As the Christmas break in the Western Hockey League regular season approaches, the Kelowna Rockets will spend the final week of its schedule on the road.
It’s an important four-game trip to meet Central Division foes, beginning tonight in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice.
On Wednesday, it’s the Hurricanes in Lethbridge, followed by a Friday evening tilt against the Calgary Hitmen and Saturday contest against the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The Rockets are now 14-15-2 after a horrid 1-8 start. Kelowna sits in second place in the B.C. Division standings and amazingly looks to be secure in a playoff position. With a successful run this week, the team could hit the .500 mark for the first time this season.
“Who would have thunk that?” said Rockets general manager Bruce Hamilton during a telephone interview on Monday.
“I think it’s going to be a bit of a test,” Hamilton said when asked about the importance of a successful road trip this week. “I really stressed to them that this first game (Kootenay), if they start thinking they have an easy game, they’ll get their lunch handed to them because people play hard and we’re not that much better.”
The Rockets roster will be depleted somewhat as import-defencemen Libor Zabransky will travel to Nanaimo, B.C. to attend the Czech Republic national team selection camp for the 2019 World Junior Championship.
Kelowna’s other import player, defenceman Lassi Thomson, will travel with the Rockets and suit up for the first three games of the road trip before he heads back west to Vancouver on Saturday for the Team Finland selection camp.
The team mates are unlikely to face each other at the WJC, unless a playoff round matchup evolves. Finland and the Czech Republic are not in the same preliminary round pool. Finland will play its preliminary round games in Victoria, while the Czech Republic will play in Vancouver. All playoff round games are scheduled for Vancouver.
The Rockets have added 15-year-old prospect Jackson DeSouza for the trip to add some depth on the backend. The 6’2, 170-pounder hails from Erie, Colorado and skates for the Okanagan Rockets of the BCMML.
Coaching carousel continues
In a press release sent on Saturday by the team, it was announced that assistant coach Travis Crickard and the Rockets had mutually parted ways.
Crickard joined the team in 2014 and was a member of the coaching staff during the 2015 WHL Championship season.
On Nov. 30, in an interview for a five-part series by DUBNetwork, Hamilton was asked to comment on the progression of the team under Adam Foote, who was named to replace Jason Smith on Oct. 22. Specifically, we asked about the status of the assistant coaches.
“Adam is very hands on with detail with what’s going on within the group,” Hamilton told DUBNetwork. “The assistants have probably been sitting in school here with Adam, getting a little better description of what their jobs are and probably they have less input now than they did.
“I think that’s all in the process of they’ll get more and more as it goes here as he understands what they are capable of doing.”
Since his arrival behind the bench, the Adam Foote-led Rockets have gone 10-5-2.
Following the news of Crickard’s departure, DUBNetwork asked Hamilton if perhaps the former assistant coach enjoyed more autonomy under Jason Smith.
“I think that’s a fair statement,” Hamilton said. “I think what he wants to be is a head coach right away.”
“Both of these assistants have been carried through two head coaches. One of the things Adam wanted was the ability to change the coaches if he wanted and I agreed to that. The only thing I did say is you’ve got to spend some time with them first.”
Crickard’s departure renews speculation that Josh Gorges will join the coaching staff. The Kelowna-native retired after an 800-plus National Hockey League career as a player and has been on site during Rockets home games and practices for much of the first half of the season.
“Josh is only three or four months into retirement (as a player),” Hamilton said. “I don’t want to ask him to do something that he isn’t ready to do. Adam really likes him, but we’re not in a rush to hire anybody right now.
Trade winds blow back
On Nov. 30, the Rockets sent 19-year-old Jack Cowell to the Kootenay Ice in exchange for a third-round pick at the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft.
Because Cowell has not reported to Cranbrook, the WHL has placed him on a suspended list.
“He’s suspended by the league,” Hamilton confirmed when asked about Cowell’s situation. “I’m going to call him this week to see if he has had a change of heart.
“He was one guy I thought any change would be good. He works hard, did a lot of things but just couldn’t score and I thought a change of scenery might be the best thing for him.
“It hurts us because one, we lose the player and two, we lose the draft pick. The 2020 draft is one where those picks are really coveted more than any of the other drafts. We’re all being careful what we do with them.”
Early on this season, Kelowna sent its 2020 third-round pick to the Saskatoon Blades in return for 18-year-old forward Michael Farren. The Surrey-born right winger appeared in 133 games for the Blades.
Effectively, the Cowell trade enabled the Rockets to re-acquire a third-round selection, likely a higher pick as the Ice continue to languish near the bottom of the WHL standings.
Unfortunately, Farren has been largely unproductive in Kelowna with one assist in 15 games in addition to being a healthy scratch on at least a pair of occasions. With the Blades this season, Farren scored once and added four assists in eight games.
Attendance Report
Since the head coaching change in late October, the Rockets have posted a 7-1-1 record in nine home games at Prospera Place. The turn around has not served to generate ticket seals.
According to the WHL attendance reports, Kelowna has drawn 4,571 fans through 15 games. Only three times have the Rockets had a crowd of more than 5,000.
Prior to the Christmas break last season, Kelowna also played 15 home games and averaged 4,848 per outing. There were seven gates of 5,000-plus.
After Christmas, the Rockets will play 19 of its remaining 33 games on home ice.
