Rockets take on struggling Giants at Prospera —
Kelowna beats Vancouver 8-1, following 6-0 and 5-0 wins last month
The Harlem Globetrotters weren’t in town last night, but Dillon Dube and the Kelowna Rockets did their best impression.
Perhaps picking up some pointers from the Globetrotters’ appearance at Prospera Place last month, Dube busted out a spin-o-rama off the rush in setting up his first of two goals before ripping a one-timer that may as well have been an alleyoop from Calvin Thurkauf for his second of the game.
Poor David Tendeck barely moved on the latter and didn’t get the mercy pull, with his last-place Vancouver Giants playing the role of the Washington Generals in an 8-1 blowout that was every bit as lopsided as the score indicated.
“The first one was a great pass by (Kole Lind), and the next one I was able to get it back door,” Dube said of his 16th and 17th goals of the season as part of a three-point performance for firststar honours. “All of it was hard work, and that’s how we got pretty much all of our goals, just by forcing everything.
“We were hard on pucks and the forecheck was probably the best it’s been in awhile. It turned out good for us — we got a lot of chances off of it.”
Not that the Rockets were necessarily trying to show up the Giants, but the talent discrepancy was evident from the opening puck-drop, with Kelowna leading 2-0 and 6-0 at the period breaks and outshooting Vancouver 37-11 through 40 minutes.
“We came out hard in the first two periods and it happens, in the third period, where it gets a little sloppy and our minds are off the game a little bit,” said Dube, whose team gave up a late power-play goal to round out the scoring after it got to 8-0.
“The toughest thing is not playing the right way, but I think we did a pretty good job of that.”
Defencemen James Hilsendager, Cal Foote and Devante Stephens also scored for Kelowna, as did Carsen Twarynski, with his 17th, Leif Mattson, with his eighth, and Reid Gardiner, with his 15th to extend his points streak to 14 games.
Brodan Salmond’s shutout streak against the Giants spanned 172 minutes 31 seconds — he previously blanked them 6-0 and 5-0 on Feb. 10 and 11 — before James Malm finally scored for Vancouver.
Tendeck, a 17-year-old rookie netminder, finished with 39 saves to Salmond’s 20.
Big blue-liner Braydyn Chizen was Kelowna’s only player not on the ice for a goal and one of just four players without a point.
“It’s been great how we’ve got contributions through our whole lineup,” said Rockets head coach Jason Smith. “When your depth allows you to have success, especially late in the season . . . that’s what you have to do to win.”
The Rockets (42-21-5-0) weren’t the only big winners in the B.C. Division on Friday, as the topthree teams all scored convincing victories to keep the standings the same.
A 6-1 road win by the Prince George Cougars (43-21-3-2) over the Tri-City Americans prevented the Rockets from taking over first place, while the third-place Kamloops Blazers (40-23-2-4) blasted the visiting Victoria Royals 6-2.
It’s been a rough week for the Royals (37-26-4-1), who lost 4-3 in Kelowna on Tuesday and 5-2 to the Blazers on Wednesday.
Making matters worse, Victoria head coach Dave Lowry and an unidentified player came down with the mumps following Tuesday’s defeat.
The Rockets host the Royals again tonight, 7 p.m. at Prospera Place, as Kelowna continues its six-game homestand (3-0-0-0).
“To keep playing the way we are, heading into (tonight against) Victoria, that’s another big two points,” said Dube. “We’re happy with the game and it’s a lot of confidence for (tonight).
“There’s still more to give . . . but we’re playing some of our best hockey.”