It is game day!

Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets and Portland Winterhawks are meeting in game six of their best of seven Western Conference semi final series. The Hawks lead the series three games to two. The road team has won four of the five games in this series. The Hawks won games two, three and four while the Rockets have wins in game one and five. In the last game, Friday night in Portland, Jessey Astles scored in overtime lifting the Rockets to a 2-1 win. Adam Brown was the first star making several sensational saves. If a game seven is necessary it will be played Tuesday at the Rose Garden in Portland. The Rockets are coming off a four game sweep of Prince George in round one. The Rockets out-scored the Cougars 22-13 and averaged 4.4 goals per game.

The first five games in numbers: The Hawks have out-shot the Rockets 229-170 in the first five games, including 92-59 in the second period…The Rockets are 5 for 27 in the series on the power play (18.5%) while the Hawks are 7 for 22 (31.8%) with the extra man….The Rockets have opened the scoring in three of the first five games and have led or have been tied after the opening period in four of the five games.

Period scoring in series:

1 2 3 OT Total

Rockets: 6 4 5 1 16

Hawks: 4 8 5 0 17

By the numbers: The Rockets are now 11 for 48 (22.9%) on the power play in this year’s playoffs.

The Rockets have out-scored the opposition 17-7 in the third period in this year’s post season….Shane McColgan has a point in all nine playoff games. McColgan has 8+10=18 in those nine games…Tyson Barrie has a point in seven of nine playoff games. Barrie has 2+8=10. Zak Stebner’s assist was his first point in four playoff games. Adam Brown has a save percentage of .926 in this series and has made 212 of 229 saves in the five games. The Hawks have averaged 45.8 shots on goal in the five games. Brown has a better save percentage in this series than he did in round one.

Playoff Experience: Geordie Wudrick and Tyson Barrie lead the Rockets in playoff experience with 50 games apiece. Evan Bloodoff has 46 games under his belt.Overage d-man Zak Stebner has 36 games of playoff experience after playing in 23 games last season with the WHL champion Calgary Hitmen.

This and That: Colton Jobke has been suspended for one game after receiving a five minute major and game misconduct Friday night after a hit on Hawks forward Brad Ross. The Rockets have called up 15 year-old Madison Bowey. Bowey was the Rockets 2^nd round pick (1^st pick in the 2^nd round) in last summer’s bantam draft….The Rockets defensive core is a combined +3 in this series. Kevin Smith and MacKenzie Johnston lead the way at +3….Tyson Barrie has 1+4=5 in this series…Shane McColgan has eight goals in his last seven games….Mitchell Callahan has two points (one goal and one assists) in the first five games of the series….Zach Franko has missed the last four games after suffering a broken nose after a hit by Hawks forward Brad Ross in game one. Ross was suspended for three games by the WHL for the hit. Ross returned in game five...Shane McColgan became the first Rockets player to score three goals in a playoff game since Blake Comeau scored three times against the Kootenay Ice in 2004. McColgan scored three goals in a game one 5-1 victory…The Rockets are involved in the second round of the playoffs for a third straight season….The Rockets had 16 fewer points than the Hawks during the regular season….Jason Siebert is missing his 57^th straight game after undergoing surgery on his wrist….The Rockets allowed the fewest goals against on the road in the WHL this season (93 – tied with Red Deer)….The Rockets were involved in twenty-six (26) one goal games this season. The Rockets were 18-7-0-1 in those twenty-six (26) one goal games…Only three players dressed in all 72 regular season games this season. They were Zach Franko, Kevin Smith and Evan Bloodoff.…The Rockets received the second most power play chances of any team in the WHL this season (383). Tri City led the league with 385 opportunities…The Rockets have not lost in overtime this season. They were 6-0 in the regular season and 1-0 in the playoffs….The Rockets allowed the second (tied with Red Deer) fewest power play goals against in the WHL (51). Only Spokane allowed fewer goals against…The Rockets allowed 26 fewer goals against than Portland…Nineteen year-old Max Adolph is missing his 24^th straight game after suffering a concussion February 16^th…NHL Central Scouting has released the list of the top North American players eligible for the upcoming draft. Zach Franko is rated 123^rd while Shane McColgan is ranked 125^th. Jessey Astles is rated 160^th…Ryan Huska is coaching in his 51^st career WHL playoff game tonight. Huska is 30 and 20 as a coach in the playoffs. Huska has been to a game seven twice as a coach. Last season his team beat Everett in a seventh game in round one and in the 2008 playoffs the Rockets lost in seven games to Seattle…The Rockets overtime win on the road Friday night in Portland was the first extra time playoff win on opposition ice since 2009, when Cody Almond scored in overtime in a game three victory in Kamloops (3-2) in round one.