Cardinal Sport Preview: Rockets tangle with Royals for final time this season
The Kelowna Rockets will host the Victoria Royals for the final time this season as the Royals visit Prospera Place on Wednesday, March 19th.
Kelowna is coming off back-to-back weekend losses to the Kamloops Blazers, first losing 5-2 on home ice on Friday before losing 4-1 in Kamloops on Saturday.
ROYALS
The Royals will visit the Kamloops Blazers on Tuesday ahead of their matchup with Kelowna, but Victoria comes into the week having lost three of their previous four games, dropping both games to Spokane while splitting this past weekend’s games with Vancouver.
ROCKETS ROSTER AND INJURY UPDATE
The Kelowna Rockets have three players out for the remainder of the season due to injury. Tij Iginla is out following successful hip surgery while Max Graham underwent successful knee surgery that will sideline him for the remainder of the season as well.
Michael Cicek will also miss the remaining regular season games after he underwent successful surgery to repair a laceration to his left forearm. Jaxon Kehrig and Jake Henderson are out week-to-week with upper body injuries.
ROCKETS TO WATCH
- Hiroki Gojsic scored in the previous meeting between these two clubs and has three goals this season against the Royals.
- Gabriel O’Brien has suited up in his first three games of his Rockets career and the 16-year-old forward hasn’t looked out of place. The six-foot-three, 190-pound forward has a knack for driving the net and getting into the tough areas of the ice.
ROYALS TO WATCH
- Teydon Trembecky has a goal and two assists on February 5 against the Rockets in a 5-2 victory. He has 11 points against Kelowna this season.
- Hayden Moore has scored three goals in his previous three games against Kelowna, including the opening goal in their most recent matchup.
THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET
Victoria got out to a 3-0 lead in the most recent meeting on February 5, thanks to goals from Hayden Moore, Kenta Isogai and Escalus Burlock but Kelowna would answer with goals from Hiroki Gojsic and Jakub Stancl to cut the lead to one heading into the third period. Brandon Lisowsky would score the insurance marker while Teydon Trembecky would pot the empty netter for a 5-2 Royals victory.
SEASON RECORD
- Sept. 27 vs VIC • 2-1 L
- Oct. 23 vs VIC • 4-3 SOL
- Dec. 7 at VIC • 4-2 W
- Dec. 8 at VIC • 4-1 W
- Jan. 29 vs VIC • 11-1 L
- Feb. 4 at VIC • 7-3 L
- Feb. 5 at VIC • 5-2 L
- Mar. 19 vs VIC • @ 7:05 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.
