Thursday, March 8, 2018

Rockets preview vs. Blazers

Shoot the Breeze Photography

Game Day Preview: The Kelowna Rockets face the Kamloops Blazers for the 7th of 8 times this season. The Rockets host the Blazers tomorrow night. The Rockets are 6-0-0-0 in the seasonal series, having out-scored the Blazers 24-10. Kole Lind leads the team in scoring in the seasonal series with 7+7=14. Cal Foote has 1+8=9 while Kyle Topping has 2+4=6. Dillon Dube has played in just two games against the Blazers yet has 4+1=5. Brodan Salmond is 4-0-0-0 with a goals against average 2.25. The Rockets, winless in a season high five games, play their second to last road game of the regular season. The Rockets are in Vancouver one week from tonight. The Rockets are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss Wednesday night to the Vancouver Giants. Carsen Twarynski scored twice and Erik Gardiner added his 7th goal of the season in the setback. James Porter Junior, named the second star for a second consecutive outing, made 32 saves in the setback. Overall, the Rockets have points in 23 of their last 35 games (19-12-3-1)

Kole Lind: Earned two assists Wednesday night surpassing his career point total (87) from last season. Lind now has 89 points this season. The 19 year-old has been held off the score-sheet just 6 times and leads the team with 22 road goals.  Lind is a career best +70.
Carsen Twarynski: Has goals in three straight games. Twarynski has 10 multiple goal games with 27 of his 42 goals scored on home ice. Only once this season has the 20 year-old not had a shot on goal.
Cal Foote: With points in 8 of his last 9 games, Foote has scored 10 of his 17 goals this season on home. Foote leads the team in power play assists with 27. Foote has 21 multiple point games this season.
Dillon Dube: The only original member of the 2015 WHL championship team, Dube has points in 7 of his last 8 games (5+9=14). Dube has 39 points in 54 playoff games. Dube is a career +52.

Broadcasters Notebook: James Hilsendager plays in his 100th career WHL game tonight as a member of the Kelowna Rockets….Rookies Colum McGauley and Kyle Pow both turn 18 on March 11th….Kole Lind signed an entry level contract with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks last Thursday. Lind was a second round pick of the Canucks in last June’s draft…Cal Foote has 17 goals. The franchise record is 21 set by Madison Bowey in 2014-2015…..The Rockets have 13 shorthanded goals this season, 1 more than all of last season…The team has 23 wins at home, matching their win total from last season at Prospera Place…Kole Lind played in his 200th career game Wednesday night…Dillon Dube plays in his 200th game this evening. Cal Foote will play in career game #200 Saturday night at home against Kamloops…Erik Gardiner returned to the line-up February 9th in Victoria after missing 39 games with an upper body injury…The Rockets have five hat-tricks this season from Carsen Twarynski (vs. Portland/Prince George), and Kole Lind (PA/Kamloops/Prince George)……The Rockets had their 13 game home ice winning streak snapped January 5th vs. Seattle…The Rockets are 7 and 4 in overtime with game winners coming from Kole Lind (twice), Dillon Dube Carsen Twarynski (twice) and Cal Foote (twice). The only losses in OT came against the Tri City Americans, Portland Winterhawks, Red Deer Rebels and Victoria Royals… …Dillon Dube has scored 20+ goals in three consecutive seasons…….The Rockets are 3-7-2-0 in their last 12 road games….The Rockets are 18-7-2-0 against teams in the BC Division… Goaltender Brodan Salmond has started in 7 of the last 11 games and 9 of the last 15…. Carsen Twarynski scored his 40th goal of the season last Saturday night in a 4-2 loss to Spokane. The 20 year-old is the first Rockets forward to score 40+ goals since Tyson Baillie (43) in the 2015-2016 season. If Kole Lind can score three more goals to join Twarynski, it will mark the first time since 1996-1997 that the team has had two-40 goal scorers. Jason Deleurme and Brett McLean hold that distinction.

Roster Stats:
Player total: 25
Year by Year Breakdown:
20’s (1997) – 3   Ballhorn, Twarynski, Hilsendager           
19’s (1998) - 5   Salmond, Lind, Dube, Cal Foote, Chizen
18’s (1999) - 6   Topping, Mattson, Gardiner, Bruggen-Cate, Cowell, Skvrne
17’s (2000) - 9   Porter, Foote, Zabransky, Kindree, Brennan, McGauley, Kushniryk, Pow, Hair
16’s (2001) - 2   Korczak, Basran
NHL Drafted Players: Cal Foote (Tampa Bay 2017), Kole Lind (Vancouver 2017), Dillon Dube (Calgary 2016), Carsen Twarynski (Philadelphia 2016), Brayden Chizen (Minnesota 2016).  

Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150

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