By Adrian Nieoczym /
Last year’s WHL champs, the Kelowna Rockets, have essentially played .500 hockey for the first half of this season, going 18-18-1. And according to the Rockets president and general manager, Bruce Hamilton, that’s pretty good.
“I think we’re excited about the way we’ve played the first half considering the switchover of players we’ve had here and the amount of serious injuries that we’ve had to key people,” he said.
Young players like Shane McColgan, Codie Chickie and Mitchell Chapman have stepped into the void created by the loss of 10 veterans from last year’s championship squad. The youngsters were forced into even bigger roles as injuries further depleted the Rockets line-up.
The list of players who have spent significant time on the shelf includes forwards Brandon McMillan – who will be missing even more time now that he’s cracked Canada’s World Junior team – Kyle St. Denis, Max Adolph, defenceman Tyson Barrie, goalie Mark Guggenberger and forwards Evan and Lucas Bloodoff.
Going into the season, the Rockets were expecting to lean heavily on St. Denis and the Bloodoff brothers. However, Evan, 19, has yet to play this season as he recovers from knee surgery and isn’t expected back until March while Lucas, 20, who is also team captain, has been out since the end of November with a knee injury but should be back sometime in January.
St. Denis, 19, meanwhile, continues to go in and out of the lineup as he struggles to stay healthy. He is currently out with a concussion, a recurrent problem for the speedy winger.
All the absences have meant more playing time for McColgan, who is playing at a level that belies his age. The 16-year-old rookie is averaging a point per game and leads his team in scoring with 15 goals and 36 points. All he needs is another five points and he’ll become the highest scoring 16-year-old in Rockets history.
“Obviously Shane McColgan’s been a very pleasant surprise,” said Hamilton. “He has had to play minutes that I would have never thought in my wildest dreams that he’d have to play.”
Fittingly it seems, the Rockets finished off the first half of the season by going 3-3 on a prairie road trip. Perhaps more notably, the trip marked the return of Guggenberger, 20, who was one of Kelowna’s heroes last season.
In his first game back between the pipes against the Brandon Wheat Kings, Guggenberger lasted just over a period, allowing five goals on 12 shots before getting the hook in an 8-4 loss. But the Rockets sent him out again the very next night against the Moose Jaw Warriors and he looked like his old self, stopping 27 shots along with another two in the shootout. He was one of the main reasons Kelowna managed to eek out a 2-1 win.
In his third sortie two games later, he was a bit more ordinary, making 27 saves in a 4-1 loss to the Saskatoon Blades.
But the sight of him finally playing rather than rehabbing, along with the prospect of a week off bringing the other injured veterans closer to returning, give the Rockets optimism that the best is yet to come this season. |