The Okanagan Rockets will find out how they stack up against some other elite competition next week at the Calgary 惭补肠鈥檚 midget hockey tournament.
The Rockets will play their opener at the annual international tourney on Tuesday, Dec. 27 against the Calgary Royals.
Games will follow against the Saskatoon Contacts, the Austrian U18 national team, and Sherwood Park, Alta.
Head coach Eric Blais said 惭补肠鈥檚 will provide his Rockets with a glimpse of their true potential.
鈥淭丑辞蝉别 teams will all be good, 迟丑补迟鈥檚 what you can always expect from 惭补肠鈥檚,鈥� said Blais. 鈥淧濒补测颈苍驳 other teams from across Canada and international teams, 颈迟鈥檒濒 be a challenge and a great experience for us.
鈥淭丑补迟鈥檚 the kind of competition we would have to go through to get to the Telus Cup, so this is a really good measuring stick for 耻蝉.鈥�
滨迟鈥檚 the start of a busy stretch of hockey for the Rockets who will play a minimum of four games in Calgary, two the following weekend against the Vancouver Northwest Giants, then no fewer than five games from Jan. 11 to 14 at KIMMT, 碍别濒辞飞苍补鈥檚 annual midget tourney.
Blais sees the onslaught of games as a good opportunity for his Rockets to find their groove.
鈥淲别 丑补惫别苍鈥檛 been playing our best lately, and hopefully with a lot of hockey over the next couple of weeks, 飞别鈥檒濒 be able to find our 蝉迟谤颈诲别,鈥� he said.
鈥泪 really like the tournament-style formats, you just focus game to game, there 颈蝉苍鈥檛 a lot of downtime and you can really, as coaches, get your message across. 滨迟鈥檒濒 be good for 耻蝉.鈥�
Rockets split with 骋痴鈥�
The Rockets and Greater Vancouver Canadians finished out their pre-Christmas B.C. Major Midget League schedule with a a split of two games at the Capital News Centre.
On Saturday, Coleton Bilodeau scored twice in a 7-4 搁辞肠办别迟蝉鈥� victory.
Jeff Karpowich, Jordan Robinson, Tanner Bahm, Rayman Bassi and Seth Barton also scored, while James Johnston earned his first BCMML win, stopping 25 shots in the Rockets net.
On Sunday, the Canadians turned the tables with a 7-4 win of their own. Max Kryski, Bilodeau, Hayden Courtney and Robinson scored for the Rockets.
Okanagan (17-5-0-2) remains in second spot in the MML, seven points back of first-place Cariboo.
The Rockets next league action is Jan. 7 and 8 in Squamish against the Vancouver Northwest Giants.
