 |
| Nolan Foote- Shoot the Breeze Photography |
Trade Winds Blow: The Rockets made a
trade with the Victoria Royals Saturday September 29th. The team
acquired 20 year-old Lane Zablocki for a conditional 7th round and
conditional 4th round bantam draft pick. Zablocki is a third round
NHL draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings (2017 – unsigned). In the 2016-2017
campaign, Zablocki scored 28 goals split between the Regina Pats and Red Deer
Rebels. Zablocki has played with the Pats, Rebels, Hurricanes and the Royals. Zablocki never played a game with the WHL
team that drafted him in 2013 – the Prince George Cougars.
Broadcasters Notebook:
Five
members of the Kelowna Rockets have been named to NHL Central Scoutings
“Players to watch’ list. Forward Nolan Foote is an ‘A’ prospect, meaning a
first round candidate. Kaedan Korczak is a ‘B’ prospect which means he is
projected to be selected in the second or third round. Roman Basran, Kyle
Topping and Lassi Thomson are ‘C’ prospect, which means they could be taken in
the third to the seventh round…..Dillon Dube has made the opening day roster of
the NHL’s Calgary Flames. Dube scored 38 goals with the Kelowna Rockets last
season….Shea Weber was named the 30th captain of the Montreal
Canadiens on Monday. Weber won a Memorial Cup with the Kelowna Rockets in 2004
and was the WHL playoff MVP in 2005… The Rockets have not opened the scoring in
four of the five games this season….The Rockets have trailed going onto the
third period in four of the five games…Rookie Ethan Ernst earned his first
career WHL point last Friday in Prince George with an assist, on Connor
Bruggen-Cate’s third period goal….Head Coach Jason Smith returns for his third
season at the helm. Both assistant Kris Mallette and Travis Crickard enter
their 5th seasons in the WHL….The Rockets are in their 24th
season in the Okanagan after relocating from Tacoma for the start of the
1995-1996 season…The Rockets have made the playoffs 11 consecutive seasons…The
team has averaged 104 points in the last 6 seasons including a franchise high
118 in the 2013-2014 campaign when the hockey club lost only 11 times…
Who’s Gone: The Rockets lose
their top four point producers in Kole Lind, Dillon Dube, Carsen Twarynski and
Cal Foote. That is over 300 points missing from the 2018-2019 roster. Also
graduating was 20 year-old’s James Hilsendager and Gordie Ballhorn. Goaltender
Brodan Salmond was claimed off waivers in the summer by Moose Jaw while Czech
born forward Marek Skrvne was released. In total, 8 players from last year’s
team are not with the hockey club. Kole
Lind was the leading scorer while Cal Foote was named the defenceman of the year.
New Faces: The team welcomes
three rookies back on the defensive core. Listed player Devin Steffler is
joined by Finnish born blueliner Lassi Thomson. Joining those two is 17
year-old Cayde Augustine (turns 17 October 5th). Up front, the team
has added 16 year-old Ethan Ernst (3rd round pick in 2017), 17
year-old Kyle Crosbie (8th round pick in 2016),and acquired 20
year-old Ryan Bowen via trade with the Lethbridge Hurricanes last season. The
team also obtained the playing rights to Mark Liwiski, a third round bantam
pick of the Silvertips from 2016.
Roster
Stats:
Player
total:
24
Year by
Year Breakdown:
20’s (1998) – 2 Zablocki, Chizen, Bowen
19’s (1999) - 5 Topping, Mattson, Gardiner, Bruggen-Cate,
Cowell
18’s (2000) - 10 Tomson, Brennan, Porter, Foote, Zabransky, Kindree,
Brennan, Kushniryk, Pow, Steffler,
17’s (2001) - 6
Korczak, Crosbie, Basran, Liwiski, Wilton,
Augustine
16’s (2002) - 1 Ernst
Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150
No comments:
Post a Comment