Jamie Benn is a young man of few words. The Kelowna Rockets hope his scoring and hitting will speak volumes against the Vancouver Giants.
On Saturday night, the Rockets and Giants begin a highly anticipated series for the Western Conference championship, a best-of-seven affair that‘s sure to be filled with plenty of everything, including lots of dislike. Add plenty of hitting, as the two B.C. Division franchises have ridden hard forechecks to great success this season.
“It‘ll be a tough series for sure, but I‘m looking forward to it,” said Benn. “Playing the body is going to be a big part, and I think they‘ll do the same. It wears you down a bit, but it‘s going to go both ways.”
Benn, a 19-year-old left winger from Victoria, leads the WHL playoff scoring race with seven goals and 23 points.
In Kelowna‘s second-round series victory over Tri-City, the Americans found out the hard way just how hard the Rockets can hit.
For example, top forward Mitch Fadden of Salmon Arm suffered a separated shoulder.
“We knew they were going to play physical,” said Fadden. “It wasn‘t every time they hit us that we got hurt, but it was different plays on different guys. They hit the body, which we knew they were going to do because we‘re a smaller, skilled team.
“Flip a coin (as to who‘s going to win). It‘s going to be a good final . . . we wish it would have been us going, but it‘s definitely going to be a good series for the fans.”
Exciting, certainly. Tough on both team‘s defence, considering how well both teams forecheck, without doubt.
Yet, in this case, the Rockets will certainly have an advantage, having had almost a full week off following their 6-2 win in Game 6 on Sunday. Vancouver, on the other hand, had to play a tough, grinding series against the Spokane Chiefs, which ended late Tuesday night with a 1-0 overtime decision in Game 7.
Further, Vancouver‘s roster is slightly smaller than Kelowna‘s, except on defence, where there‘s a vast difference.
The Rockets have three blue-liners who are 6-foot-2 and taller, including Tysen Dowzak at 6-5 and Tyler Myers topping out at 6-8, whereas the Giants have none.
“Playing physical will certainly be part of the game plan,” said Rockets assistant coach Jeff Finley, a former NHL defenceman for 15 seasons. “Not just on their forwards, but their defence, especially. They’re very mobile and a good skating group, but not very big. So we want to be physical on them. And we want to make them play in their end and defend as much as they can by controlling the puck. As a defenceman, it‘s a lot more difficult when you‘re in your own end defending – especially when the forecheck is quick and you‘re up against the glass all night, and when you have to chase guys around who are cycling the puck.
“We have some big, strong forwards who are very good at that, and they can really wear a team down, as we‘ve seen.”
Rockets captain Colin Long said while Kelowna‘s plans won‘t differ much from his team‘s strategy against Tri-City, the Giants should be dishing up the same as well.
“It‘s going to be the same idea as Tri-City,” said Long. “I‘m sure they‘re saying they‘re going to have to get on our defence; that‘s their game plan. So we forwards need to come back hard and help them out, have good low support and always outnumber them.”
Interestingly, the Rockets were 3-5-0-0 against the Giants this season, though Kelowna won the last three meetings – 3-2 in overtime on March 7, 6-2 in Vancouver on Feb. 20 and 3-2 in overtime on Feb. 13. However, in all three games, the Giants outshot the Rockets.
“They always get tons of shots on net, and that‘s something we want to limit,” said Long. “And if we are going to give up shots, we want to give up shots from the outside; we want to limit them getting inside (shots) on us.
“But we‘re excited. Obviously, they had the best record in the Western Conference, and they‘re the team to beat. Everyone knows how good they are, and we‘re excited to play them.”
The Rockets enter the series with an almost intact roster – almost, because right winger Kyle St. Denis may or may not play against Vancouver.
The 5-foot-7 winger, who missed Kelowna‘s last 23 games with a concussion, has been practising, leading to speculation that he may suit up against the Giants. In 22 regular-season games, the Trail product tallied eight goals and 22 points.
Hit hard into the boards in a 4-3 shootout loss to Chilliwack on Feb. 18, St. Denis has missed 13 regular-season games and Kelowna‘s 10 playoff games this spring with his second concussion of the season.
The sophomore forward, who turned 19 on March 3, played well in last season‘s playoffs, posting one goal and four points in the Rockets‘ first-round series loss to Seattle in seven games. Top of Page
