What’s that smell?
To some, it was dirty, sweaty, bloodied unwashed jerseys.
During a road trip before the Christmas break in 2013, for the Kelowna Rockets, it was the rancid odor of success.
It was an internal secret when the team bus left Prospera Place for a six-game road trip on the prairies in early December.
The coaches, players, and equipment staff all agreed, as long as the team was winning, the Rockets uniforms they would be wearing during a six-game in eight-night road swing through the Eastern Division would not be washed.
As the team took to the ice to open the trip in Swift Current, the Rockets uniforms were smelling like roses before the puck was dropped in an eventual 4-2 win.
A greasy and gutsy 6-3 victory a night later in Moose Jaw, and the road team was onto something, wearing the stinky gear like a badge of honour.
The team, which had its fair share of skill in Myles Bell, Tyson Baillie, Madison Bowey, and Nick Merkley that season, also had several role players that relished in the lack of detergent being used as the wins began mounting.
Smelling ripe, almost to the point of one’s gag reflex triggering when the jersey bag was opened for the final game in what was known then at the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon, Rourke Chartier, returning to his hometown, was name the first star in a 7-1 triumph.
What a trip. What a stench.
The Rockets may have reeked, yet the team went 6-0-0-0, with the worst smelling jerseys in the entire WHL.
Wet, with a wicked odor that made your eyes water, they were quickly delivered to Esporta Wash Systems upon the buses arrival back in the Okanagan.
What may have been lost on the players, but not the coaches, was the team extending its winning streak to 12 games and setting a Rockets’ franchise record in the process.
It was the team’s 13th straight victory on the road, setting a Rockets record and moving into sole possession of the second longest road winning streak in WHL history.
While the win improved the teams record to 28-3-0-1 that season, it closed out a stretch of winning 21 of its past 22 games.
The Rockets would eventually win 16 consecutive road games that season, which included three after the Christmas break before the success ended, likely due to the jerseys being washed and smelling clean in a 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Giants at Pacific Coliseum.
The Calgary Hitmen hold the WHL record for longest road winning streak at 18 games.
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