Cardinal Sport Preview: Rockets look to continue winning ways against Wenatchee and Tri-City
The Kelowna Rockets have won three straight games which includes scoring 16 goals in their past two games in 9-4 and 7-5 wins over Portland and Prince Albert.
Tij Iginla scored a hat trick on Oct. 11 against the Winterhawks while Andrew Cristall and Caden Price both finished the game with four points. The Rockets then got contributions from seven different goal scorers on Thanksgiving Monday against the Raiders, which included the game winning goal coming from stay-at-home defenceman Carter Kowalyk and the insurance marker from forward Brett Calhoon.
WILD
Wenatchee comes into Friday night having split their most recent matchups with the Victoria Royals. Wenatchee took the opener 4-3 before Victoria won the second of the back-to-back meetings 6-3.
AMERICANS
Tri-City will enter the weekend on a win streak of their own, as they head into Saturday’s matchup with Kelowna off the back of two wins over the Kamloops Blazers, as they defeated Kamloops 5-4 and 5-3 in consecutive nights.
ROCKETS TO WATCH
- Jake Pilon has been a calming influence in net for the Rockets this season, as the 2006-born goaltender is 3-0 in the last three games, with a 3.33 goals-against-average and a .906 save percentage.
- Caden Price has been virtually unstoppable from the backend the past two games, amassing a goal and seven assists for eight points. The 19-year-old defenceman leads Kelowna with 12 points in seven games.
WILD TO WATCH
- 2006-born forward Miles Cooper is having a strong start to his season after posting 46 points in 65 games with the Wild last season. Through eight games in the new campaign he has four goals and seven points in eight games.
AMERICANS TO WATCH
- Austin Zemlak scored the Americans only goal in the last meeting between Kelowna and Tri-City and is currently second on the Americans in points with seven as he has two goals and five assists in seven games.
THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET
vs WENATCHEE
The Rockets and Wild last met in the 2024 WHL Playoffs, where the Rockets closed out the series in Game with a 4-2 victory in Game 6. Jari Kykkanen was named the game’s first star, making 34 saves on 36 shots while Andrew Cristall scored twice and Tij Iginla had three points.
vs TRI-CITY
The Rockets and Americans met on October 5, where the Rockets grabbed their first win of the season thanks to a 2-1 victory. Jake Pilon was strong in goal, and Kelowna got goals from Michael Cicek and Caden Price to secure the victory.
SEASON RECORDS
vs WENATCHEE
- Oct. 18 @ WEN • 7:00 pm
- Nov. 20 vs WEN • 7:05 pm
- Dec. 14 vs WEN • 6:05 pm
- Dec. 31 @ WEN • 5:00 pm
vs TRI-CITY
- 2-1 win Oct. 5 @ TC
- Oct. 19 @ TC • 6:05 pm
- Dec. 13 @ TC • 7:05 pm
- Feb. 8 vs TC • 6:05 pm
- Feb. 17 vs TC • 2:05 pm
WATCH AND LISTEN
Radio broadcast
Rockets games will be broadcast on 104.7 FM the Lizard this season with Regan Bartel calling all of the action.
Don’t forget to download the RocketFAN app and visit rocketfan.ca for more exclusive Rockets content from Pattison. Fans can stream the radio broadcast of all Rockets games on the app.
Click here to download RocketFAN on Google Play
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Online video stream
All Rockets games will be available on WHL Live. WHL Live on is available to fans anywhere in the world, providing high-quality streaming of WHL games on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV platforms, via mobile with iOS and Android, and on web using Safari or Google Chrome web browsers. Visit watch.chl.ca for complete details and subscription options.
Six and twelve game Mini Packs for the Kelowna Rockets season are now on sale through Select Your Tickets. To learn how to save on walk-up tickets and use the flexibility of a Mini Pack click here.
