Game Notes vs. Giants

Tonight’s Preview: The Rockets and Giants are meeting for the 8^th time this season. The Rockets are 2-5-0-0 against the Giants this season, having been out-scored 28-20. These two teams met February 20^th in a 6-2 Rockets win. The Giants have out-shot the Rockets in six of the seven games. The exception was November 12^th in a Giants 3-1 win. The Rockets out-shot the visitors 37-24. In the seasonal series the Giants have also scored two or more power play goals in four of the seven games. The Rockets are 9 for 37=24.3% with the extra man while the Giants are 11 for 46=23.9% in the 7 games. The Rockets enter tonight’s game with one loss in their last eight games (7-1-0-0). With five games left in the regular season, the Rockets play three of them on home ice. Those games are against Vancouver, Portland and Kamloops. The Rockets have road games in Kamloops and Spokane. In the big picture the Rockets have just two regulation losses in their last 20 games (15-2-1-2). Following tonight’s game the Rockets host Portland on Wednesday. The Rockets have won three straight.

Seasonal Series Breakdown:

Period: 1 2 3 OT Total

Rockets 6 6 7 1 20

Giants 7 6 15 0 28

* Tyson Sexsmith has started in all seven games against the Rockets this season. Adam Brown has played in three of the seven games while Mark Guggenberger has played three times against the Giants this season.

Last Game: Lucas Bloodoff, Mikael Backlund and Stepan Novotny scored, leading the Rockets to a 3-1 win last night over the Bruins in Chilliwack. Mark Guggenberger earned the win making 14 saves. The Rockets fired 40 shots at Bruins goaltender Lucas Gore, who was named the games third star. The Rockets and Bruins were both 0 for 3 on the power play. The Rockets ended the seasonal series with the Bruins going 6-0-0-2.

Gugg’s=Great: Mark Guggenberger has won his last 4 starts, posting a goals against average of 1.00. Guggenberger’s save percentage in his last four starts is .954. Guggenberger is 2-1-0-0 against the Giants this season, with a goals against average of 2.98. Guggenberger’s save percentage is .905.

Different Data: The Rockets have not allowed a power play goal in three of their last five games…The Rockets are just 2 for 22 on the power play in their last five games (9%)… During the Rockets three game winning streak they have out-scored the opposition 9-3…In the last six games the Rockets have allowed the opposition just a single goal in five of those six…The Rockets are just 4 goals shy of the 248 they scored last season. More impressively, the Rockets have allowed 46 fewer goals against then a season ago…The Rockets have won the same number of road games as they did last season (17)…The Rockets have 4 more home wins than in 2007-2008…The Rockets ended the month of February with a record of 11-2-0-1 in 14 games. Those 14 games were played in just 25 days…The 11 win effort in February comes off a January where they won just 7 of 14 games….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 512 times since 1995.

Very Interesting! Jamie Benn played his 51^st game last night in Chilliwack. That’s the same number of games he played in his rookie season…Ryley Grantham is four minutes shy of 400 for his career. Grantham has 396 pims heading into tonight’s game….The Rockets have four more points (88 compared to 86) than they had all of last season…Kyle St. Denis will miss his 9^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 #327 tonight…Mark Guggenberger has won nine of his last twelve starts, and has earned points in 15 of his last 17 appearances…The Rockets are 22-2-0-1 when Colin Long scores…Goaltender Mark Guggenberger has started 17 of the last 22 games…The Rockets have out-shot the opposition in 18 of the 25 games since the trade deadline. Only Calgary, Chilliwack, Spokane, Tri City and Vancouver (three times) have out-shot the Rockets since the trade deadline…The Rockets are 16-5-1-3 in twenty-five games since the trade deadline…Mitchell Callahan has 18 fighting majors this season as a 17 year-old. Teammate Curt Gogol – also 17 – has 10. 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.

vs. BC: 21-7-0-3 vs. US: 12-5-1-0

vs. Central: 7-5-0-0 vs. East: 2-4-0-0

Who’s Hot: Jamie Benn has just two goals in his last seven games, yet has a four game point streak (2+4=6). Benn has 140 career points in just 102 games (1.37). Colin Long has points in three straight games (1+5=6). Long has points in 16 of his last 21 games with 11+15=26 over that period. Tyson Barrie has just one point in his last eleven.