Rockets Hit 1000

Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets and Rebels are meeting for the second and final time this season. The Rockets are 0-1-0-0 after a 1-0 shutout loss December 16th. Darcy Kuemper recorded the goose-egg. Adam Brown, the games second star, made 26 saves in the loss. The Rockets enter tonight’s game having lost three straight in Red Deer, with two of those three losses being shutouts. The last Rockets win in Red Deer came December 31/05 in a 3-1 win. The Rockets enter tonight’s game playing the 5th of 6 straight on the road. The Rockets have won 4 straight on opposition ice, having out-scored the opposition 19-6. Those wins came against Vancouver (6-2), Everett (3-2), Chilliwack (4-1) and Medicine Hat (6-1). The Rockets have just one regulation loss in their last 17 games (13-1-1-2). The only setback over that period was a 4-3 loss in Portland February 16th. Following tonight’s game the Rockets are in Calgary Saturday night. The Rockets return home to face Spokane March 4th.

Celebrating 1000! The Kelowna Rockets celebrate a milestone tonight with their 1 thousandth regular season game. The Rockets were born as an expansion franchise as the Tacoma Rockets in 1991, but after four short seasons moved to Kelowna for the start of the 1995-96 campaign. Since re-locating to Kelowna, the Rockets have made the playoffs in 13 of the 14 seasons (that includes this season) in the Okanagan. The Rockets have won 509 times since 1995.

Last Game: Mitchell Callahan scored twice in the first period and Evan Bloodoff had a goal and two assists leading the Rockets to a 6-1 win Wednesday night in Medicine Hat. The Rockets scored five of their six goals in the first period. Spencer Main scored in the third period, his first WHL goal. Mark Guggenberger earned the win in goal making 17 saves. The Rockets were 0/3 on the power play while the Tigers were 0 for 1.

Take A Poke @ Spoke: The Rockets enter tonight’s game one point back of Spokane for third place in the Western Conference. The Chiefs have ten games remaining – five at home and five on the road. Three of the Chiefs final 10 games are against Tri City and two games are against Kelowna February 28th and March 15th – the final game of the regular season for both teams.

February Performers:
Jamie Benn: 8+6=14 Tyler Myers: 3+7=10
Mikael Backlund: 5+8=13 Ian Duval: 1+7=8
Colin Long: 7+5=12 Tyson Barrie: 2+4=6
Cody Almond: 6+5=11

Better Than Before: Tysen Dowzak has reached his career high of 13 points, set last season. Lucas Bloodoff is one point shy of the career high 37 he collected last season. Jamie Benn has 5 more points than the 65 set in his rookie season. Cody Almond has set a new career high in points (59) this season. Almond had 56 points all of last year. Tyler Myers has 19 more points than last season. His 8 goals is also a career high after scoring 6 times last season. Tyson Barrie has 6 more points than the 43 he had in his rookie season. Barrie has new career highs in goals (11) and assists (38).

Very Interesting! Tyler Myers has been named a game star in four straight games. Myers has three-first stars and a second star over that period…Jamie Benn has gone four games without a goal. Benn went five games without a goal last season in the month of October… The Rockets are gunning for their 40th win of the season tonight. It would mark just the 5th time that the Rockets have earned 40 or more wins since re-locating to Kelowna in 1995…Cody Almond and Jamie Benn have three-three goal games this season. Ian Duval leads all Rockets in games played. Duval is playing in career game #323 tonight…Mark Guggenberger has won six of his last nine starts, and has earned points in 12 of his last 14 appearances…The Rockets are 21-2-0-1 when Colin Long scores…The Rockets 24 home ice wins this season is three better than the teams 21 home ice victories one season ago…Goaltender Mark Guggenberger has started 14 of the last 18 games.…The Rockets won their 30th game of the season February 3rd in Kamloops. It marked the 14th time in franchise history that the Rockets have enjoyed a 30+ win season. The Rockets last failed to win 30 games during the 2006-2007 campaign, when the team won just 22 times…The Rockets have just 9 games left in the regular season. Five of those nine are on the road…The Rockets have out-shot the opposition in 16 of the 21 games since the trade deadline. Only Chilliwack, Tri City and Vancouver (three times) have out-shot the Rockets since the trade deadline…The Rockets are 13-4-1-3 in twenty games since the trade deadline…Mitchell Callahan has 15 fighting majors this season as a 17 year-old. Teammate Curt Gogol – also 17 – has 9.

New Faces Contribute: Mikael Backlund has 8+15=23 in his first twenty-one games. Ian Duval has 6+13=19 in his first seventeen games with the Rockets. Riley Grantham has 2+7=9 in his first 19 games, including four fighting majors. Goaltender Mark Guggenberger is 10-3-1-2 with the Rockets, with wins over Kamloops (twice), Vancouver (twice), Everett, Spokane, Medicine Hat (twice), Prince George and Tri City.

Who’s Hot: Jamie Benn has 8 goals in his last eleven games. Benn has twenty points in his last fourteen games (12+8=20), and points in eleven of his last seventeen games. Benn has 135 career points in just 99 games. Mikael Backlund had a 6 game point streak snapped Wednesday night. Backlund had 3+7=10 over that period. Colin Long has seven goals in his last eleven games. Long has points in 13 of his last 17 games with 10+10=20 over that period. Tyler Myers has points in six of his last ten games (3+5=8). Tysen Dowzak has points in four of his last seven (0+4=4). Mitchell Callahan snapped a 12 game goal scoring drought with a pair against Medicine Hat Wednesday night.