By Doyle Potenteau

Maybe Jamie Benn should get clocked more often.

Benn had a three-point night for Kelowna, with two goals and one assist, as the Rockets surprised the Calgary Hitmen with a 3-1 victory in Game 1 of the WHL championship series on Friday night. Two of Benn‘s points, including an insurance marker into an empty net with 28 seconds left in the third period, came after Kelowna‘s leading post-season scorer was drilled late in the second period.

With the puck in the corner, and both teams fishing for it, Benn tried taking aim at Calgary defenceman Keith Seabrook. However, Seabrook leaned into the hit first and sent Benn flying while also knocking him for a loop.

“I tried to him and he got a pretty good shoulder on me,” said Benn, who missed the final five minutes of the second before returning to action in the third. “It was a clean hit, and I kinda got my bell rung.”

The hit seemed to energize Benn, who had a good third. Also having a good third for Kelowna: Goaltender Mark Guggenberger, who made 27 saves on the night, including seven in the final frame. However, Calgary also rung three shots off the post, and Kyle Bortis missed a backhand on the doorstep with the Hitmen on the power play in the final minute.

“We‘re fortunate to get this first game,” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose team pulled off two feats on Friday.

The Hitmen entered Game 1 with an unbeaten 12-0 playoff record while also never having lost to the same team twice this season on home ice.

Calgary is now 38-5 at the Saddledome, with two losses to Kelowna.

“This is a tough building to play in,” continued Huska. “Our guys, the way they finished off and competed in the third was a big reason why we got this win. That penalty kill late in the third and three big face-off wins by Cody Almond, I think, was a big-time difference which allowed us to hold the lead tonight.

“It was a night where we wanted to get that first (win) if we could, and we were able to do that. But I think we‘re going to have to look at some video and change our approach in certain ways. They‘re a very difficult hockey club to play against, and we‘re going to have to make sure we create a few less turnovers.”

Tyler Myers also scored for Kelowna, while Paul Postma replied for the Hitmen, who outshot the Rockets 28-21, including 14-5 in the second. Martin Jones turned aside 18 shots for Calgary.

“We had shots on net, but we didn‘t have enough bodies in front,” said Hitmen head coach Dave Lowry, whose team had several shots blocked by Kelowna. “If Guggenberger is going to see a puck, he‘s going to stop it. We have to make sure we change that for tomorrow.”

Lowry added that his team “can‘t lay their heads too low. It‘s one game. It‘s a long series and this is just one night. We‘ll get back to our game plan tomorrow night.”

Benn opened the scoring midway through the first period with a power-play goal. Skating down right wing, with Hitmen defenceman Alex Plante in the box for holding, Benn snapped a shot from the right faceoff dot that squeaked five-hole on Jones.

The goal, Benn‘s 12th of the playoffs, came 29 seconds into Kelowna‘s power play.

Six minutes into the second, Calgary levelled the score, Postma with a hard shot from the blue-line after faking out Rockets centre Colin Long with a deke. After Long fell for the deke, Postma ripped a hard shot that went in clean, with Jason MacDonald providing a screen, then jumping out of the way just in time.

Midway through the third, Kelowna cashed in again on the power play. Myers, from the point, went to take a shot but held up when Calgary‘s Kyle Bortis slid to block the shot. After Bortis went sliding by, Myers then teed it up and blasted it past Jones, though it appeared the puck was deflected at the last second.

Unlike Kelowna‘s first power-play goal, which was quick, this one took some time, 1:44 to be exact before Myers wired his fifth of the playoffs. Serving the penalty was MacDonald, who was hit for hooking at 8:30.

Almond set up Benn‘s insurance marker by winning a faceoff in Kelowna‘s end. The puck went back to Myers, who cleared it to centre ice. Benn, in a race with Calgary‘s Joel Broda, got to the puck first, shielded it, then dumped it into the empty net.

ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s scratches were RW Spencer Main, RW Shane McColgan and D Kyle Verdino. Calgary‘s scratches were D Austin Madaisky, C Cody Sylvester of Kelowna, LW MacKenzie Royer and LW Rigby Burgart... Kelowna was 2-for-3 on the power play; Calgary was 0-for-4.

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