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Tough test for Okanagan Rockets at Mac's tournament

<who>Photo Credit/Cover Design: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>

Statistically, and backed up by a highly scrutinized three-month eye test, the Okanagan Rockets are among the top midget AAA teams in the country.

Further evaluation of just how good the Kelowna-based group of 15-17-year-olds really is will come next week when it competes in the prestigious Mac’s World Invitational Tournament in Calgary

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<who>Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Steel Quiring, a Kelowna Rockets' draft, will return to the Okanagan Rockets for the Mac's tournament in Calgary.Boasting a 20-2-1-1 record in the 11-team BC Hockey Major Midget League, the Rockets will open the 25-team event against the Okotoks Bow Mark Oilers (15-6-3) on Thursday. They’ll play the Swift Current Legionnaires (13-14) on Dec. 28, the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (9-7-4) on Dec. 29 and close out round-robin play Dec. 30 against the Lloydminster Inland Steel.

The first-place teams in each of the five pools — as well as three wild cards — advance to the quarter-finals in the championship round for a chance to claim the 2019 title. The Rockets will be bidding to become only the third B.C. team to win the tournament since 1978. The Cariboo Cougars took the gold in 2014.

<who>Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Cameron Moger assisted on five goals on the weekend and is first among defencemen in the league in points.As much as the Rockets’ record is impressive and the team sits atop the myhockeyrankings.com list of 167 triple-A teams in Canada, surprisingly, they’ve achieved the lofty perch without a full roster in any of their 24 games this season.

That streak could end at the Mac’s as head coach Simon Ferguson and his staff are expected to have everyone on board for the first time.

What won’t change will be the high-speed, puck-pursuit and puck-possession style of play that was on full display on the past weekend when the Rockets raced to two more wins, this time against the Kootenay Ice at the CNC.

<who>Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Tyson Jugnauth is among three 15-year-olds on the young OK Rockets roster.The hosts, playing without 16-year-old defenceman Jackson Desouza and forward Steel Quiring — both Kelowna Rockets 2018 bantam drafts were on the road trip through the Prairies — skated to a 5-3 win on Saturday in a game that was very much flattering to the Ice and a 9-0 victory on Sunday that was much more indicative of how dominating the Rockets really were.

Although Ferguson knows his team will be up against the typical “big, strong and physical Prairie teams” which will also be older overall, he’ll be preaching status quo to his young corps that averages only 16.3 years and includes three 15-year-olds.

“We’ll continue to play our game — controlling the puck and using our skill and speed — to overcome any deficiencies we might have on the physical side,” said Ferguson. “No matter the outcome, this will be a major learning experience for the guys in front of people (junior and university scouts) who will be looking for players who can step into their roster next season.”

<who>Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Conner Elliott, is an anchor on the Rockets highly touted defence. He's also played four games with the Penticton Vees of the BCHL this season.While the Rockets already have eight players — Desouza, Quiring, Zac Funk (Calgary Hitmen), Teague Patton (Medicine Hat Tigers), Dylan Wightman (Penticton Vees), Conner Elliott (Penticton), Scott Gilowski (Penticton) and Cameron Moger (Trail Smoke Eaters) — who have played at least one game at the major junior or junior A level this season, most of the others are attracting attention as well.

All three 15-year-olds — Rilen Kovacevic (Kelowna Rockets), Tyson Jugnauth (Swift Current Broncos) and Jace Weir (Red Deer Rebels) were drafted by WHL teams in the 2019 bantam draft.

<who>Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Quinn Paterson contributed to a deep forward corps by scoring four times in two games on the weekend.On a well-balanced roster, Wightman leads the team in points with 14 goals and 19 assists in 24 games, two of his markers coming on Sunday in the Rockets’ lopsided win. Patton, who has played in 20 games when not playing or practising with Medicine Hat, is tied for second with 29 points on nine goals and 20 assists. Moger, who assisted on five goals in the past two weekend games, also has 29 points and is first among defencemen in the league with his four goals and 25 helpers.

Attesting to the depth of the Rockets is that Zac Funk (27 points in 16 games) and Cameron Hicklin (24 points in 24 games) are also in the BCMML's Top-20 and several teammates are closing in.

<who>Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Cameron Hicklin scored twice in the Rockets' 9-0 win over the Kootenay Ice.Ferguson concedes that the Rockets’ potent offence can be attributed in a large part to the real strength of the team thus far — the defence and goaltending.

“Desouza, Elliott, Gilowski, Jugnauth, Moger, Weir and Curtis Gould make up an outstanding defensive unit and our goaltending (Bailey Monteith, who leads the league with 11 wins and a 1.95 goals against average and Cayden Hamming - nine wins, 1.80 GAA) has been superb,” notes Fergerson. “And that allows us to be more offensive.”

<who>Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Dylan Wightman, captain of the Rockets, is tied for the league lead with 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists).The Rockets lead the league easily with a +72 goal differential.

Ferguson says he’s not concerned about his team succumbing to overconfidence going into the second half.

“We’ve had our ups and downs despite what our record might show,” he noted. “So we know we have to maintain a high intensity and up-tempo to be successful every weekend — no matter the opponent. And in the Mac’s, we’ll find out early that we need to have everyone buying in on every shift if we want to be playing deep into the tournament.”

BC Hockey Major Midget Standings/Stats

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