Cardinal Sport Preview: Rockets renew rivalry with Blazers in weekend home-and-home
The Kelowna Rockets will head down to Kamloops on Friday in the first game of a home-and-home series with the Blazers this weekend as the two teams will return back to Prospera Place on Saturday.
Kelowna comes into the game off a 3-2 hard fought loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday in Seattle and look to get back in the win column against one of its fiercest rivals.
BLAZERS
Kamloops comes into the weekend having lost three straight, most recently a 4-1 defeat to the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday. The Rockets and Blazers are separated by just three points in the Western Conference standings.
ROCKETS ROSTER AND INJURY UPDATE
The Rockets were dealt a blow when it was announced that captain Max Graham would be out indefinitely due to undergoing successful knee surgery. The Rockets have already been out without star forward Tij Iginla who underwent successful hip surgery earlier in the season.
Gabriel Guilbault and Kanjyu Gojsic who were both out recently will lower body injuries have both returned to the lineup.
ROCKETS TO WATCH
- Rowan Guest scored his first WHL goal on Tuesday against Seattle as the six-foot-four defenceman has 8 points on the season.
- Michael Cicek is closing in on a career milestone, as the overage forward is just six points away from reaching 100 career WHL points.
BLAZERS TO WATCH
- Tommy Lafreniere scored in the most recent meeting with Kelowna and has 43 points in 51 games including 19 goals in his first full season in the WHL.
- Emmitt Finnie played a key role in Kamloops’ victory over Kelowna scoring twice and registering an assist.
THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET
Kelowna went ahead 2-0 early in the game thanks to goals from Hayden Paupanekis and Hiroki Gojsic but Kamloops scored three goals within the span of a minute to go up 3-2 in the third period. Paupanekis would tie the game sending it to overtime where Emmitt Finnie scored his 26th of the season for a Kamloops overtime victory.
SEASON RECORD
- Dec. 28 vs KAM • 3-1 L
- Jan. 3 at KAM • 6-4 W
- Jan. 24 at KAM • 4-3 OTL
- Feb. 14 at KAM • @ 7:00 PM
- Feb. 15 vs KAM • @ 6:05 PM
- Mar. 14 vs KAM • @ 7:05 PM
- Mar. 15 at KAM • @ 6:00 PM
- Mar. 22 vs KAM • @ 6:05 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
Click here to download RocketFAN on the App Store
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.
