Game Notes vs. Chiefs

Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets and Chiefs are meeting for the fourth and final time this season. The Rockets are 3-0-0-0 against the Chiefs this season, having out-scored the opposition 9-2. The Rockets have out-shot the Chiefs in two of the three games by a combined margin of 85-77. The Rockets are 2 for 15 (13.3%) on the power play in the seasonal series while the Chiefs are 1 for 13 (8%). The Rockets enter tonight’s game with a three point lead on the Chiefs for third place in the Western Conference. The Rockets enter tonight’s game having won a season high seven straight, out-scoring the opposition 31-12. The Rockets have allowed just a single goal per game in four of those seven contests. The Rockets enter tonight’s game with one loss in their last twelve games (11-1-0-0). In the big picture the Rockets have just two regulation losses in their last 24 games (19-2-1-2). The Rockets open the playoffs, at home, March 20^th against either Kamloops or Seattle.

Seasonal Series Breakdown vs. Spokane:

Period: 1 2 3 Total

Rockets: 4 2 3 9

Chiefs: 0 2 0 2

Last Game: Ian Duval scored twice and added two assists leading the Rockets to a 7-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers Saturday night. Jamie Benn had two goals in the Rockets 46^th win of the season while Ryley Grantham chipped in with a goal and an assist. The Rockets led 3-0 and 6-0 at the period breaks. Adam Brown earned the win in goal, making 16 saves. The Rockets were 2 for 9 on the power play.

Different Data: The Rockets have won 7 of their last 8 road games. The only stumble over that period was a 3-2 loss in Red Deer February 27^th….Colin Long has 190 points in his last two seasons. Only Jason Deleurme has registered more points in back-to-back seasons when he collected 194 points from 1996-1998. Deleurme recorded 194 points in 137 games while Long has put up 190 points in 137 games…Ian Duval reached the 200 point mark in his WHL career Saturday night. Duval had four points in a 7-1 win over the Blazers giving him 202 career points…Riley Grantham has 12 goals this season. Last season he had 10…The Rockets are just 7 for 47 on the power play in their last nine games (14.9%)…The Rockets have scored 266 goals this season, eighteen more than all of last season. More impressively, the Rockets have allowed 37 fewer goals against then a season ago…The Rockets have 18 road wins this season, one more than last season….The Rockets have 7 more home wins than in 2007-2008…The Kelowna Rockets celebrated a milestone February 27^th in Red Deer 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 516 times since 1995.

Very Interesting! The Rockets have won 28 times on home ice this season, the most home ice wins since the club recorded 30 victories in the 2004-2005 campaign…The Rockets scored 145 goals on home ice this season. The Rockets scored an impressive 170 times in the 2002-2003 campaign…Riley Grantham reached the 400 penalty minute mark Friday night with two minors against Kamloops. Grantham now has 402 career minutes in the box…The Rockets have twelve more points (96 compared to 84) than they had all of last season…Kyle St. Denis will miss his 13^th straight game tonight with a head injury suffered against Chilliwack February 18^th…The Rockets won their 40^th game of the season Saturday February 28th marking the 5^th time since the team re-located to Kelowna that they’ve had a +40 win season….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 #331 tonight…Mark Guggenberger has won twelve of his last fifteen starts, and has earned points in 18 of his last 20 appearances…The Rockets are 23-2-0-1 when Colin Long scores…Goaltender Mark Guggenberger has started 20 of the last 26 games…The Rockets have out-shot the opposition in 21 of the 29 games since the trade deadline. Only Calgary, Chilliwack, Spokane, Tri City and Vancouver (four times) have out-shot the Rockets since the trade deadline…The Rockets are 20-5-1-3 in twenty-nine games since the trade deadline…Mitchell Callahan has 20 fighting majors this season as a 17 year-old. Teammate Curt Gogol – also 17 – has 17. Veteran Ryley Grantham has 17 fighting majors. The team record for fighting majors by a 17 year old is held by Scott Parker, who had 25 in his rookie season… The Rockets have five players with 100 or more penalty minutes. When was the last time the Rockets accomplished that feat? Answer - 2005-2006. The Rockets had 7 in 1997-98 and 2003-2004 and had 8 players with over 100 penalty minutes in 1996-97, 1998-99 and 2002-2003.

Who’s Hot: Ian Duval has 3+4=7 in his last two games. Jamie Benn is riding an eight even game point streak (7+6=13). Benn has 147 career points in just 106 games (1.39). Colin Long has points in seven straight games (3+10=13). Long has points in 20 of his last 25 games with 13+21=34 over that period. Mikael Backlund has goals in 3 of his last five games (4 G). Riley Grantham has points in four of his last five games (2+3=5). Brandon McMillan has points in four straight games (1+4=5) and has points in five of his last six games (1+5=6). McMillan’s goal Friday night in Kamloops was his first in 21 games. Tysen Dowzak has not scored in 128 games. Dowzak’s last goal was March 2/07 against Prince George. The longest scoring drought in Rockets history is held by Brett Palin, who scored his first career goal in his 163^rd game.