Thursday, February 20, 2020

New coach...new result?

Kris Mallette
·      Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets open a four game road trip against the Victoria Royals. This is the 7th of 9 meetings between these two teams this season. After playing tomorrow night in the rematch, the seasonal series wraps up March 11th in Kelowna. The Rockets are 2-3-0-1 in the opening 6 games, including a 1-0-0-1 record in Victoria after a 4-3 shootout loss on October 29th followed by a 1-0 shutout win October 30th. Four of the six have been decided by a single goal. Overall, the Royals have out-scored the Rockets 14-12. Kaedan Korczak leads the Rockets with 2+3=5 in the 6 games. Roman Basran has appeared in 5 of the 6 games. Following these two games on the Island, the Rockets are in Prince George for back-to-back games this Tuesday and Wednesday. The Rockets next home game is Friday February 28th against Everett.
·         Mally the Man! Kris Mallette was named the interim head coach of the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday. Mallette replaces Adam Foote, who was relieved of his duties. Mallette joined the organization as an assistant coach for the start of the 2014 season under then head coach Dan Lambert. Mallette is a former player, suiting up for the Rockets from 1996 until 1998 before eventually being traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors. The 41 year-old is the first Rockets alumni to assume the head coaching duties.
·         Who’s Hot: Pavel Novak has 3+8=11 in his last 7 games…Matthew Wedman has 7+11=18 in his last 14 games…Kyle Topping has 4+4=8 in his last 7 games…Kaedan Korczak has 2+5=7 in his last 7 games.
·         Broadcasters Notebook: Kris Mallette is 6-0-1-0 as a head coach in the WHL. His most recent win was a 7-3 victory in Tri City in January….The Rockets are 8-4-1-1 in their last 14 visits to Victoria…. The Rockets have surrendered the opening goal in seven of the last eight games ….With 14 games left in the regular season, 7 are on home ice with only 7 on the road. Those road stops include two in Victoria, two in Prince George and singles in Everett, Kamloops and Vancouver… The Rockets are 9-8-0-0 against teams in the US Division….The Rockets are now 19-5-1-0 when scoring the games first goal…The Rockets have played in 28-1 goal games this season…The Rockets are 10-14-1-1 against teams in the BC Division…The Rockets were 5-5-0-0 in December and 4-9-0-0 in January.

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