Musings from the five-hour drive back from Kelowna
Published 4:39 pm Thursday, March 25, 2010
– Everett needs to kill penalties the way the Tips did in Games 1 and 2. Everett’s penalty kill played with desperation in those two games. That desperation was missing in Games 3 and 4, when the Rockets went 4-for-5.
– Though the Tips lost Games 3 and 4, one bright spot was the play of defenseman Curtis Kulchar filling in for the injured Radko Gudas. Kulchar did an admirable job filling in for Gudas on the first pairing as he and Ryan Murray did their part in those two games.
– Just how many minutes did Kelowna defensemen Tyson Barrie and Dallas Jackson log in Game 4? Is it possible they hit the 45-minute mark? The Rockets line of Brandon McMillan, Lucas Bloodoff and Geordie Wudrick also saw a ton of ice time.
– Speaking of Wudrick, he kept the Rockets in the series. He leads the series with six goals, including two in both Games 3 and 4. All four of those goals from the past two games came on the power play as he’s a handful in front of the net.
– This series has been unique from a goaltending standpoint. How often has a series, after four games, had four goalies with two decisions apiece?
– Congratulations to the people of British Columbia for paying off the Coquihalla Highway. The removal of the tollbooth since the last time I made the trip to Kelowna meant I saved 10 bucks each way!
