A recent spate of inconsistent play has resulted in a swoon by the Kelowna Rockets that most certainly has the group somewhat on edge.
Following the Christmas break in the Western Hockey league schedule, the Rockets were looking forward at a pivotal seven-game stretch.
With three games each against division rivals Kamloops and Prince George sandwiched around a home date with the Western Conference-leading Everett Silvertips, the Kelowna was in a prime position to push toward second place in the B.C. Division standings.
Hamilton holds court
With its run of seven contests in 16 days behind the team, the evidence is clear. By collecting only four of a possible 14 points with one win and two overtime losses, Kelowna did very little to help its cause.
Overall, the performance simply was not good enough. The Rockets have lost four in a row.
During an interview with DUBNetwork at Prospera Place, general manager Bruce Hamilton did not mince words when he addressed the recent record.
“I think that we’ve been very average since Christmas,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with, we had too long a break, a ten-day break. We had some people who probably, to do it over, would probably act a little differently over the break and stay a little more active.
“We will never have a 10-day break again, I can assure you, not on my clock.”
With the damage done in the standings, or at least the squandered opportunities to put distance between themselves and the Blazers and Cougars, Hamilton is adamant the final 26 games are crucial. With the 2020 Memorial Cup slated for the city of Kelowna next season, Hamilton acknowledged he is looking at rosters league-wide.
“We’ll be looking at everybody in the league now as we prepare our wish list,” Hamilton said. “We want to make moves for next year come the summer.”
The trade deadline
According to Hamilton, Kelowna was active up until the Jan. 10 WHL trade deadline, although transactions were not plentiful.
“There wasn’t a lot available to move on,” Hamilton said. “I think that as the teams that are committed to trying to fight it out. Portland, Everett, Lethbridge and Prince Albert, all were desperately trying to add to their teams.
“Outside of the trade earlier on with Lethbridge and the players from Regina, then (Dante) Hannoun to Prince Albert from Victoria, there were not a lot of big names moved around.
“There seemed to be a lot more interest in third line and depth players. And there are so many of us that don’t have a whole bunch of depth, so we were kind of boxed out there.”
Kelowna added a pair of new faces, both 20-year-old defencemen.
The Rockets sent defenceman Braydyn Chizen and a 2019 fifth round pick to the Brandon Wheat Kings in exchange for rearguard Schael Higson. Hamilton suggested both will likely benefit from the change of address.
The Rockets also added defenceman Matt Barberis from the Vancouver Giants, a 20-year-old claimed off waivers.
“We felt that if we could add another overage defenceman to help us in our own end of the rink – that’s where biggest problems we’re having right now,” Hamilton said. “When you have young guys up front, you need some older guys to get the puck to them out of our end of the rink.
“Hopefully Higson will do that. And he brings us a bit of sand paper, too.
“(Matt) Barberis is a skilled guy, a great skater. I don’t know if he’ll be ready for the weekend, he hasn’t played for about six weeks, so he’s going to need a week of practice to learn what our coaches expect.”
Libor Zabransky released
Following the acquisition of Higson and Barberis, the Rockets elected to release import defenceman Libor Zabransky. However, they were able to assist the Czech-native in finding a spot with the Fargo Force of the USHL.
“That was frustrating,” Hamilton said. “I thought I had a deal with Brandon because they only had one European. But, they were going to be the same as us and then have eight defencemen.
“In our case, to have eight defencemen was going to be a challenge with the rotation because we need (Devin) Steffler and (Cayde) Augustine to start getting some ice time here.
“And all along, nothing against Libor, I want to pick a forward in the CHL Import Draft next year.
“There was no sense not playing the other guys ahead of the youngsters and it wasn’t going to be fair to rotate Libor in and out of the lineup.
“So, we got a spot for him to go where he will have an important role to continue on his game.”
Time to ride the youngsters
A post-season berth is important to the Rockets, primarily to ensure the young core group gains some exposure to playoff hockey heading into next season as Memorial Cup hosts.
In fairness, a few playoff gates will also help the coffers.
While the roster juggling of late has not elevated the Rockets to league title contender status, Hamilton wants the entire group to benefit and develop through the remainder of the season.
“We’ve got to find a way to get going again,” Hamilton said. “We need some miles out of our older guys. We’ve said that all year.
“Really, the biggest thing here is the 19-year-olds, whether they’re going to be guys that we are going to have as overages next year.
“But I think it’s time for our younger guys to start to contribute. They’ve been here now for half a season and we’ve got to get something out of them. I think you’ll see the coaches push them more.”
Supporters of the Rockets can expect to get a heaping helping of youngsters in the coming weeks, the likes of Ted Brennan, Kyle Crosbie, Mark Liwiski, Dallon Wilton, Alex Swetlikoff and Ethan Ernst.
“We needed to get the game at home against PG – we let that get away from us,” Hamilton said. “We needed a split up in PG and didn’t get it.
“Now we’re going to have to beat somebody else along the way that we probably didn’t plan on beating. I guess that would be the way to put it
“I thought against Everett (4-2 loss), we played good against a team that is as good as there is. Where that game was against PG on the weekend, I’m not sure. But, this is what we’re dealing with here with the group of young guys we have. It’s consistency.”
