Travis Green caught himself at the last second: Wrong room.
For years, as a member of the Portland Winterhawks’ coaching staff, Green was used to walking into the visitors’ dressing room at Prospera Place in Kelowna. On Saturday, though, he made himself at home in the Rockets’ dressing room.
Scratch that. The Vancouver Canucks — temporary — dressing room.
“I started to walk into the visitors’ dressing room,” said Green, Vancouver’s head coach. “And then I realized we were in the other one.”
He did so with a smile. Much like his attitude after most WHL games in the Okanagan.
During his stint with Portland, the Winterhawks and Kelowna Rockets engaged in some great battles, with Portland coming out on top most of the time. Players who were with the Winterhawks while Green was there is an incredible list of NHLers: Nino Niederreiter, Ryan Johansen, Ty Rattie, Joe Morrow, Derrick Pouliot, Sven Baertschi, Nic Petan, Brenan Leipsic, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Seth Jones.
Green’s last game in Kelowna was in the 2012-13 season, when Portland won the WHL title and advanced to the Memorial Cup, eventually losing 6-4 to Halifax in the final.
“It was a great rivalry, playing Kelowna all those years,” said Green. “(Rockets GM) Bruce Hamilton has done a great job of putting together great competitive teams. When I first went to Portland, I remember talking about Kelowna, about their teams, how they were good and how they drafted well.They really did a good job with their young players.”
ICE CHIPS: Vancouver has a trio of former Winterhawks: Leipsic and Pouliot, who dressed for Saturday’s game, and Baertschi.
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