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Kelowna Rocket Curt Gogol dukes it out with Chilliwack Bruin Tyler Stahl during the second period of last night's exhibition game at Prospera Place. (Photo Adrian Nieoczym)
By Adrian Nieoczym
With the weather still hitting 30 degrees it’s hard to believe hockey season is just around the corner.
But there were the Kelowna Rockets last night at Prospera Place, already playing their second preseason game. And given that they fell to the Chilliwack Bruins for the second night in row, it’s a good thing exhibition games don’t count in the standings.
The Rockets dropped last night’s contest 2-1 before a sparse but enthusiastic crowd, after going down 4-2 Friday night in Chilliwack.
“I think we were better tonight than we were last night and I guess that’s what we have to look to as we want to see these guys get better each and every night and I think once they start to understand what we’re looking for, I think we’ll be Ok,” said Rockets head coach, Ryan Huska, after last night’s game.
What is it Huska wants?
“A lot of moving their feet and always pressuring pucks. I think at times we were able to do that tonight and at times it’s still something they don’t have engrained in their heads,” he said.
Kelowna dressed a young squad for last night’s game, while Chilliwack sent out six 19-year-olds and two 20-year-olds.
Rockets mainstays like Colin Long, Tyler Myers and Brandon McMillan were not in uniform, giving way to players who need to show the coaching staff what they can do, like 16-year-olds Shane McColgan, Brent Bulmer and MacKenzie Johnston.
Huska singled out those three for their efforts.
“I thought the younger guys did a good job. I thought they worked hard night,” he said. “Some of the guys who have to push for spots on this team did that this weekend.”
McColgan in particular, is expected to play a significant offensive role. Last season, the California native joined the Rockets for four regular season games and had one goal and two assists. He also appeared in four playoff games, going pointless.
“He’s going to be an energy guy for us,” said Huska. “He’s got great offensive skills and I think once he understands how he has to play at this level I think he’s going to be a very dynamic forward for us both this year and in years to come.”
After a scoreless first period last night, the Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second. Chilliwack’s Randy McNaught, 19, tried to pass the puck in front of the Rockets net only to have it go off a body and past Rockets goalie Adam Brown, 17, at 4:30.
Just over a minute later, 16-year-old Time Traber, knocked in a rebound to put Chilliwack up by two.
Rockets veteran Kyle St. Denis, who was wearing the captain’s C, brought his team to within one at 6:02 of the third.
Kelowna, however, could not get the equalizer despite having a six on four advantage to end the game after they pulled Brown for an extra attacker and the Bruins Kevin Sundher put the puck over the glass in his own end for a delay of game penalty with 24 seconds left.
St. Denis was getting some game action in before he heads off to the Dallas Stars training camp, where he has been invited for a free agent tryout.
“Kyle’s been good. These games are important for him because he had such a length period of time missed last year,” said Huska.
Concussion and wrist problems limited the speedy winger to 22 regular season games last year and six more in the playoffs. St. Denis is hoping his injury problems are behind him and so does his team.
With players like Jamie Benn, Cody Almond and Mikael Backlund almost certainly lost to the pros this year, St. Denis is expected to take up some of the slack.
“I think as he he progresses and gets a chance to go to his NHL camp, he’s going to come back with more and more confidence and be a very big player for us this year,” said Huska.
St. Denis said he lost a little weight over the summer and worked on his quickness. He also spent a lot of time thinking about how to avoid the injury bug.
“It was on my mind all summer just to stay healthy this year.”
As for how to accomplish that, St. Denis said, “just keeping my head up more when I’m out there and just moving the puck quicker and not taking as many hits as I did but there’s not many things you can do. You’ve got to take hits to make hits.”
The Rockets have three more exhibition tilts before the season fully gets underway for real. The next is Wednesday in Ladner against the Vancouver Giants.
adrian@kelowna.com/(250)575-3517
Tags: Kelowna Rockets
