The word is déjà vu.
It’s French for ‘already seen’.
Don’t blame the Kelowna Rockets if they feel a sense of it heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
This week would have some players and fans thinking, haven’t we already done this?
It was less than two weeks ago, the Rockets entered a similar portion of their schedule, playing Kamloops twice, in a home-and-home series before meeting the Prince George Cougars.
The choice of opposition is rearranged this time around, but it is basically entering the same buffet menu with a heaping helping of the exact same opponents in three of the next four nights.
The Cougars are the lead-off team the Rockets will face, this time on the road, before meeting the Blazers again at the Sandman Centre this Friday before the final meeting of the season between the two teams on Saturday at Prospera Place.
If you are a big SpongeBob Squarepants fan, you will love the home teams themed jerseys.
I hate to bring up past transgressions, but the Cougars beat the Rockets last Wednesday at Prospera Place, which came on the heels of back-to-back setbacks to the Blazers, by scores of 8-1 and 7-2.
The game against the Cougars here tonight at CN Centre (104.7 – The Lizard has the pre-game show at 6:35 pm) is one of those dates on the schedule that stuck out like a sore thumb before the puck was even dropped in late September.
It has forced the team to travel 678 kilometres north for just a single game when two previous trips here have resulted in weekend games where two games are played on consecutive nights at CN Centre.
While single trips to the BC Divisions furthest opponent, thankfully are few and far between, it has happened in the past.
Look no further than the 2018-2019 season when the Rockets lost in Portland and bused from Oregon State all the way to PG to play the Cougars three days later.
The team lost that game 4-3 in overtime.
Oh, the time on the bus was a whopping 13 hours and 33 minutes, but who’s counting?
Glitches in the schedule happen.
No one can forget the single trip the team made to Calgary on a Sunday afternoon in January of 2018.
That voyage was a head scratcher over a non-conference team, but that is water under the bridge.
The funny part of that trip is it is shorter than to Prince George, with Google Maps suggesting the trek to Cowtown from K-Town, is 603 kilometres.
As for tonight’s opponent, the Rockets haven’t scored more than two goals in a game against the Cougars in five attempts.
The Rockets put up eight in an 8-6 win against Prince George in the 14th game of the season.
Since then, the Cougars have out-scored them 30-7.
Since the start of February, the Cougars have played with consistency with 14 wins, just three regulation losses, and two overtime losses.
The Cougars have points in 16 of their last 19 contests.
They’ve lost just back-to-back games – once – over that stretch.
Those three regulation losses have come against Vancouver, which is odd, yet acceptable against higher-end teams like Kamloops and Saskatoon.
Five of those 14 wins have come against playoff-less Victoria and four against the Kelowna Rockets.
The Rockets, regardless of three rough games over the Cougars and taking two on the chin against the Blazers, have been a good team since the turn of the calendar of February too.
The numbers don’t lie.
11 wins and 8 losses in 19 games.
The biggest win over that stretch was against Portland, with a terrific goaltending display from Talyn Boyko, who made 44 stops.
Entering this stretch of games, goaltending will have to be on point.
No weak goals.
Sensational saves will be required.
Riding a three-game winning streak, and having clinched a playoff spot after some anxious times, let’s see if they can hang with the big boys this week before deciding if they finish seventh or eighth in the conference with two games against the Vancouver Giants next weekend.
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