By Adrian Nieoczym /
As the Kelowna Rockets took their 15-15-1-0 record on the road for a six-game swing through the prairies before the Christmas break, head coach Ryan Huska was looking for one thing from his team: “consistency.”
“Our challenge on this road trip is to try and have some consistency where we play 60 minutes every night,” he said.
Consider the Rockets three games leading up to the trip. They went to Everett and put a 6-2 thrashing on the Silvertips, ending an 0-9 skid against U.S. teams. The strong effort saw five different players score, with Mitchell Callahan putting in two.
Two nights later at home, Kelowna managed to beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-2 despite sloppy defensive play which saw them cough up the lead twice. Then about 24 hours later, their two-game win streak came to an end after a 5-1 beating by the Tri-City Americans.
The Rockets lost 10 players from last year’s championship squad and Huska is looking to those older players who remain – like 19-year-olds Kyle St. Denis and Brandon McMillan – to lead the way.
“It typically does start with your older players, so when they’re playing consistent each and every night, everyone else that’s in your line-up plays the same way,” he said.
But their load is even bigger now, after 20-year-old captain Lucas Bloodhoff sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee against the Kootenay Ice on Nov. 28 and is expected to be out four to six weeks. He joins brother Evan Bloodhoff, 19, in the team’s sickbay. Evan has yet to play this season as he recovers from knee surgery and likely won’t be back for another three months.
There is some good news on the injury front however, with 20-year-old goaltender Mark Guggenberger expected to play his first game of the season at some point during the pre-Christmas road trip. He sustained groin-related injuries during his stellar run to the Memorial Cup final last year that eventually required him to have a hernia operation.
In his absence, Adam Brown, 18, has started 29 of 31 games, played all but 139 of his team’s minutes and posted a 2.90 goals against average and 0.899 save percentage.
“You don’t ever want a goaltender to have to play the bulk of your games but now we’re in a position where Mark’s pretty much healthy again,” said Huska, adding Brown will get some “much deserved” rest.
But Guggenberger’s return also sets up an intriguing goaltending competition for the second half of the season. Guggenberger had a 2.36 goals against average and 0.907 save percentage in 22 playoff games last year as the Rockets captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
“He was the guy that was one of the main reasons why we got to the Memorial Cup last year and he ran into some injuries because of that run, so he deserves an opportunity to get himself into the nets,” said Huska. “But having said that, Adam’s done a very good job for us, so they will be competing for some ice time, that’s the way it works. I think as the year progresses and we get closer to the end of the season, we typically will have to go with the guy that we feel is playing the best.” |