Riley Kidney was standing at his locker in Place Bell awaiting the media, and he had a smile on his face. Not only did he have two goals and an assist in the Rocket’s first win after nine straight losses, but it was also the first time in his professional career that he had scored a goal in a game his team won.
Kidney’s first AHL goal came against Lehigh Valley on November 17, one game after the Rocket’s second-most recent victory. In that 10 game span, however, he has all five of his goals and four of his five assists. He’s almost the personification of how development has still happened despite the lack of team results.
“It makes it a lot better [to score in a win],” Kidney said. “Scoring after a loss, everyone’s sad but when you score after a win, you can be happy with all of the guys.”
Kidney’s improved play has been one of the bright spots for this team, and is why the outlook of this team shouldn’t be based on its past. Ups and downs are normal for a team that is as young as the Rocket are, and as you start to see improvement in individuals, the team improvement will usually follow.
“We need the young players to take a step,” said Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle. “It’s completely normal what’s happening with the young players. You can see Kidney is a smart player, he’s starting to know the league, same thing for [Sean] Farrell before he got hurt. It’s not easy with young players, it takes time. It’s why I said from the beginning it would be a bit tough for us before Christmas. We’re starting to see improvement, it’s going in the right direction, and hopefully it continues.”
“It’s natural that these young players face some adversity and struggle,” Houle said. “It’s rare that young players come in and dominate the first month. You saw [Joshua Roy], he came in and started well but then he hit a wall. It’s maybe a good thing for later. Experience can’t be bought. The more games you play, the better they’ll be.”
Another player who has seen improvement as of late is goaltender Jakub Dobeš. The Czech goaltender has a lot of weight on his shoulders, and struggled to start the season but had the trust of the coaching staff to be relied upon for back-to-back games against the Hartford Wolf Pack, and he came away with three points out of four, including a 5-1 win on Saturday.
“In college he was used to playing back-to-back games,” Houle said. “He had momentum on his side, we thought he played a good game and that’s why we decided to go back to him.”
Dobeš is in his first professional season after a NCAA career at Ohio State. He has been in North America for years, but the adjustment to Laval, Quebec, and to the professional level hasn’t been simple.
“There are so many things [that have been challenging this year], I don’t know where to start,” Dobeš said. “Living on my own, living in a different country, learning a different language, and that’s only off the ice. Being a pro, you cannot be off. You learn that you need to be at your best every day or you won’t be around long. Every day is a lesson and I’m having so much fun. This is the first time I’ve been challenged in a long time and as a team we may not have as much success as we would like but I am having so much fun. I’m excited to be here and I’m excited to come back [next week] and work hard again.”
Arber Xhekaj has faced a lot of adversity in his hockey career, but his path at the professional level hasn’t really matched that until last week when he was sent to the American Hockey League for the first time.
“When you get sent down from the NHL, the attitude is the number one thing,” Houle said. “If you come in with the right frame of mind instead of seeing it as a punishment, you feel a lot better about yourself. I thought he had a good week.”
“It was tough the first game, mentally and physically, it took a lot of adjustment,” Xhekaj said, also noting that the game is a lot different in the AHL. He says the AHL is more chip-and-go and hard working and the NHL is more about slowing the game down and keeping possession.
“Xhekaj skipped a step. It’s rare that a camp invite goes right to the NHL. For him, it’s not a big deal to come to the AHL,” Houle said. “It will only help him in his career. He will be back in the NHL, I told him that he will be. Work on your defensive game, work on your gaps and everything will be fine. Every young player asks themselves if they will ever get back to the NHL, but it’s only a matter of time. It puts things in perspective. Sometimes a dose of humility changes a person but he’s very serene about everything.”
He also said that the thing that stuck out was the culture within the Rocket room.
“They were in a big slump, nine games in a row, every team can come to the rink and be miserable but they came in with a good attitude, it’s a positive attitude here,” Xhekaj said.
