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Kelowna Rockets fined $500 for complaining about officiating at Memorial Cup

Portland Winterhawks v Kelowna Rockets

Portland Winterhawks v Kelowna Rockets

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The Kelowna Rockets have been fined $500 after a member of the club approached the CHL hockey operations department to complain about the officiating following Friday night’s 4-3 loss to the Quebec Remparts in the Memorial Cup opener.

Kelowna was assessed 44 minutes in penalties including three 10-minute misconduct penalties in a game, which Rockets’ head coach Dan Lambert said wasn’t overly physical.

“I don’t remember being a part of a hockey game where there’s really not that much physicality going on yet there’s four 10s handed out,” Lambert told reporters on Saturday. “I don’t remember it. Maybe it’s something that goes on here more often. I don’t know. Lets hope it was a lesson for us and that we learned from it.”

Edmonton Oilers’ first rounder Leon Draisaitl was assessed a 10 minute misconduct at the end of the second period and missed the first half of the third. Winnipeg Jets’ prospect Josh Morrissey received a misconduct with 1:04 remaining in the third.

“Personally I think there’s other ways to send warnings. Certainly it should start with (minor penalties) and not hand out 10s like they’re hot cakes, but maybe that’s the way it is here,” said Lambert. “At the end of the day, we need to learn from it.

“I know if I was a fan, I’d like to see Leon Draistl and the (Marc-Olivier Roy) kid that got it and so on and so forth. I don’t see Sidney Crosby getting 10s like that at the NHL level when he gets upset and chirps somebody.”

Center Dillon Dube was the other Rockets’ player to receive a 10-minute misconduct. Roy, an Oilers prospect, was the only member of the Quebec Remparts to receive a misconduct.

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