McMillan is Rockets' Mr. Versatile

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Brandon McMillan paused and looked at his questioner.
Then he laughed.
“What do you put on your income tax?” he had just been asked. “Forward or
defenceman?”
“I don’t know,” the native of Delta, who turned 19 on Sunday, said with
another chuckle. “Both, I guess.”
Perhaps he should consider “saviour.”
Because he has been nothing short of that for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets over
the last two months.
Unable to land a defenceman prior to the Jan. 10 trade deadline, the
Rockets’ braintrust took McMillan, a speedy left winger by trade, and moved
him back to the blue line, a position he said he hadn’t played regularly
since his first season of bantam.
“I did a little trial run just before Christmas, played about three games,”
he said. “They said I would be moving back and forth and then it became
permanent.
“It’s something I’ve handled and I’m just trying to take it one game at a
time, play my best and help out the team.”
He certainly has done all of that. He set up two goals Saturday as the
Rockets dumped the visiting Kamloops Blazers 5-1 to take a 2-0 lead in their
first-round best-of-seven playoff series. Games 3 and 4 go tonight and
Wednesday at Interior Savings Centre.
“He’s flying out there,” Kelowna centre Colin Long said. “It’s nice knowing
he’s a guy who can break the puck out of there and provide some offence.”
McMillan followed a 12-point freshman season by putting up 41 points in 71
games last season and then was selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the third
round of the NHL’s 2008 draft. This season, he had 49 points in 71 games.
Given his druthers, McMillan would prefer to be a forward because “you’re in
on the forecheck and you get more opportunities to score.”
For now, though, he is quite content to patrol the defensive zone.
“I’m just trying to play strong and eat up some minutes from the other top
four guys,” he said. “I’m trying to use my speed as an asset and keep it
simple.”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca