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| Shoot the Breeze Photography |
Tonight’s Preview: Welcome to the
Western Conference final. This is the Kelowna Rockets third straight
appearance. The Rockets eliminated the Portland Winterhawks in six games last
season and were eliminated in five games by the Winterhawks in 2014. The
Kelowna Rockets and Seattle Thunderbirds are meeting in game one of a best of
seven Western Conference Championship series. These two teams met in the WCC in
2003, with the Rockets winning in five games. One game in that series went to
double overtime with the T-Birds Tyler Metcalfe winning it. These two teams
last met in the post season in 2014. The Rockets eliminated the T-Birds in four
straight games in a second round series. The Rockets have five (excluding
injuries to Jackson Whistle and Nick Merkley) while the T-Birds have 7 players
still on their roster from the 2014 playoff series. During the regular season,
these two teams met four times with the home team winning all four games. Game
one and two are in Kelowna tonight and tomorrow with games three and four in
Seattle/Kent on Tuesday (April 26) and Wednesday (April 27). Game five is back
in Kelowna Friday April 29th.
Looking Closer: The Rockets beat
Seattle 7-4 and 5-2 while the T-Birds were a 6-0 winner and earned a 2-0
shutout win at ShoWare Center. Justin Kirkland (2+3=5) and Tyson Baillie
(1+4=5) led the Rockets with 5 points in the four games during the regular
season. Rourke Chartier played in only three games but found the back of the
net three times. Michael Herringer was 1-2-0-0 in the seasonal series with a
goals against average of 4.03 and a save percentage of .894. Mathew Barzal led
the T-Birds attack with 7 points (4+3=7) in four games. Scott Eansor and Ethan
Bear each chipped in with 6 points apiece. Both power plays were just average. The
Rockets were just 2 for 13 while the T-Birds were 3 for 17.
Broadcasters
Notebook: Michael
Herringer was absolutely brilliant in a second round playoff series with
Victoria. The 20 year-old goaltender (in hockey age he is still 19) had a
sparkling goals against average of 2.29 and a save percentage of .927. In the
four games Herringer won in round two, the Comox, BC residents goals against
average was 1.97 with a save percentage of .937. ..These two teams just don’t
make many trades with one another. The last of significance was a one-for-one
deal in November of 2005 when the Rockets dealt 20 year-old goalie Derek
Yeomans to the T-Birds for 20 year-old defenceman Clayton Barthel. The two
teams also made a deal in 2000 when the Rockets obtained Paul Hurd for a 4th
and 6th round bantam pick…. Goaltender Michael Herringer has been
named a game star in 7 of the 13 playoff games. Herringer has been the first star
(2), the second star (3) and the third star (2)….10 of the Rockets 14 games in this year’s playoffs have been
decided by a single goal… The Rockets were involved in 8 – one goal games in
last year’s playoffs…The most memorable playoff series between the Rockets and
T-Birds was in 2013 when Seattle won the first-three games games before the
Rockets roared back with four straight victories. Five of those seven games
that season went into overtime…The T-Birds team is built on the players drafted
in the 2012 WHL bantam draft. Mathew Barzal (1st round), Keegan
Kolesar (1st round) and Ethan Bear (2nd round) headline
the list. The Rockets chose Nick Merkley in the 1st round in that
draft, Joe Gtenby in the second round and Lucas Johansen in the 6th
round. ..The Rockets are the only team from the four that competed at the 2015
Memorial Cup that are still alive in the playoffs. Quebec, Rimouski and Oshawa have
all been eliminated.
Hot as a Pistol: Justin Kirkland has
goals in four straight playoff games. The 19 year-old had six goals in a second
round series win over Victoria…Kirkland has 16 career playoff goals…Rourke
Chartier had 3+3=6 in the seven game series against Victoria including two goals
in game five…Chartier has 24 career playoff goals…Tomas Soustal may be the
biggest surprise in the 2016 post season. The second year forward has 5+6=11
points after recording just 4+2=6 in 19 playoff games in claiming the Ed
Chynoweth Cup last season ….Tyson Baillie leads the team with not only 60
playoff games of experience, but also 26 goals and 60 career points. Baillie is
the franchise leader in both goals and points in the WHL playoffs.
Incredible Comeback: It will go down as
the greatest single game comeback in Kelowna Rockets playoff history. Tuesday
night in Victoria, Justin Kirkland tied the game with a goal with .2 seconds
left in regulation time and then Calvin Thurkauf scored at the 5:56 mark of
overtime in a game seven 3-2 victory over the Victoria Royals. It marked the
third straight game where the home team won, but the first time the Rockets won
a playoff game (1-5) after trailing after 40 minutes. It also marked the first
time in franchise history that the team was forced to play back-to-back game
7’s in overtime after eliminating Kamloops in round one.
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