WHL Kelowna Rockets

Rockets Flight Plan

Published on November 23, 2006 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


After a week of practice and strategizing, the Rockets get back on the ice Friday night when they meet the Regina Pats at Prospera Place.

The Pats are a similar team to Kelowna in terms of their youth. They've only got 5 players on the roster 19 years of age and older, while the Rockets have 7. But, Kelowna has 12 players under the age of 18 and Regina 8.

The stop in Kelowna will be the fifth for the Pats in a six game BC road trip that ends Sunday in Cranbrook. After a 7-0 win at home over Portland on November 14th, they hit the road. A 4-3 shootout win in Chilliwack got them off on the right foot but since have been shut out in three consecutive games by Vancouver (2-0), Prince George (3-0) and Kamloops (4-0).

Overall, Regina's 11-12-1-1 record features 5 road wins.

Kelowna last played on November 17th when they dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Seattle Thunderbirds. The seven day break was welcomed by the team as they gear up for a pre-Christmas run that sees them play 10 games before the break starts on December 17th. After meeting the Pats on Friday and the Chiefs in Spokane on Saturday, they get a five-day respite leading up to a stretch of 8 games in 13 nights.

The down time affords the coaching staff a chance to reinforce a number of key principles on their young team. Seven days in a row of repetition and study is more than they've had all season, including training camp. So, to call this week and next week's schedule gaps a 'mini-training camp' would actually be an understatement.

"When we were doing the scheduling, this is the just the kind of gap we were looking for," said Rockets' President and General Manager, Bruce Hamilton when speaking with Warren Henderson of the Capital News this week. "It helps all of our players to reload and get ready for the run up to Christmas."

"But most of all it helps our coaches. With the young team we have, it gives them time to work on things and get the guys ready for a busy stretch."

The Kelowna power play is one aspect of their game that has shown vast improvement during the month of November. On home ice, it's now a respectable 16%. But, the unit struggled in the team's last game after scoring 10 goals over the previous five games and still has a ways to go if they hope to improve on their overall efficiency rating of 13%.

In meeting the Pats, Kelowna's gets a break - Regina has the league's bottom ranked road power play unit. Away from home they are converting less than 9% of their chances. Unfortunately, the Rockets haven't faired well in the penalty-killing department, especially on home ice. They've only killed off 79.5% of the manpower shortages they've faced at Prospera Place.

Check out the Kelowna Rockets Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from November 23, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central