Rockets vs. Royals– Feb 4 & 5, 2025
Final Score:
Royals 7 – Rockets 3
Royals 5 – Rockets 2
The Story: One Good Period Won’t Cut It
In both games, we had stretches where we looked solid—for about one period. The problem? Hockey games are three periods long. For the other 40 minutes, we were completely caved in.
How can a team look dominant for one frame and like a tire fire for the rest? A big part of it is penalties. Dumb, unnecessary, momentum-killing penalties. One of the main culprits—though certainly not alone—is Petruk. Buddy, pick your spots. The timing has been awful, and when you drop the gloves with guys who refuse to engage, you just end up in the box longer, leaving us shorthanded.
Special Teams Disaster
Our special teams have been an absolute nightmare, especially the power play.
Sharpe has shown some promise as a PP quarterback, but the unit is creating almost nothing dangerous—no backdoor passes, one-timers, or quality chances in the slot. In the last couple of games, we at least managed to set up in the zone a few times, but we did nothing with it.
And don’t even get me started on the breakout. I hate the swing-back zone entry because when it fails, it looks spectacularly stupid. Between getting poked off the puck, being forced into ineffective dump-and-chase plays, or the absolute worst—that disastrous drop pass that misses your teammates stick and completely kills forward momentum—it’s been painful to watch.
Stud of the Night: Hiroki Gojsic
After struggling for a while, Hiroki finally looks like he’s hitting his stride. When he’s skating and shooting, he’s a menace.
In Game 2, he easily could have had three goals in the first period alone. He’s picking up his game and starting to look like the player we need him to be. If he keeps this up, he’ll be a huge part of our potential next season. He has been notoriously streaky as well so we will be looking for more consistency in his game.
Dud of the Night(s): Victoria’s Fans
Usually, this spot goes to a Rockets player who struggled, but holy crap—that was a sad sight.
Victoria even pulled out their special-themed jerseys for Game 1, and the reported attendance was in the 2,000s. I highly doubt that. If I had to guess, they barely cracked triple digits. Game 2 wasn’t much better.
Honestly, I hope the team handed out free food and drinks to the 20 people who actually showed up, because that was embarrassing.
Final Thoughts
The results were expected—a team that sold at the deadline versus a team that bought at the deadline.
Still, it was nice to see our guys show fight at times. Right now, it’s all about development. With such a young roster, we should be watching for progress, not just wins. But if we don’t start seeing real growth from some of these players, it’s time to have a serious conversation about coaching. We have a coach that has taken over for the interim and if things remain status quo, should probably not return for next season.
Because staying in the basement next season is not an option.
