Rockets Win In OT

A couple of players who weren't in Kelowna to enjoy last years Memorial Cup championship were instrumental in putting the Rockets a win away from a chance to defend their championship.

Rookie Lauris Darzins scored his sixth goal of the post season and second in overtime as the Rockets beat the hometown Brandon Wheat Kings 2-1 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven WHL championship series. Darzins tapped in his own rebound from a sharp angle over the shoulder of Tyler Plante for the game winner 12 minutes into the extra period.

At the other end, rookie netminder Kris Westblom, in for the injured Derek Yeomans kicked aside 36 of 37 shots, eight of them in overtime, as the Wheat Kings had two or three great chances to put the game away early in overtime.

For the fourth straight game in the series, the Rockets got on the board first. Shea Weber scored his ninth of the playoffs with a hard wrist shot over the shoulder of Plante five and a half minutes into the game. Jacob Snidely evened the game at one 14 minutes into the second.

The Rockets were without two key players for game four. Goaltender Derek Yeomans missed his third straight game with a leg injury. He had an MRI on Monday. The results have not been made public yet. Justin Keller, who shares the team lead with 11 goals in the playoffs was also out of the line-up with an undisclosed injury. He is listed as day to day.

Once again, neither team had any success on the power play. The Rockets were 0-1, Brandon 0-3. Over the course of the series, the Rockets are 1-20 on the power play, the Wheat Kings 0-17.

The Rockets can join London, Ottawa and Ramous in the Memorial Cup with a win Friday in Brandon. Should the Wheat Kings win and extend the series, game six would be played back at Prospera Place Sunday.

http://www.whl.ca/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1001061