Tonight’s
Preview: The
Kelowna Rockets open a four game seasonal series against the Portland Winterhawks
tonight at Prospera Place. These two teams will face one another again tomorrow
night before the Rockets make two appearances in Portland on December 31st
and January 2nd. Last season these two teams met four times with the
Winterhawks winning three of the four games. Overall the Rockets were out-scored
14-8 in the four games. The Rockets are coming off a 6-3 win in Everett
Wednesday night. Nick Merkley and Madison Bowey each scored twice in the win
while Jackson Whistle earned his first win of the season with a 29 save
performance. The Rockets are playing their second straight game against a U.S
Division based team. In total the team will play five consecutive games against
American based teams, with games next week in Spokane (Tuesday) before
returning to host Seattle one week from this evening.
Rockets
Reduce Roster: The Kelowna Rockets made a trade with the Prince Albert
Raiders on Wednesday. The team sent 20 year-old defenceman MacKenzie Johnston
to the Raiders for a third round bantam pick. Johnston played 223 regular
season games with the Rockets after making the team as a 16 year-old during the
2009-2010 season. The Rockets are now down to a league limit of three 20
year-olds in Myles Bell, Jordon Cooke and Zach Franko.
McColgan
Makes Return: The Kelowna Rockets top pick in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft
was expected to return for the first time to play his old team since being
dealt to the Saskatoon Blades in the summer of 2012. Now a member of the
Portland Winterhawks, the 20 year-old will be a game time decision after
suffering a hand injury during training this summer. McColgan has yet to play a
game for the Winterhawks this season and failed to play a game against his old
team (Rockets) last season when he was sent back to Saskatoon after suffering a
concussion the night before in game against in Victoria Royals.
Who’s
Hot:
Zach Franko has points in all four games this season. Franko has 2+3=5….Jordon
Cooke has stopped 79 of 86 shots so far this season and has a goals against average
of 2.27…Rourke Chartier has three goals in four games. Last season it took the
17 year-old ten games to score his third goal of the season.
This and That: Jordon
Cooke was 1-3-0-0 against the Winterhawks last season. Cooke was pulled in a 5-1
loss at Prospera Place on February 9th….Myles Bell had 2+1=3 in four
games against the Winterhawks last season….Winterhawks forward Brendan Leipsic
had 4+3=7 in four games against the Rockets last season…After four games last
season the team was 1-2-1-0…The Rockets were 12-8-0-0 in 20 games against U.S
Division teams last season…The opposition has opened the scoring in two of the first
four games…Rockets were 3 and 1 in four pre-season games. For a third straight
pre-season, Tyson Baillie led the team in scoring with 4+4=8….Ryan Huska is
entering his 7th season as head coach of the Kelowna Rockets. He
becomes the longest serving coach in franchise history, surpassing the five
seasons that Marcel Comeau was behind the bench of the Tacoma/Kelowna Rockets
from 1991-1992 until 1995…Huska signed a three year extension with the club
this summer…Huska was named the Western Conference Coach of the Year in
2012-2013 while Rourke Chartier was named the Western Conference Scholastic
Player of the Year. Zach Franko was the Western Conference Most Sportsmanlike
Player while GM Bruce Hamilton was the Executive of the Year in the Western
Conference…Four members of the Rockets were drafted this summer in the NHL
Entry Draft. Madison Bowey in the second round by Washington, Tyrell Goulbourne
in the third round by Philadelphia, Mitch Wheaton in the 5th round
by Detroit and Myles Bell in the 6th round by New Jersey…Assistant
Coach Dan Lambert has been named the head coach for Team West for the World
Under 17 Challenge in Cape Breton Nova Scotia December 28-January 5th…The
Rockets were given an honourable mention in the CHL Top 10 junior rankings for
a third consecutive week….This season marks the 10th anniversary of
the Rockets winning the Memorial Cup.
Milestone
Makers:
Tyrell Goulbourne is playing
in his 150th career game tonight vs. Portland.
Myles Bell has 200 career
points.
Jordon Cooke played
in his 100th career game last Saturday against the Kamloops Blazers.
Damon Severson is
playing in his 199 career game tonight.
Tyson Baillie is 10 points
shy of 100 for his career.
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