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Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets
wrap up a four game home stand tonight when they welcome the Calgary Hitmen to
Prospera Place. This is the second and final meeting of the season between
these two teams. The Rockets were a 6-2 winner in Calgary back on December 17th.
It also marks the return of Jake Kryski, who was traded by the Rockets to the
Hitmen at the trade deadline for Carsen Twarynski and a conditional third round
pick. Nick Merkley had 1+2=3 in a 5-4 loss Saturday night to the visiting
Portland Winterhawks. Kyle Topping and Gordie Ballhorn also scored in the
teams’ 19th loss of the season. The Rockets have 23 games left in the
regular season and will play those games over the next 50 days. The Rockets travel
to Prince George for back-to-back games this weekend. In the big picture, the
Rockets are 4-7-2-0 in their last 13 games.
January’s Top
Performers: Kole
Lind led the team with 10 points (2+8=10) in January. Calvin Thurkauf (5+4=9),
Tomas Soustal/Nick Merkley (3+6=9) and Lucas Johansen (2+7=9) all had 9 points
during the month. The Rockets were 4-5-2-0 in the month, which earned them 10
of an available 22 points in January.
February Fever: The Rockets play 13
games in February. Those 13 games will be played over 26 nights. Seven of those
13 will be played on the road. Also, seven of those 13 will be against teams in
the BC Division. Four will be played against teams in the U.S Division. The
Rockets play three games in three night’s February 24th (Kamloops),
February 25th (Seattle), February 26th (Spokane).
Counting Down: The Kelowna Rockets
have 22 games left in the regular season. Of those 22, 13 of them are against
BC Division rivals. The Rockets have five more games against Vancouver, four more
vs. Prince George and two more against the Kamloops Blazers and Victoria Royals.
The team has two more each against US Division Everett, Seattle and Spokane and
a single against Tri City. Edmonton and Calgary are the only Central Division
teams they face down the stretch.
Dare to Compare: The Rockets had a
record of 34-13-3-0 (27-19-4-0 this season) after 50 games last season. The
team was 19-3-2-0 (12-9-2-0 this season) on home ice. A season ago the team
scored 180 (170 goals scored this season) goals and allowed 141 (154 goals
against last season) against. Michael Herringer had played in just 25 games at
the 49 game mark last season. Tyson Baillie was the leading scorer with 70
points.
That’s a Fact Jack: The Rockets have
generated 30 or more shots in 10 of their last 11 games…Calvin Thurkauf has points in 7 of his last 8 games (5+4=9) over
that period…The Rockets have been
shorthanded the most times in the entire Canadian Hockey League. The team has
been shorthanded 271 times…NHL Central Scouting has released its mid-term
rankings. Cal Foote is dated 12th among North American skaters while
Kole Lind is ranked 21st…Jack Cowell has 2+4=6 in his last 6 games.
It took him 26 games to score his first-two goals of his WHL career……The
Rockets have surrendered 5 or more goals 10 times this season. The teams’ record,
not surprisingly, is 0-9-1-0 …Calvin Thurkauf has points in 11 of his last 14
games ….11 of the teams last 15 games have been decided by a goal …The Rockets
are 16-9-4-0 in their last 29 games and have points in 18 of their last 26 (14-7-4-0).
Broadcasters Bits: Kole Lind hit the 100
point mark for his career last Saturday night with a four point effort. Lind
joins Tomas Soustal and Dillon Dube, who both hit the milestone earlier this
season. Who’s next? Carsen Twarynski has
91 career points…Calvin Thurkauf will play in his 100th career game
tonight against the Hitmen…Michael Herringer is 2 more starts shy of 100 for
his career…GM Bruce Hamilton has
traded/released
six players from the teams opening day roster…Kole Lind had his 13 game point
streak snapped December 18th against the Edmonton Oil Kings. It is
the longest point streak by a Rockets player this season …Calvin Thurkauf was
named the WHL Player of the Week December 7th to 11th …The Rockets
were 8-3-2-0 in December...The Rockets were 6-4-0-0 in 10 games in November
after going 8-4-0-0 in 12 games in October…The Rockets are the only team in the
WHL that has failed to surrender a shorthanded goal against this season…The
Rockets are 9-11-0-0 against BC based teams this season…Michael Herringer has started in 31 of the last 40 games…The
Rockets are 8-2-2-0 against U.S Division teams this season.
Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150
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