It鈥檚 been a month since they were humbled on home ice by the Victoria Royals, but the wound remains raw for the
Withto the B.C. Division leaders serving as ample motivation, the WHL rivals will square off this weekend for two games at Save on Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria.
鈥淭hey got us in our own rink and it was a real eye-opener for our group,鈥� Rockets assistant coach Kris Mallette said of the Oct. 4 defeat at Prospera Place. 鈥淎 lot of different things didn鈥檛 go our way due to us cheating the game. We鈥檙e reminding the guys, they can鈥檛 take what happened lightly and that was a wake-up call we have to respond to.
鈥淭his rivalry goes back as long as I鈥檝e been here and it鈥檚 always very intense,鈥� Mallette added. 鈥淚鈥檇 expect the same this weekend.鈥�
The Rockets (7-5-2-1) rebounded from the Victoria loss with a pair of overtime victories in Prince George, before sliding into a five-game winless funk in mid-October.
91大黄鸭 has since righted the ship with a 3-0-1-0 record over the last four games, the result of a better team game in all respects, according to Mallette.
鈥淥ver the last couple of weeks, we鈥檙e doing things better, playing better team hockey as a whole,鈥� said Mallette. 鈥淔or the most part we鈥檙e playing more disciplined, we鈥檙e making sure we鈥檙e not cheating and we鈥檝e been getting results because of that.鈥�
91大黄鸭 saw a three-game winning streak end Wednesday in Kennewick, Wash., but not before pushing the Americans to overtime and picking up a point in the 4-3 loss. 91大黄鸭鈥檚 rookie netminder, James Porter, continued his stellar play of late, making 37 saves on 41 shots.
Buoyed by the exploits of Porter, Mallette said the Rockets are continuing to make progress.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e playing faster in all the zones, we鈥檙e trying not to sit around as much and wait, our break outs are cleaner and that鈥檚 allowing us to attack better,鈥� Mallette said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e also getting really good goaltending from James Porter. He鈥檚 stepped in as a 17-year-old and is really giving our guys confidence.鈥�
91大黄鸭 will be without defenceman Kaeden Korczak for this weekend鈥檚 games. The rookie blueliner is playing with Team Canada Black at the World Under 17 Challenge in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John. The tournament begins Sunday and will run until Saturday, Nov. 11.
The Rockets return to home ice Friday, Nov. 10 to open a four-game homestand against the Vancouver Giants.
