Rockets Flatten Chiefs Spokane Drops Third Game In A Row

The Kelowna Rockets have struggled all season with opposition out of the Western Hockey League West.

So explaining the last two nights, when the Rocks have rolled and the Chiefs have merely rolled over, is a challenge.

Kelowna answered its 7-1 Friday night win over Spokane with a 4-1 verdict over the Chiefs Saturday night in the Arena.

It was Spokane’s third straight loss, the club’s first three-game slide of the year.

Playing with better discipline, Kelowna improved to 8-15-1 on the road and 8-18-1 against the West.

Neither coach was reading too much into the Rockets’ comeback win before 10,455. Both Pete Anholt of Kelowna and Spokane’s Mike Babcock attributed some of it to quality practice time.

With only Jason Deleurme off to the WHL all-star game last week, the Rockets had a great series of workouts with close to their full complement of players, Anholt said.

The chemistry might have improved at the trade deadline as well. Kelowna shipped out Todd Fedoruk and Kevin Marsh, leaving what appears to be a tighter, more disciplined and still talented corps of forwards.

The Chiefs, who had six players at the all-star classic, haven’t had all their people together for practice since Dec. 10, Babcock noted.

The Spokane coach was neither groping for excuses nor reaching for the panic button.

“They gave us a lesson this weekend, big time,” he said, “but we felt this was coming. We’ve been poor in five of our last six games. I believe you learn to work hard in practice. We’ll finally get some time together.”

The Chiefs will take today off, the coach said, and work out hard Monday.

“We probably caught Spokane a little bit flat,” said Anholt, who won for the 301st time in his WHL coaching career.

That the Chiefs are slumping is plain by the numbers. They’ve misfired on 23 of their last 24 power-play opportunities. In their last three games, they’ve scored three goals on only 70 shots, far fewer than their average of more than 38 shots a game.

At least in this one, they led after one period. And the centerpiece of the first of their flurry of trades Zenith Komarniski is finally playing at home like the all-star he is.

The Chiefs jumped up 1-0 on the power play, Komarniski scoring on a slap shot from the right circle. It was Komarniski’s second goal in his last three games.

Kelowna erased that with two goals in a span of 1:13 of the second period. Scott Hannan’s wrist shot found its way through goaltender Aren Miller’s pads with the Rockets on the power play. Kris Mallette put Kelowna on top 2-1 with the game-winner at 6:43 of the second.

Scott Parker got the insurance goal in the third period with a hard slapper from the top of the right circle. The tough-angle shot beat Miller low to the glove side.

Quintin Laing scored into an empty net with 5 seconds left, after the Chiefs pulled Miller.

Babcock introduced a different personnel mix to the full house of 10,455, suiting newly acquired defenseman Rick Berry and left wing Cam Severson and sitting Brad Ference and Marian Cisar.

Babcock wouldn’t call it a disciplinary move but Ference didn’t play in the third period of Friday night’s debacle in Kelowna. Cisar has been in a scoring slump.

The Chiefs will have 19-year-old goaltender David Haun available when they return to the Arena Wednes day night against Medicine Hat.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo