Cardinal Sport Preview: Rockets to open East Division road trip in Regina on Saturday
Kelowna Rockets at Regina Pats
| Date | Time | Sat., Dec. 9, 2023 | 5:00 pm Pacific Time |
| Video Stream | CHL TV |
| Radio | 104.7 The Lizard + Rocket Fan App |
| Live Stats | WHL Box Score |
| Live Updates | @Kelowna_Rockets on X (formally Twitter) |
The Kelowna Rockets will open their East Division road trip on Saturday night in Regina against the Pats at 5:00 pm PT.
Following Saturday’s game, the Rockets schedule ramps up with four games in five games. Next week as they’ll visit Moose Jaw on Tuesday, Brandon on Wednesday, Prince Albert on Friday and Saskatoon on Saturday before heading into the holiday break.
It’s Kelowna’s first road trip out to Saskatchewan and Manitoba to see the East Division teams since the 2019-20 season. Due to the Hub Season and Covid restrictions, the eastern and western conference teams had not faced one another since before March 2020. The two conferences faced each other for the first time last year, with the East Division teams making the trip out to BC.
Prairie Players
This road trip will offer a handful of the Rockets from Saskatchewan and Manitoba their first chance to play in front of their friends and family, players on the Rockets roster from those provinces include:
- Will Munro – Swan River, MB
- Michael Cicek – Winnipeg, MB
- Trae Johnson – Martensville, SK
- Caden Price – Saskatoon, SK
Affiliate call up
Rockets prospect Owen Folstrom will join the team on the trip and is expected to make his WHL debut.
The 15-year-old has posted 14 points (11G, 3A) and six penalty minutes in 15 games this season for the Calgary Flames U18AAA of the AEHL.
The Calgary, AB product was selected by the Rockets in the fourth round of the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft. He appeared in two preseason games for Kelowna before being returned to his U18 team for the season.
A quiet week for the Rockets
The Rockets did not have a mid-week game after playing three games in four nights last week. They were last in action on Saturday night, where their three-game win streak was snapped by the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent.
After goals from former Thunderbirds players Tij Iginla and Ethan Mittelsteadt the Rockets were up 2-1 headed into the third period. The Thunderbirds tied the game 6:16 into the final frame with a goal from Luca Hauf (8). Sam Popowich (5) skated into the Rockets zone 2:48 later, letting a shot fly that would hold up as the eventual game-winner.
A busy weekend of BC visitors for the Pats
The Kamloops Blazers are also visiting the Eastern Division at the same time as the Rockets, they will face the Pats on Friday night before Kelowna rolls in on Saturday.
Prior to Friday, the Pats were last in action on December 2, defeating the Swift Current Broncos 6-5 in a shootout.
ROCKETS ROSTER UPDATES
- Fifteen-year-old Owen Folstrom has joined the team for the trip as an affiliate player
- Kayden Longley is listed out one week, he has missed the last seven games with a lower-body injury
- Trae Johnson time has been updated to 1-3 weeks, he has missed the last six games with an upper-body injury
- Ben Thornton is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury
- Ismail Abougouche is listed out one week with an upper-body injury, he has missed the last three games
The Rockets injury report is updated weekly and can be viewed here.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
KELOWNA
- Defenceman Ethan Mittelsteadt recorded his first goal of the season in the Rockets last game against the Seattle Thunderbirds, his former team.
REGINA
- Former Kelowna Rocket Logan Peskett will face his former team for the first time after being dealt to them last month.
SEASON RECORDS
vs REGINA
- Dec. 9 at REG
THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET
vs PATS
This is the only meeting between the two this season
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.
