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| Shoot the Breeze Photography |
Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets
open the weekend playing three games in three nights. The team faces the
Kamloops Blazers for the 10th and final time this season. The
Rockets are 3-6-0-0 in the seasonal series and are 0-4-0-0 at Sandman Centre
this season. The Rockets have scored four goals in four visits to Kamloops.
They have lost by scores of 6-0 (Feb 8th), 3-1 (Jan 6th),
5-1 (Dec 28th) and 9-2 (Sept 23rd). If the playoffs were
to begin tonight, these two teams would meet in the opening round with the
Blazers holding home ice advantage. The Rockets were a 10-1 winner over the
Edmonton Oil Kings Wednesday night, helping the team to its 8th win
in the last 10 games (8-1-1-0) while earning a point in 6 straight (5-0-1-0).
Following tonight’s game, the Rockets play in Seattle (Saturday) and in Spokane
(Sunday). The Rockets have scored 36 goals in their last 6 games (6.0 per
game).
What just happened? The Rockets scored a
season high 10 goals in a 10-1 win Wednesday night over the visiting Edmonton
Oil Kings. Rodney Southam scored three times and added an assist in the win. It
was Southam’s second career hat trick. The 20 year-old had a three goal game against
Kamloops in last year’s playoffs. James Hilsendager had four assists as the
Rockets went 3 for 4 on the power play while out-shooting the Oil Kings 53-15. Brodan
Salmond earned the win in goal.
Better with age: Kole Lind has
27+45=72 so far this season. That is 31 points more than the 41 he put up this
season….Devante Stephens has 10+18=28 this season. That is 17 more points than in
a disappointing sophomore campaign. Stephens is a career +51. Only Nick Merkley
has a better career +/- with a +79 rating.
That’s a fact Jack: Nick Merkley (2+4=6)
and Rodney Southam (0+6=6) lead the Rockets in scoring against the Blazers.
Rudolfs Balcers has scored 8 goals in 7 games against the Rockets …Calvin
Thurkauf earned his 100th career point Wednesday night with an
assist …The Rockets have lost their
last 4 overtime games…Brodan Salmond
was named the WHL and CHL Goaltender of the Week ending February 12th
after back-to-back shutouts against the Vancouver Giants.…Nolan Foote became
the youngest player in franchise history to score three goals in a game. Foote
accomplished the feat February 10th against the Vancouver Giants,
scoring those three goals at the tender age of 16 years, 2 months and 12 days.
The old mark was set by Shane McColgan who scored a hat trick at 16 years, 11
months and 9 days… The 56 shots the Rockets put up against the Vancouver Giants
February 10th were a season high….The 15 shots the team surrendered
February 22nd against the Edmonton Oil Kings was a season low...The Rockets
have lost the same number of games (20) as they did all of last season…Reid Gardiner has 19 points (7+12=19)
in 16 games as a member of the Kelowna Rockets.…The Rockets have generated 30
or more shots in 20 of their last 21 games…The Rockets have surrendered 5 or
more goals 12 times this season. The teams’ record, not surprisingly, is
0-10-2-0.
Hot as a pistol: Calvin Thurkauf has
points in 16 of his last 18 games. Thurkauf has 13+11=24 over that stretch.
Kole Lind has points in 11 of his last 14 with 7+13=20 over that period. Nick
Merkley has points in 10 of his last 12 games with 9+12=21 over that span. Cal
Foote has points in 9 of his last 13 games with 1+9=10. Reid Gardiner has points
in 10 of his last 11 games with 5+9=14 over that stretch.
Broadcasters Bits: Kole Lind was the
WHL Player of the Week ending February 9th. Lind had 3+5=8 in three
games to earn the honour…In the Rockets last 12 losses (regulation or overtime
loss) the opposition has opened the scoring…The Rockets are 11-5-2-0 since the
trade deadline….The Rockets have scored 11 shorthanded goals this season, one
more than all of last season…..GM Bruce Hamilton has traded/released six
players from the teams opening day roster…Kole Lind had his 13 game point
streak snapped December 18th against the Edmonton Oil Kings. It is
the longest point streak by a Rockets player this season …Calvin Thurkauf was
named the WHL Player of the Week December 7th to 11th …The Rockets
were 8-3-2-0 in December...The Rockets were 6-4-0-0 in 10 games in November
after going 8-4-0-0 in 12 games in October…The Rockets are the only team in the
WHL that has failed to surrender a shorthanded goal against this season…The
Rockets are 14-12-0-0 against BC based teams this season…Michael Herringer has started in 38 of the last 50 games…The
Rockets are 9-2-3-0 against U.S Division teams this season.
Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150
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