Saturday, May 9, 2009

Kelowna Rockets Are WHL Champions

Congrats to the Rockets. They Defeated the Calgary Hitmen 3-2 in Overtime. Taking the Series in 6 games.

The Hitmen lost such talented players last year such as Karl Alzner, Ryan White, and TJ Galiardi, and somehow managed to not only meet but exceed the expectations of the previous year. They were such a dominant team during the season, a bitter pill to swallow for them I'm sure.

Imagine what type of team the rockets could of had if Luke Schenn was still in their Lineup. The Rockets were picked to be a good team at the beginning of the season, but after a goaltender controversy and an average start, they didn't really light on fire until the end of the Season, winning 12 of their last 13 games.

For Them TO pick Up Guggenburger so cheaply(5th rounder) was a steal.

Edit: The Rockets Owe the Bronco's a conditional Pick, based on HOW far Guggenburger made it in the playoffs, and whether or not he comes back next season.

I watched him a few times when he was with Swift Current, and I thought he played really well positionally and had pretty quick reflexes. He was the type of player I thought could excel given the right situation.

I believe I heard them say on the radio that this will be Kelowna's 4th Memorial Cup appearance in 7 years. That is pretty amazing.

2 comments:

Alan said...

The price for Guggenberger was conditional on how the Rockets did in the playoffs and whether he comes back as an overage next year.

The 5th round pick was just the bottom-line price; with the Rockets winning the WHL title I'm sure they now owe the Broncos a higher pick. And if he's back next year, they probably owe something even higher yet. But I'm sure they don't mind paying the price now. :-)

TigerTurf said...

Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't realize there was a conditional pick with the trade.

Now I'm curious to see what kind of value the Broncos will get.