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| Photo by Kevin Light |
Tonight’s Preview: Here we
go again!! For the third time in the last six days the Kelowna Rockets face the
Victoria Royals. These two teams met Friday and Saturday night in Victoria with
the Rockets winning 3-2 before falling 5-2 a night later. Overall, the Rockets
are 4-1-1-0 in the first six games between these two teams. The final meeting
is March 11th. Here is a look at the seasonal series scores:
Games in
Victoria: Games in Kelowna:
3-2
win 5-1 win
4-3
overtime loss 7-3 win
5-3
win
Tonight?
5-2
loss March 11th?
The
Rockets are 18-5-0-1 since the Christmas break. Brandon is conversely 20-3-2-0.
Nine of the team’s 12 games in February are against BC Division rivals.
Overall, the Rockets have points in thirteen of their last fifteen games
(12-2-0-1).
A Banner season: The Kelowna
Rockets claimed the BC Division regular season title Friday night with a 3-2
win in Victoria. It is the 7th time the Rockets have won the
division since its inception for the start of the 2001-2002 season. The Rockets
have claimed three consecutive BC Division banners (2012-2013, 2013-2014,
2014-2015) and have also won the title in 2010-2011, 2004-2005, 2003-2004 and
2002-2003. While the Rockets have won it 7 times, the Vancouver Giants have
earned it five times while Kamloops has claimed it twice.
Counting it down: The Rockets
have 12 games left in the regular season. Of those 12, seven will be played on
home ice. Those games include two vs. Victoria and singles against Calgary,
Spokane, Kamloops, Seattle and Vancouver. Road games include three stops in
Vancouver and singles against Kamloops and Everett.
200 Point Club: Nineteen
year-old Tyson Baillie recorded his 200th career point against the
Moose Jaw Warriors back on February 14th. Baillie now has 205 points in his
four year career. Ready to join Baillie in the ‘200 Point Club’ is Leon
Draisaitl, who has 197 career points heading into tonight’s game against the Royals.
Josh Morrissey has 196 career points.
Dare to Compare: The Rockets
have a record of 46-10-3-1 this season, good for 96 points. After 60 games last
season the team was 48-8-0-4, which was good for 100 points. The team has
scored 267 goals this season. At the same time last year after 60 games, 259 goals
were scored and 153 goals were given up. This season the team has surrendered 151
goals against.
Hot to Trot: Leon
Draisaitl has a five game point streak (4+10=14)…Tyson Baillie has an eight game
point streak with four goals and 11 assists (4+11=15). Defenceman Josh
Morrissey has an eleven game point streak with (6+6=12)…Leon Draisaitl has
seventeen points (4+13=17) in his last eight games.
Another 40 win season:
The
Kelowna Rockets have won 40 games for the 11th time in franchise
history. Here is the breakdown of 40 win
seasons:
2014-2015:
46 wins and counting
2013-2014:
57 wins 2008-2009: 47 wins 1994-1995: 43 wins (Tacoma)
2012-2013:
52 wins 2005-2006: 46 wins 1992-1993: 45 wins (Tacoma)
2010-2011:
43 wins 2003-2004: 47 wins
2004-2005:
45 wins 2002-2003: 51 wins
This and That: During
the Rockets seven game home ice winning streak the team is 10 for 30 on power
play…Of the Rockets four losses on the road this season, three of them have
come in the second of back to back games….Five of the ten losses this season
have been suffered in the second of back to back games….Josh Morrissey is
enjoying an 11 game point streak. The longest point streak by a Rockets
defenceman is 21 set by Tyson Barrie. Barrie had a 21 game point streak in the
2009-2010 season….Madison Bowey has just one goal in his last ten games….Rourke
Chartier is 4 goals shy of 50 this season. The last Rockets player to score 50
goals was Justin Keller during the 2005-2006 season. Keller scored 51 times
that year….During this seven game home ice winning streak, the Rockets have
out-scored the opposition 48-18…Jackson Whistle has missed eight games after
having appendix surgery on February 6th. The Rockets are 6-2-0-0 in
those games with Jake Morrissey winning four of the six games…Riley Stadel has
2+14=16 in his last 16 games and has a goal and six assists in his last five
games playing as a forward…Justin Kirkland has points in nine of his last
eleven games…The Rockets have been held to just one goal five times this
season. Seattle (road), Edmonton (road), Calgary (road) Regina (home) and
Prince Albert (home) have turned the trick against the highest scoring team in
the Western Conference...The Kelowna Rockets have scored the second goals on
the road (131) in the WHL this season…The Rockets have lost only four times in
regulation time on the road this season. Those four losses came in Victoria,
Seattle, Tri City and Calgary...The Rockets have points in 10 of their last 12
road games (9-2-0-1)….The Rockets are 53-10-2-1 on opposition ice in the last
two seasons….Leon Draisaitl has more points (34) in 20 regular season games
than Mikael Backlund had when he came to the team in the 2008-2009 season after
the World Junior Hockey Championships. Backlund had 30 points in 28 regular
season games.
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