Game two

Hmmm....wellllll.....who saw this coming? I mean, even the most biased Rockets homer probably didn't foresee them winning TWO games in Calgary.

Tough loss for a Hitmen fan, as the Hitmen were easily the better team for the first 40 minutes tonight and with a bit more luck (read: a bit more finish around the net!) could have had a safe lead after two periods. But they didn't get the goals and then the Rockets steamrolled them in the first half of the third. Calgary owned the second half of the third period too but the damage was done.

I don't know what to say about the Rockets other than that their defensive play is impeccable. It's a five-man defensive effort every shift and all five guys get down there below the hash marks and make it impossible for the Hitmen to get anything going in front of the net. Shots are being blocked all over the place and the ones that do get through, there's no rebounds for Calgary to feast on as they are quickly cleared away. You can't get a pass across the Rockets zone and so unless you create something off the rush, you get nothing. This is exactly the way you should be playing in the playoffs so full marks to the Rockets for their execution.

Calgary's forwards need to start fighting through the traffic in front of Guggenberger and getting chances in front of the net or they're never going to score enough goals to win the games.

Kelowna is also winning the goaltending battle; I said before the series that I thought the Hitmen had the edge in net but Guggenberger is making a believer of me here. He hasn't had to make any really spectacular stops, but he's just there in the right place every time and he's so big the shots just hit him. At the other end, Jones is having a bit of trouble, with another couple questionable goals tonight. On the 2nd goal he can't control a loose puck in the crease which leads to Duval jamming it in, and on the 4th goal he made the original save but lost sight of the puck (did it hit him in the head? I couldn't really tell) and was victimized on the rebound.

Calgary is now in the extremely difficult position of having to win both games 3 & 4 in Kelowna to stay in the series....we all know game three is a must win since being down 3-0 means certain death in the playoffs, but even a split in Kelowna still leaves them down 3-1 in the series and I don't think they would be able to claw their way out of that one against this Rockets team.

Last note, each team lost a forward to injury tonight and might be without them going forward too. Calgary saw Tyler Fiddler leave the game with a shoulder injury in the first period after being crunched into the boards, and then a few minutes later the Rockets lost Jamie Benn to what looked like a possible concussion after he was drilled at the side of the net by Keith Seabrook and fell heavily into the end boards. Both were clean hits but neither player returned. The Shaw guys said Fiddler went to the hospital right away for x-rays......nothing more is know about Benn's status though.