Rusty Cannon Junior Review

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Rusty Cannon - Junior Review

 

Rusty Cannon announced today that he will be joining the VHLM as a deadline waiver pickup for a team to be determined in the next 48 hours.  The fan favourite player that has patrolled the blueline over the last four seasons for the Kelowna Rockets, will end his time out West with no Memorial Cup despite two appearances.  Ultimately, a case could be made that he was unable to lead his team to a title, but he certainly dragged them as far as he could, throwing his weight around and shutting down the opponents' best.  An anonymous coach in the WHL had this to say on gameplanning versus Cannon over the years:

 

“We are happy to see him go.  He tore us apart for four seasons and he was easily one of the hardest players to play against over that stretch.  No, we never really had to worry about him offensively, but he was a nightmare to try and score against.  And God forbid it go into a corner where our guys would just get their chests caved in.  Good luck to the VHLM and I hope he does well, but I have had enough of him.”

 

Cannon made an immediate impact when he joined the Rockets in his first season.  He was selected in the third round of the WHL Dispersal Draft but earned a spot on their third pairing out of camp after leading the entire WHL in hits during the preseason.  He struggled offensively but still managed to post 2 goals and 9 assists in 66 games to go along with his 275 hits and 138 blocked shots. The Rockets were a team on the rise but ultimately were eliminated in fourth place at the Memorial Cup.  That being said, they didn’t even win the WHL Championship, as they fell to the Tournament Host, Medicine Hat.

 

The second season was more of the same with Cannon dazzling fans with 331 hits and 152 blocked shots and even contributed 7 goals and 22 assists in 68 games.  More importantly, the Rockets managed to go all the way to the Western Conference Final but would fall to the Medicine Hat Tigers in six games.  It was a stretch of season that really showcased how well Cannon plays in tight important games as he dominated much of that playoff run.

 

Rusty’s third season unfortunately was not as long as he hoped. In the fourteenth game of the season, Cannon was slew footed into the boards and ended up tearing his acl.  He wouldn’t play another game and finished the season with a solid 4 goals and 7 assists to go along with 52 hits and 29 blocked shots.  It was easily the most impressive he had been offensively since joining the Western Hockey League, but it’s unfortunate we missed out on seeing the rest of this promising campaign.

 

Rusty’s fourth and final season was definitely his best.  Sporting the ‘C’ for the first time, Cannon took off on what became easily his best campaign, making up for a lot of time lost last season.  Rusty tallied 11 goals and 47 assists and added 356 hits and 164 blocked shots, and led the charge throughout the playoffs as the Rockets would once again reach the Memorial Cup.  Cannon anchored them to the Championship Game with a dominant defensive showing but ultimately the team fell short after a tough overtime loss to the host Tigers.  

 

It was a tough end to the run for Rusty, but it’s promising to see just how much he grew as an overall defenseman over his four years in Kelowna.  He was such an integral player for the Rockets and an absolute nemesis of so many forwards in the league.  Next up, it is time to see who will show interest in the young South African defender, and will Cannon actually be able to win a title?