On the Rockets side, head coach Mack O'Rourke, captain Branden Wagner, and goaltender Reid Kilburn spoke with me after the contest.
For a recap of the game as well as the other BCMML contests of the night, please see below:
Note: These recaps were originally posted on the MidgetAAACanada.com website.
Sunday, December 1, 2013 - Submitted by KP Wee MidgetAAACanada.com BCMML/National Correspondent
BCMML Week 11 Recap – Saturday Games
(Planet Ice arena – Coquitlam, BC)—The Okanagan Rockets took advantage of several early power-play opportunities and continued their winning ways, routing the Vancouver North East Chiefs by a score of 7-2 on Saturday night at the Planet Ice arena in Coquitlam.
Okanagan (16-2-1) dominated play in the opening 20 minutes, jumping out to a 3-0 lead on a trio of power-play goals by the midway point of the first period. The Rockets outshot the Chiefs 24-1 in the opening stanza, registering the first 21 shots of the game before Vancouver North East (7-9-3) managed its first shot with 3:03 remaining in the period.
Tanner Campbell was the offensive star for the Rockets with two goals and an assist while Tyson Jost, the league’s leading scorer with 31 points in 14 games entering the contest, added his 15th goal of the year. Linden Hora also scored his 15th goal of the season for Okanagan.
“We played solid tonight,” noted Rockets captain Branden Wagner, a second-year forward with Okanagan. “Overall, we played pretty good defensively. Offensively, we had lots of chances, and we capitalized on quite a few of them.”
The Rockets’ victory kept them atop the BC Major Midget League standings as they maintained a two-point lead over the Vancouver North West Giants (15-3-1). It was Okanagan’s sixth straight victory, while Vancouver North East has now dropped seven straight.
“Special teams were a big part tonight,” said Okanagan head coach Mack O’Rourke, referring to the fact his squad received 16 power-play opportunities in the game. “It was tough to really get any pace going five-on-five. I don't know how many minutes were totalled up between both teams, but it was definitely a special teams battle. We capitalized on quite a few of ours, and that's what got us the win tonight.”
Chiefs goaltender Jakob Severson, who had a 2.32 goals-against average in 10 games going into the contest, kept his team in the game early on as Vancouver North East trailed only 3-1 after the first period. Severson finished with 52 saves on the night, as the Chiefs were outshot 59-24 for the game.
Though Rockets goaltender Reid Kilburn wasn’t as busy—he faced only nine shots through the midway point of the second period—he stayed sharp and finished with 22 saves. “I tried a lot to talk to myself, do like play-by-play,” said Kilburn of staying focused in goal despite the lack of shots. “Just get myself [to] stay in the game, watch the pucks... that's what I have to do.”
Kilburn, who entered the game with a league-best 2.09 goals-against average, improved to 10-1-1 on the season.
The Rockets and Chiefs resume their weekend series with a morning game at the same venue, with Vancouver North East looking to bounce back from the loss.
Elsewhere in BC Major Midget League action, the Vancouver North West Giants improved to 15-3-1 with a 9-3 victory over the Cariboo Cougars (8-10-1) in Burnaby. Defenseman Fabbro Dante scored two goals for the Giants, and forward Justin Szeto added two goals and three assists, as the Giants remain two points back of Okanagan for top spot in the BCMML standings. Riley Pettitt tallied two of Cariboo’s three goals.
In Kamloops, the Thompson Blazers (1-14-4) and Kootenay Ice (3-13-3) battled to a 3-3 tie with Cole Perison’s late third-period power-play goal salvaging a point for the Blazers.
Meanwhile, the Valley West Hawks (13-6-0) doubled the North Island Silvertips (8-9-2) by a score of 6-3 in Langley, and the South Island Royals (8-9-2) also defeated the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds (7-10-2) by the same 6-3 margin in Abbotsford.
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