is?

Bottom line, most WHL teams are not ignoring American talent. American talent is ignoring the WHL.