Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Rockets/Cougars preview

Erik Gardiner - Shoot the Breeze Photography
Game Day Preview: The Kelowna Rockets play game two of a four game home stand against the visiting Prince George Cougars. The Rockets are 4-0-0-0 in the eight game seasonal series, winning by scores of 7-6 in overtime, 4-3 in overtime, 4-2 and 5-3. These two teams haven’t seen each other since November 29th. Dillon Dube has 3+8=11 in 4 games while Carsen Twarynski has 5+4=9. James Porter Junior has played in three of the four games. The Rockets are 11-3-0-0 in their last 14 regular season meetings between the Cougars. The Rockets are coming off a 3-2 shootout loss Saturday night to the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings. Cal Foote and Braydyn Chizen each scored once in the loss. Overall, the Rockets have points in 19 of their last 27 games (16-8-2-1). The Rockets host Seattle Friday night at Prospera Place before welcoming Kamloops Saturday night. The Rockets visit the Cougars for a double header February 27th and February 28th before the Cougars are back here March 14th.

Deadline Ringers: Since the WHL trade deadline, January 10th, this is how the Rockets top players have performed. Cal Foote and Kole Lind each have 26 points. Kind has 11+15=26 while Foote has 9+17=26. Dillon Dube has 9+11=20 while Leif Mattson has 7+12=19. Carsen Twarynski has 8+7=15 since trades were consummated.

Broadcasters Notebook: With 13 games left in the regular season, 8 of the 13 will be played on home ice. The only five road games are in Kamloops, Prince George (twice), Everett and Vancouver…Of the 13 games remaining, 10 are against teams in the BC Division…Cal Foote has 15 goals. The franchise record is 21 set by Madison Bowey in 2014-2015…..If Cal Foote and Dillon Dube stay healthy in the next 9 games, they will both reach the 200 games played mark in the exact same game in Prince George….Cal Foote has 8 points in his last 5 games….The Rockets 20 home ice wins is the second most of any team in the Western Conference (tied with Victoria). The Everett Silvertips have 22 home ice victories…Erik Gardiner returned to the line-up February 9th in Victoria after missing 39 games with an upper body injury.…. Kole Lind had his 20 game point streak snapped February 3rd in Everett. Lind had 15+23=38 over that period, which was good for the third longest point streak in franchise history. Tyson Barrie had a 21 game point streak in 2009-2010 while the team record is 24 games set by Brett McLean. McLean had 18+31=49 in the 1996-1997 campaign…The Rockets have four hat-tricks this season from Carsen Twarynski (vs. Portland/Prince George), and Kole Lind (Prince Albert/Kamloops)…The Rockets have sent 17 players to Canada’s roster at the World Junior… The Rockets had their 13 game home ice winning streak snapped January 5th vs. Seattle…The Rockets are 7 and 4 in overtime with game winners coming from Kole Lind (twice), Dillon Dube Carsen Twarynski (twice) and Cal Foote (twice). The only losses in OT came against the Tri City Americans, Portland Winterhawks, Red Deer Rebels and Victoria Royals… …Dillon Dube has scored 20+ goals in three consecutive seasons…The Rockets won their 30th game of the season January 24th vs. Lethbridge, marking the 11th straight season the team has achieved that mark. The last time they fell short was in 2006-2007 when the team earned 22 victories….The Rockets are 3-4-2-0 in their last 9 road games….Dillon Dube hit the 200 point mark in his career Friday February 9th in Victoria….Carsen Twarynski is playing in his 85th regular season game as a member of the Rockets. Twarynski has 80 points in those 85 games….The Rockets are 17-5-1-0 against teams in the BC Division…The Rockets have opened the scoring 33 times this season…The opposition has opened the scoring in 4 of the last 6 games.
Streaking: Cal Foote has points in 19 of his last 22 games…Dillon Dube has points in 18 of his last 21 games…Leif Mattson has points in 10 of his last 12 games.   

Roster Stats:
Player total: 25
Year by Year Breakdown:
20’s (1997) – 3   Ballhorn, Twarynski, Hilsendager           
19’s (1998) - 5   Salmond, Lind, Dube, Cal Foote, Chizen
18’s (1999) - 6   Topping, Mattson, Gardiner, Bruggen-Cate, Cowell, Skvrne
17’s (2000) - 9   Porter, Foote, Zabransky, Kindree, Brennan, McGauley, Kushniryk, Pow, Hair
16’s (2001) - 2   Korczak, Basran


NHL Drafted Players: Cal Foote (Tampa Bay 2017), Kole Lind (Vancouver 2017), Dillon Dube (Calgary 2016), Carsen Twarynski (Philadelphia 2016), Brayden Chizen (Minnesota 2016).  

Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150


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