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Rockets' Slide Continues

Make it eight in a row with no end in sight.

Kelowna Rockets losing streak hit eight games Wednesday night following an embarrassing 4-1 loss at the hands of the visiting Prince Albert Raiders.

It's the longest slide since the team went 0-7-1-0 early in the 2001-2002 season.

Despite being challenged publically by President and General Manager, Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets weren't ready to play.

"We were flat for sure," says head coach Jeff Truitt. "I didn't think we battled hard enough and we didn't pay the price to make things happen."

The Rockets are one of the youngest teams in the Western Hockey League and for the first half of the year coaches gave them the benefit of the doubt.

No longer says Truitt.

"Youth is not an excuse anymore."

The Raiders all but put the game away in the opening 10 minutes, when Matt Robertson on an early power-play and Jeff May with the teams playing four-on-four staked P.A. to a 2-0 lead.

Ryan McDonald in the second and Robertson with his second of the night made it 4-0.

Brett Breitkreuz potted his fifth of the year with seven minutes left to prevent Jesse Deckert from picking up his first goose-egg of the season.

Prince Albert outshot Kelowna 27-17, a stat that flattered the Rockets in the fact a third of those shots came during the final eight minutes.

The loss leaves the Rockets in a fourth place tie with Chilliwack in the fight for the final playoff spot in the B.C. Division.

Things don't get any easier for the Rockets as they attempt to snap their current slump. The Rockets play the Vancouver Giants in a home-and-home series Friday in Vancouver and Saturday back at Prospera Place.


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