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Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets
open a three game road trip tonight against the Prince George Cougars. This is
the 5th of 8 meetings between these two teams this season. The
Rockets are 0-4-0-0 against their BC Division rivals, having been out-scored
13-4 in the four games. The Rockets are coming off an 8-2 win Wednesday night
over the Calgary Hitmen. Nick Merkley, Dillon Dube and Calvin Thurkauf each had
2+2=4 in the win while Devante Stephens and Nolan Foote added singles. The
Rockets were 3 for 4 on the power play and fired 41 shots at the Hitmen net.
The Rockets have 21 games left in the regular season and will play those games
over the next 48 days. The Rockets play back-to-back games in Prince George
this weekend before traveling to Kamloops to face the Blazers on Wednesday
night. In the big picture, the Rockets are 5-7-2-0 in their last 14 games.
January’s Top
Performers: Kole
Lind led the team with 10 points (2+8=10) in January. Calvin Thurkauf (5+4=9),
Tomas Soustal/Nick Merkley (3+6=9) and Lucas Johansen (2+7=9) all had 9 points
during the month. The Rockets were 4-5-2-0 in the month, which earned them 10
of an available 22 points in January.
February Fever: The Rockets play 13
games in February. Those 13 games will be played over 26 night’s. Seven of
those 13 will be played on the road. Also, seven of those 13 will be against
teams in the BC Division. Four will be played against teams in the U.S
Division. The Rockets play three games in three night’s February 24th
(Kamloops), February 25th (Seattle), February 26th
(Spokane).
Counting Down: The Kelowna Rockets
have 21 games left in the regular season. Of those 21, 13 of them are against
BC Division rivals. The Rockets have five more games against Vancouver, four more
vs. Prince George and two more against the Kamloops Blazers and Victoria Royals.
The team has two more each against US Division Everett, Seattle and Spokane and
a single against Tri City. Edmonton is the only Central Division team they face
down the stretch.
Dare to Compare: The Rockets had a
record of 35-13-3-0 (28-19-4-0 this season) after 51 games last season. The
team was 20-3-2-0 (13-9-2-0 this season) on home ice. A season ago the team
scored 182 (178 goals scored this season) goals and allowed 142 (156 goals
against last season) against. Michael Herringer had played in just 27 games at
the 51 game mark last season. Tyson Baillie was the leading scorer with 70
points.
That’s a Fact Jack: Nick Merkley has 9 (3+6=9)
points in his last three games…The Rockets have generated 30 or more shots in
11 of their last 12 games…Calvin
Thurkauf has points in 8 of his last 9 games (7+6=13) over that period…The Rockets have been shorthanded the
most times in the entire Canadian Hockey League. The team has been shorthanded
275 times…NHL Central Scouting has released its mid-term rankings. Cal Foote is
dated 12th among North American skaters while Kole Lind is ranked 21st…Jack
Cowell has 2+4=6 in his last 7 games. It took him 26 games to score his
first-two goals of his WHL career……The Rockets have surrendered 5 or more goals
10 times this season. The teams’ record, not surprisingly, is 0-9-1-0 …Calvin
Thurkauf has points in 12 of his last 15 games ….11 of the teams last 16 games
have been decided by a goal …The Rockets are 17-9-4-0 in their last 30 games
and have points in 19 of their last 27 (15-7-4-0).
Broadcasters Bits: Calvin Thurkauf played
in his 100th career game Wednesday night against the Hitmen…Michael
Herringer’s next start will be the 100th of his career….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 9-11-0-0 against BC based teams this season…Michael Herringer has started in 32 of
the last 41 games…The Rockets are 8-2-2-0 against U.S Division teams this
season.
Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150
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