Kelowna view: Winterhawks, Rockets bring high-powered offenses

KELOWNA — Ready to trip back in time? Because for the next week or so, it’ll be like it’s the 1980s all over again.

Only minus the bad hair.

When the WHL’s Western Conference final between the Kelowna Rockets and Portland Winterhawks gets underway this Friday night, not only will it be a meeting of the top two teams in the league, but also two of the CHL’s top-five teams in offense. Portland led the WHL in goals this past season at 338 and was second in the CHL. Meanwhile, Kelowna was second in the WHL at 310 and fifth overall in the CHL.

By series’ end, Rockets goaltender Jordon Cooke and Hawks’ ‘keeper Brendan Burke will likely need aloe vera to sooth their sunburned necks, with the red goal-light being turned on so much.

“Both goalies are going to have to play well for their teams to win. That’s usually what decides these things,” said Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton. “We’re counting on Cooke being good, and I know Burke was real good for them (against Victoria).”

For those wondering, the Guelph Storm of the OHL was tops this season in goals at 340, though 30 years ago, the Kamloops Junior Oilers potted a WHL-high 467 goals, while the QMJHL’s Laval Voisons, led by Mario Lemieux, had a CHL-high 527 goals. During the regular season, Lemieux had 133 goals and 282 points in 70 games. In the playoffs, he had 29 goals and 52 points in 14 games.

OK, so maybe Kelowna-Portland won’t truly resemble the high-scoring ’80s, though the 1980s didn’t have today’s vastly superior defense, goaltending, structure and commitment to shot blocking. But to put things in context, here are two points to ponder: Just 10 years ago, in 2003-04, Medicine Hat was tops in goals at 277, while the last WHL team to score more goals than Portland this season was Portland, in 1997-98 at 342.

Further, this isn’t a one-off. Kelowna had 309 goals last season, while Portland 334. These teams know how to score.

That bring us to offense, and who’ll produce.

Or maybe not produce.

The Rockets say injured forward Myles Bell (lower-body) is being reviewed daily, but that he’s listed week-to-week. Bell was hurt in Kelowna’s first-round series against Tri-City.

The Winterhawks may be without center Nic Petan, who is fifth in team playoff scoring with 3 goals and 10 points in nine games. During the regular season, Petan was second in league scoring with 35 goals and 113 points in 63 games.

Last Thursday, Petan looked like he got hurt during Game 5 of Portland’s second-round series with Victoria. Portland won 5-1 for a 4-1 series win.

In the final five minutes of Game 5, with Portland on the power play, Petan took a vicious cross-check to the neck from Victoria’s Brandon Magee. The incident, which took place along Victoria’s end-boards, sparked a melee. After getting cross-checked, Petan, 19, fell to the ice, but quickly got up, then jumped onto the back of Victoria’s Ryan Gagnon, 17, and started throwing punches. Bad choice; Gagnon, at 6-foot-1, is a tough target, as the 5-foot-9 Petan found out.

Gagnon quickly engaged and the two began fighting, with Gagnon steering Petan towards the half-wall, where they fell to the ice but continued their scrap. At fight’s end, Gagnon got up while Petan was flat on his back and needed attention.

Magee was handed a high-sticking penalty and a match penalty for attempt to injure. As of Tuesday, the WHL had yet to determine his punishment. Gagnon was handed a five-minute major for fighting, while Petan was hit with with an instigator penalty, a fighting major and a game misconduct.

The bigger fear for Portland was that Petan had been injured, and that he might miss the series against Kelowna. That, however, seems unlikely now.

On Monday, Petan skated in practice, with Hawks GM and coach Mike Johnston telling The Oregonian “it’s good that he skated, it’s a positive sign he went for the whole practice, so we’ll see how he responds. Like all these things, it’s after exercise, after working out, it’s how the player responds to it.”

Johnston added “I’m always cautious with these things because you never know. Sometimes a player at night gets headaches or is not feeling good; those are signs you don’t want to hear the next morning. So even though a player may look good right now, you have to wait to see how he responds. Anytime you get your heart rate up and exercise, it’s good to monitor the response to that, because (Tuesday) he’s going to have a harder practice and then see how things go on Thursday in Kelowna.”

This being the playoffs, and teams quiet on injuries, we’ll have to wait until Friday to see whether Bell and Petan, two of the brightest starts in this series, will hit the ice in this highly anticipated match-up.

Doyle Potenteau covers the WHL for The Daily Courier. He can be reached via e-mail at: doyle@ ok.bc.ca.