RIMOUSKI, Que. – The Kelowna Rockets say they‘re underdogs. Friday‘s result says they‘re not.
After beginning play on Friday evening, the 2009 Memorial Cup resumed play on Saturday, with the QMJHL champion Drummondville Voltigeurs posting a 3-2 overtime victory over the OHL champion Windsor Spitfires in an afternoon contest.
The night before, the WHL champion Rockets rolled to a 4-1 victory over the host Rimouski Oceanic.
Entering the four-team tournament, Windsor was labelled the No. 1 tag, while the Rockets were pretty much afterthoughts. But after skating Rimouski into the ice, the Rockets caught a lot of attention.
In addition, the Spitfires lost some of their lustre last night by losing a contest that they controlled territorially. However, when it came to putting the Volts away, the Spits couldn‘t despite Drummondville collapsing around its net much like Rimouski did.
“I still probably think we are (underdogs),” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska, whose team doesn‘t play again until Monday night, when Kelowna (1-0) battles Drummondville (1-0). On Tuesday, Kelowna closes out its round-robin portion by playing Windsor (0-1).
“From what we understand is that Windsor and Drummondville are the two teams to beat,” continued Huska. “That‘s fine with us, and, hopefully we can keep flying under the radar a little bit.”
In grading Kelowna‘s effort on Friday, the consensus from WHL media members, both here and in Western Canada watching the game on television, is the Rockets earned 7.5 out of 10.
“Looking back at our game (against Rimouski), we did some very good things, but there were things we could do better and I know our guys will,” said Huska. “But we got that first-win weight off our shoulders, and now it‘s about focusing on how we have to play.”
Rockets assistant coach Jeff Finley agreed Kelowna wasn‘t at its best. They‘ll need to be better come Monday and Tuesday, for the Spitfires and Voltigeurs are in the same class as the Vancouver Giants and Calgary Hitmen.
“Everybody seems to be labelling us as the Cinderella underdogs, so that‘s a great position for us to be in,” said Finley. “We know what we‘re capable of. We know the three (WHL) teams that we just beat and the quality teams that they were. So we feel we can beat anybody and play with anybody.
“At times, we were great (against Rimouski) and then there were a few lapses, but I think that‘s normal in a game like that. It was good for us to get through the nerves and get a feeling for what the whole event is all about. Now we can continue to improve.” Top of Page
