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  Annie Fowler was born and raised in Eastern Oregon and graduated from Southern Oregon University in 1988 with degrees in communication and journalism. She has been at the Herald since March of 2000 and began covering the Tri-City Americans in 2002. She still enjoys a good game of football, but these days she gets her fill by watching her son play for Southridge High School. |
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The Kelowna Rockets have a unique system of communicating during games. Assistant coach Ryan Cuthbert is up in the press box keeping a close eye on things and relays information to the team bench via a wireless transmitter to goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh. Similar to football, but at a faster pace.
I got to experience this system up close and personal during Friday night's game. The fire wire for the Kelowna coaches computer was just a wee bit short of being able to connect to all things technical, so Coach Cuthbert was right next to me.
It was interesting listening to him break down the Rockets offense and defense -- and when their offense and defense broke down.
A few snippets from the game. The *** are to protect the players, who, I'm sure, got a personal butt chewing after the game.
"Get ****** out of the corner, he's too weak."
"What is he doing? Get ****** out of there."
"Every time they bring the puck up top we don't have anyone there."
There are many, many more conversations that took place, but with some words banned by print media, they aren't printable. Coach Cuthbert apologized for his colorful banter, but there was no need. This is hockey, where those words are acceptable.
This is a great system. Of course, you have to have the personnel to make it all happen. Apparently Ryan Cuthbert is the man for the Rockets. They won 12 straight games before Friday, when they ran into a team that speaks the same language.
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