Kelowna Hosts Wild-ly Successful KIMMT: Local Teams Fail To Make Playoffs

January 13, 2012
Posted in BC Edition, Minor

By Glen Erickson /

Momentum can be a funny thing.

In sports vernacular, when a player or team is experiencing positive results, clichés abound such as, “riding the wave.” On the other hand, that same snowball effect can occasionally resemble a dastardly “downward spiral.”

Indeed, there was little to smile about for the local favorites at the 33rd Annual Kelowna International Major Midget Tournament as the Fripp Warehousing Junior Rockets failed to taste victory in five round robin games. The carnage began in the late going of the team’s first game as the Wenatchee Wild scored three times in the last 1:19 to steal away with a 6-4 win. Early the next day, the Jr. Rockets may still have been in a state of bewilderment when they arrived at Memorial Arena for their second tilt of the tournament. When Pursuit of Excellence proceeded to dump Kelowna by a 6-2 count, a verdict that was never in doubt, the aforementioned downward spiral was in full gear.

“I thought we played pretty well against Wenatchee, except for about 79 seconds at the end of the game,” said head coach Eric Blais. “We’re not used to giving up those leads, but that might be our legacy at this tournament.”

To make matters even worse, the Jr. Rockets lost both goaltenders during the second period of their fourth game of the tournament, in what became a 10-0 defeat at the hands of the Notre Dame Argos from Saskatchewan. Blais was forced to use two affiliated players in goal for the team’s final game of the tourney, a 9-3 loss to the Calgary Edge Mountaineers.

Prior to KIMMT, the Jr. Rockets had won over 20 consecutive games. When it was suggested to him that the tough week could actually be beneficial for the Jr. Rockets as they move forward along the road to a provincial championship, Blais was philosophical.

“It’s a bit of a concern right now,” Blais said. “We’re not playing as well as I’d like. We have to build it back up because we only have eight weeks left in our season. This adversity will test the boys’ character and they’re finding out what true champions are made of. We’ve had a pretty easy ride this season, and now we’ve been humbled. After some of our tournament success earlier this season, I think the may have begun to play down some.”

There was more local flavour of sorts at KIMMT, however, both the Okanagan Hockey Academy and Pursuit of Excellence fell short of reaching the semi-finals.

In the championship final the Wild defeated the Mountaineers by a score of 6-2, becoming the first team from the USA to win the event since the Los Angeles Selects in 2005. Calgary also lost the KIMMT final two years ago. Wenatchee reached the finale with a 6-2 win over the Notre Dame Hounds, while Calgary advanced to the title game with a 4-3 victory over the Thunder Bay Kings.

TOURNAMENT AWARD WINNERS