Rockets vs. G-Men

Game Day Preview: The Kelowna Rockets open the month of March with a game against the Vancouver Giants. These two teams will meet again two weeks from tonight here at the Langley Events Centre before closing out the regular season a night later, March 16^th, at Prospera Place. The Rockets are just 1-5-0-0 in the opening 6 games in the seasonal set. The Giants have shut out the Rockets twice this season by scores of 5-0 and 2-0. The Rockets have scored just 7 goals in those 6 games. The Rockets have just 1 power play goals in 23 chances (4.8%) against the G-Men. Leif Mattson has 0+6=6 in the six games with Kyle Topping scoring three of the clubs 7 goals. Roman Basran has played in all 6 games, posting a goals against average of 2.86 and a save percentage of .912. Overall, the Rockets are 10-12-2-1 in 25 games since the Christmas break. The Rockets are 22-19-4-1 in 45 games under head coach Adam Foote. Following tonight’s game, the Rockets host the Portland Winterhawks in back-to-backs games tomorrow night and Sunday. The Rockets are in Kamloops a week from tonight to face the Blazers in the fight for third in the BC Division.  

Who’s Hot:.Kyle Topping has 5+13=18 in his last 16 games…Leif Mattson has 3+8=11 in his last 9   games….Alex Swetlikoff has 3+5=8 in his last 9 games….Nolan Foote has 10+4=14 in his last 16 games….Lassi Thomson has 7+3=10 in his last 17 games …The Rockets have points in 15 of their last 22 home games (12-7-3-0). Mark Liwiski has 6+2=8 in his last 12 games…Shael Higson has 1+3=4 in his last 7 games…Nolan Foote has a shot on goal in every game he has played this season.

Broadcasters Notebook: The Rockets have 8 games left in the regular season. Five of the 8 are on home ice…Lassi Thomson’s 16 goals are two shy of the franchise record for goals by a European d-man. Tomas Slovak holds the record (18 goals) in 2002-2003…The Rockets were 6-5-0-0 in 11 games in February….The team is 9-12-1-0 in 22 games since January 5^th….Kyle Topping’s next assist will be the 100^th of his career…The team has been out-shot in 16 of the last 23 games…The Rockets are 6-10-1-0 in 17 games against a US Division team this season. Three of the six wins have come against Tri City with two victories over Spokane, Everett and Seattle…The team plays 3 more games against US Division rivals with two games vs. Portland and  a single against Spokane.…The Rockets have played 18-one goal games at home this season. Last year they played 15-one goal games at Prospera Place…The team has played in 10-one goal games on the road…The Rockets are 12-14-2-1 against BC Division teams this season…Five members of the Kelowna Rockets have made NHL Central Scouting’s latest rankings. Lassi Thomson is rated 14^th, Nolan Foote is ranked 26^th and Kaedan Korczak is 31^st. Kyle Topping is 195th while Alex Swetlikoff is 217^th, Among goalies, Roman Basran is 11^th among North American netminders…..Adam Foote was officially named the new head coach of the Kelowna Rockets on October 23, 2018 replacing Jason Smith.,.The Rockets are 10-13-1-0 when playing the second game of back-to-backs.

Season Highs/Lows:

Most goals scored: 8 @ Victoria October 19/18 (8-2 W)

Most goals allowed: 9 vs. Seattle October 10^th, 2018 (9-6 L)

Most shots on net: 45 @ Seattle October 6th, 2018 (4-1 L).

Fewest shots on net: 13 @ Edmonton November 17, 2018 (3-1 L)

Most shots allowed: 50 @ Portland November 10, 2018 (3-0 L)

Fewest shots allowed: 16 vs. Victoria December 7, 2018 (2-0 win)

Last time shut out at home: October 3rd, 2018 vs. Vancouver (5-0 L)  

Last time shut out on road: February 1, 2019 @ Spokane (4-0 L)

Last shutout at home: February 23, 2019 vs. Blazers (2-0 W – Roman Basran 18 saves)

Last shutout on the road: January 18, 2019 @ Everett (2-0 W – James Porter 40 saves)

Most power play goals allowed: 4 vs. Seattle October 10^th, 2018 (9-6 L). T-Birds were 4/5 on power play.

Most power play goals scored: 4 @ Victoria October 19, 2018 (8-2 W)

Overtime Games (7): vs. Kamloops (2-1 W) February 2, 2019, vs. Seattle (3-2 Loss) January 30, 2019, @ Kamloops (3-2 Loss) December 28, 2018, vs. Saskatoon (5-4 Loss) December 1, 2018, @ Tri City Nov 30, 2018 (3-2 win), @ PG (4-3 Loss) November 14, 2018, vs. PG (4-3 win) October 27, 2018.