Like 21 other teams in the Western Hockey League, the are undoubtedly looking forward to some quality downtime over the next couple of weeks.

Still, the Rockets have two more orders of business to tend to before letting their guard down for the Christmas break.

Kelowna will close out its six-game Eastern Division tour with a weekend set in Saskatchewan乌鸦传媒擣riday night in Prince Albert against the Raiders and Saturday in Saskatoon against the Blades.

With a 1-3 record through the first four games of the trip, assistant coach Kris Mallette stressed the importance of the Rockets heading into the break with a couple of solid efforts.

乌鸦传媒淪taying focused, that乌鸦传媒檚 what we need to do through the last period of the last game,乌鸦传媒� said Mallette. 乌鸦传媒淭his time of year, with the youth of a lot of the guys, being away from their homes for the first half of the season, you can understand why they乌鸦传媒檙e excited to be going home (for Christmas).

乌鸦传媒淲e乌鸦传媒檝e played some quality hockey teams through the first part of the trip, and we乌鸦传媒檝e got two more teams that are probably going to be hungry,乌鸦传媒� Mallette added. 乌鸦传媒淲e need to be prepared and try to finish off the right way.乌鸦传媒�

After a trip-opening win in Regina last Friday, the Rockets have since lost three straight games乌鸦传媒攖o Brandon, Moose Jaw and 5-1 to the Broncos on Wednesday night in Swift Current.

Kelowna has been without three of its top players乌鸦传媒擠illon Dube, Kole Lind and Cal Foote乌鸦传媒攆or the last two games of the trip. Lind was one of four cuts Thursday from the national junior camp in St. Catharines and will rejoin the club Friday in Prince Albert.

Mallette said other Rockets players have stepped up in their absence, just not on a nearly consistent enough basis.

乌鸦传媒淥ur game has been inconsistent,乌鸦传媒� Mallette said. 乌鸦传媒淲e乌鸦传媒檝e done some really good things in spurts, skated with those teams and we乌鸦传媒檝e had some leads.

乌鸦传媒淏ut we乌鸦传媒檝e had some mental breakdowns, too, that have been costly,乌鸦传媒� he added. 乌鸦传媒淵ou always stress taking care of our own end and with a couple of young goalies in there, you need to help them out. We乌鸦传媒檝e been caught running around and cheating the game a little so we have to get away from that.

乌鸦传媒淭he more we buy in to team defense the better it is for everybody.乌鸦传媒�

The Rockets first game after the break is Wednesday, Dec. 27 at home to the Kamloops Blazers.

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