Courier: Rockets torch Bruins
r Lucas Bloodoff chipped in with a goal last night as Kelowna beat Chilliwack 6-4. The two teams meet again tonight in Chilliwack. Cindy Rogers photo.
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r By Doyle Poteneteau – Kelowna Daily Courier
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r Kyle St. Denis finally scored his first goal of the season on Friday night. Then he added two more.
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r St. Denis had a hat trick for Kelowna, with all three goals being his first markers of the season, as the Rockets beat the Chilliwack Bruins 6-4 in WHL action on Friday night.
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r Last season, the small forward from Trail had a point-per-game effort, albeit in an injury-filled campaign.
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r That he was goal-less before last night‘s game left the 5-foot-7 winger wondering when he was going to finally light the lamp. That question was answered just 22 seconds after the opening faceoff, when he backhanded home his first of the season, a sharp-angle shot that bounced off Chilliwack‘s goalie, then in. Heading into the game, St. Denis had just one point, an assist, as did goalie Adam Brown.
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r “Yeah, I was looking at that, seeing that I was tied with Brown. So I said I had to do something about that,” said St. Denis, who had eight goals and 22 points in 22 games last season. “But it definitely felt good to break out, and hopefully I can keep scoring.”
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r Lucas Bloodoff, Mitchell Callahan and Shane McColgan also scored for Kelowna (2-2-1-0) in the back-and-forth contest, which featured five goals in the first period. Dylen McKinlay, with two goals, Ryan Howse, with his fifth goal of the season, and Zach Habscheid, with his first WHL goal, replied for Chilliwack (1-4-0-0). Habscheid is the son of Bruins general manager and head coach Marc Habscheid.
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r Adam Brown made 21 saves for the Rockets, who, after opening the game‘s scoring just 22 seconds into the first period, trailed 3-2 after 20 minutes, but led 4-3 after 40. Mark Friesen made 28 stops for the Bruins, who will play host to Kelowna tonight, 7 p.m. at Prospera Centre.
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r “We took a step and we upped our game in terms of intensity and battle level,” said Marc Habscheid, who‘s trying to rebuild Chilliwack‘s program. “That was positive, but we gotta grow. We have a long ways to go.
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r “(Kelowna) has some guys who got it and they know what it takes. We have to figure out what it takes, and it‘s a process. We have to be patient with it, but be unrelenting in terms of playing hard.”
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r ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s scratches were D Tyson Barrie (knee, shoulder, 2-3 weeks) D Mitchell Chapman (shoulder, 2 weeks), C Max Adolph (ankle, 4 weeks), LW Evan Bloodoff (knee, 6 months) and G Mark Guggenberger (pelvis, indefinite). Chilliwack‘s scratches were D Jeff Einhorn (throat, day-to-day) RW Isak Quakenbush, D Scott Ramsay and RW Tim Traber. . . . Kelowna was 2-for-4 on the power play; Chilliwack was 1-for-5.
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