GAME PREVIEW: GM 11 at Kelowna Rockets
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Last Game: The Prince George Cougars are winless in their last two games after Friday’s 3-1 loss in Langley to the Vancouver Giants. Forward Riley Heidt scored the Cougars’ lone goal in the defeat. Goaltender Tyler Brennan was sharp, as he stopped 32 of 34 shots. The Cougars led 1-0 through 20-minutes before the Giants scored a pair of second period goals, courtesy of Mazden Leslie and Justin Sourdif. Payton Mount added an empty-net goal in the third. The power-play went 0-4 and the penalty-kill was a perfect 5-5. Prince George is winless in its first two games against Vancouver.
Tonight’s Game: Tonight, is the first of 12 meetings between the Cougars and Kelowna Rockets. Last season, Prince George was 1-3-0-0 in four games against Kelowna during the B.C. Division Hub season. Over the last five seasons, the Cougars have won eight of their last 21 games (8-10-3-0) against the Rockets. Prince George has won three of its last nine games (3-4-2-0) in Kelowna. After tonight, these two teams meet again in Prince George on November 12th and 13th.
Season Series
| Nov 5th at Kelowna 7:05 pm | Jan 12th at Prince George 7:00 pm |
| Nov 12th at Prince George 7:00 pm | Feb 16th at Kelowna 7:05 pm |
| Nov 13th at Prince George 7:00 pm | Feb 18th at Prince George 7:00 pm |
| Nov 27th at Kelowna 7:05 pm | Feb 19th at Prince George 7:00 pm |
| Dec 10th at Kelowna 7:05 pm | Mar 9th at Kelowna 7:05 pm |
| Jan 11th at Prince George 7:00 pk | April 1st at Kelowna 7:05 pm |
Streaks: Riley Heidt scored his fourth goal last night in Langley and leads the Cougars with 12 points in 10 games. The 16-year-old has goals in back-to-back games and has only been held off the scoresheet in one of his first 10 games. 17-year-old Carter MacAdams has three points (2g-1a) in his last three games. He made a nice play to set up Heidt’s goal on Friday. Kyren Gronick likes playing the Rockets. He had four points (2g-2a) in four games last season against Kelowna.
Prince George Cougars
General Manager & Head Coach: Mark Lamb
2021-22 Record: GP 10 5-5-0-0 (3rd B.C.)
2021-22 Record vs. Kelowna: 1-3-0-0
Away: 2-3-0-0
Streak: 0-2-0-0
Last Game: 3-1 loss at Kelowna Rockets (Nov 5th)
Season Leaders : Riley Heidt (4g-8a), Craig Armstrong (4g-5a), Hudson Thornton (2g-7a), Jonny Hooker (5g-3a), Viliam Kmec (0g-8a).
Game Notes
- Prince George is 1-3-0-0 coming off a loss and have been outscored 18-11 in those four games. They are 2-1-0-0 in the second game of back-to-backs. Last night was a solid effort, unfortunate to not have earned at least a point.
- The power-play looked more threatening last night, as it had a different look to it. Koehn Ziemmer played the point, as the first unit went with four forwards. That seemed to create more chances, but they still were 0-4. Through their last seven games, the Cougars are just 1-25 on the man-advantage. A power-play goal would be huge tonight.
- On the flip side, the penalty-kill has been dynamite. The Cougars now own the league’s best penalty-kill at 86.4 percent. In their last seven games, the PK is operating at 92.5 percent.
- Turning to the line up, Taylor Gauthier is the probable starter in net. He is coming off a 45-save effort last Saturday against the Kamloops Blazers. Goaltending has been terrific of late. Gauthier and Brennan have a combined .913 save percentage. The Cougars have arguably the best tandem outside of the Everett Silvertips. Through four games this season, Gauthier has a .912 save percentage.
- It’s a cliche, but the Cougars need a complete, 60-minute effort tonight. The Rockets have shown in their last two games they won’t go away quietly. On Wednesday, Kelowna came back from 3-1 and 6-4 deficits to stun Vancouver 7-6 in OT, and last night they came back from a 4-2 third period deficit against Portland to earn a shootout point.
Kelowna Rockets
General Manager: Bruce Hamilton
Head Coach: Kris Mallette
2021-22 Record: GP 8 4-3-0-1 (4th B.C.)
2020-21 Record vs. Prince George: 3-1-0-0
Home: 3-0-0-1
Streak: 2-0-0-1
Last Game: 5-4 shootout loss vs. Portland Winterhawks (Nov 5th)
Season Leaders : Pavel Novak (7g-5a), Colton Dach (4g-4a), Andrew Cristall (3g-5a), Jake Lee (2g-5a), Jake Poole (4g-2a)
Game Notes
- The Rockets have 15 players back from their B.C. Division Hub squad. That’s not including Pavel Novak who played last season in his native Czech Republic. Novak played the 2019-20 season with the Rockets but played at home last season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Minnesota Wild prospect is off to a great start, as he leads the team with 12 points in eight games.
- In September, GM Bruce Hamilton went out and made a splash on the trade market, acquiring Chicago Blackhawks prospect Colton Dach from the Saskatoon Blades. Forward Trevor Wong went the other way in the deal. Dach is off to a solid start, as he is averaging just over a point per game. Dach and Novak seem to be a lethal one, two punch for Kelowna.
- Two Rockets were named to Hockey Canada’s Capital City Challenge roster. Forward Andrew Cristall and defenceman Caden Price will join Cougars Riley Heidt and Ryker Singer at the tournament. Also, Rockets bench boss, Kris Mallette, was named the Head Coach of Team Canada Red.
- Speaking of Cristall, the 16-year-old Rockets forward pulled up the “Michigan goal” last night against Portland. Impressive. Cristall scored his first WHL goal against the Cougars last season in the B.C. Division Hub.
- The Rockets love the comforts of home. Kelowna is 3-0-0-1 at Prospera Place this season.
