Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor
Down the stretch we come!!!
Things that make me go hmm…
Feb 29, 2024 | 8:00 AM
- It is the longest home-ice point streak in the WHL this season. Kelowna Rockets captain Gabriel Sztruc went a whopping 21 games with at least a point, with the streak starting October 13th and finally ending on February 10th. We asked ‘Gabby’ why he plays so well at Prospera Place. “There is something in the air here,” he said with his trademark smile on his face. “It is the fans. It is the colour of the seats. It is the lights here. The atmosphere here is terrific. When you put it all together, I like to play here.”
- Is it a case of guilty by association? The Kelowna Rockets are the 6th most penalized team in the WHL, so do officials watch them more closely, to see if they break the rules? It looked that way Saturday night in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Prince George Cougars.
- RocketFAN had a great time interviewing Heidi Hewitt this past week, the long-time anthem singer at Kelowna Rockets home games. Heidi was a delight with her peppy personality. While you can scroll back to Monday when we published an article on her, this is a comment that didn’t make the article that we thought should be shared. “The first time I stepped out onto the ice and sang at Prospera Place, I felt something,” Hewitt said. “Ogopogo gets brought up into the rafters after the players enter the ice, and I felt this drip. I was standing on this red carpet, and this drip of water was on my head, and I remember saying to myself, ‘Don’t look up, don’t look up. Just keep going.’ It is a great test to cope with stress,” she laughed.
- With Tij Iginla scoring 40 goals and Andrew Cristall with 34, I was asked the other day about the last time the Kelowna Rockets had two-40 goal scorers in the same season. The answer is 1997-98 when Jason Deleurme had 51 goals and Brett McLean had 42.
- What is his nickname? The subject was brought up by radio colour analyst Gord McGarva when watching Prince George Cougars rookie goalie Joshua Ravensbergen on the weekend. We at RocketFAN had to find out. Ravensbergen goes by either – ‘Rav’ or ‘The Berger’. For my money, the latter of the two is the one I’d choose.
- Can Tij Iginla score 50 goals? With ten games to go, the 17-year-old is 10 shy. It won’t be easy. Elite Prospects projects him to find the back of the net 47 times by the season’s end on the current scoring pace he finds himself on.
- It is amazing what great goaltending can do. Jari Kykkanen has had a save percentage above .900 a total of 19 times this season. In those games, the 19-year-old is 12-3-1-0. The other three games came in a relief appearance of Jake Pilon.
- Cameron Schmidt is a terrific player. Still 16 in ‘hockey age’, the now 17-year-old on his birth certificate is the real deal, with offensive creativity coming out of the wazoo. With 22 goals, he has a chance to set a new Vancouver Giants record for goals by a rookie. Gilbert Brule had 25 in his first season in the WHL.
- I am always impressed with my interviews with head coach Kris Mallette. His answers are always well thought out, or he laughs at me because I am being too direct in my questioning. I asked him about how he handles his mental health in a high-pressure job, where the team and his decisions are often magnified. “I try not to take the job home, which is very difficult. With the staff I have here, Josh MacNevin, Quintin Laing, Scotty Hoyer, and Tim Webster, we are able to talk things through. If things are going wrong, the biggest thing is to ask and talk about it. You don’t want to be too proud to hold things in anymore. You aren’t viewed as weak. Post-COVID, there are a lot of challenges people face every day.”
- Caden Price is quietly going about his business. The third-year Kelowna Rockets d-man is slowing moving up the career point totals with 106, tied with Kaedan Korczak for 8th all-time. Price has earned this total in just 164 games. The franchise leader is Tyson Barrie (228), followed by Madison Bowey (172) and Damon Severson (167). We’ve left out those who played with the Tacoma Rockets, but if you want to add them, Burt Henderson had 186 points, which would put him second all-time.
- An interesting comment this week from George Armstrong, the GM of the St. Louis Blues on one of my favorites – The Bob McCown Podcast. “To go on a two-month run is difficult, but to beat someone over two weeks, it isn’t as daunting as people think it might be. If you get in [playoffs] you never know what can happen. You may not go all the way, but you might be able to scare a team or two along the way.” That is the mindset the Kelowna Rockets must take with the likelihood of facing Portland, Prince George, or Everett in an opening-round playoff series.
- The Kelowna Rockets have ten games left. It is evenly split with five games at home and five on the road. Sitting in seventh in the Western Conference means a first-round date with the Portland Winterhawks right now. “Man, you wish you had won a few more,” head coach Kris Mallette said honestly. Three losses to Kamloops were missed opportunities, or losing to Tri-City, two teams that will most likely miss the playoffs would have been valuable points the team could have used to catch the likes of Vancouver, Victoria, and Wenatchee. Let’s see how the final three weeks of the season play out.
- Zac Funk has a reputation for scoring. He also has a reputation for punching people in the face when provoked. The Prince George Cougars leading scorer creates so much room for himself because he has bite in his game. Funk fought Kelowna Rockets d-man Carter Kowalyk, a tough customer in his own right, and knocked him to the ice. In Saturday’s game against the Cougars, Funk asked Rockets forward Luke Schelter to fight. Witnessing what Funk did to Kowalyk, the 19-year-old took a hard pass. Smart decision.
- Funk has 25 power-play goals. The WHL record is 31 set by Eric Fehr of the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 2004-2005 season. The Kelowna Rockets team record is held by two players – with both Chuck Kobasew and Kyle McLeod finding the back of the net 23 times with the extra man.
- It was nice to see Jake Lee get some love from Canada-West by being named a First Team All-Star. Playing for the UBC Thunderbirds, Lee was 5th in league scoring, putting up 34 points in 28 games. UBC had the best record at 22 and 4 this season. Also, congratulations to former Kelowna Rockets forward Jake Poole for being named to the Canada-West Rookie team. Poole played this season with the Calgary Dinos.
- The Regina Pats began a late-season swing through the U.S. Division. On a typical winter, this type of voyage would be best suited for November, December, or January, when the weather on the prairies is less than ideal. The six-game road trip ends March 2nd in Everett, before returning home for six games to end off the season. The Pats are currently 18th in the 22-team circuit. Moose Jaw is also making their tour late in the season.
- The Rockets next victory will tie them with the 27 wins they accumulated a season ago.
- At 1277 words, it is time to shut the barn doors for another week. It is hard to believe that March is basically here. I can’t wait for March 10th at 2 a.m in the morning when we can all spring ahead by one hour. I will gladly take one less hour of shut-eye.
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