Game Day: Rockets hit the ice for rare Sunday home game
Rockets vs. Winterhawks
Sunday, March 3rd, 2019
Game Time – 5:05 pm
Game Day Preview: The Kelowna Rockets host the Portland Winterhawks in the fourth and final meeting of the season between the two teams. The Rockets are 0-2-1-0 in the three games, having been out-scored 9-3. These two teams met last night with the Winterhawks earning a 2-1 overtime victory. Alex Swetlikoff tied the score with about 5 minutes left in regulation time to earn a huge point in the standings. The Rockets now lead the Kamloops Blazers by 6 points for third place in the BC Division. Overall, the Rockets are 10-13-3-1 in 27 games since the Christmas break. The Rockets are 22-20-5-1 in 47 games under head coach Adam Foote. Following this game, the Rockets travel to Kamloops Friday night before hosting the Blazers Saturday. The team ends the regular season with a home game against Spokane March 13th and a home and home series with Vancouver March 15th-16th.
Who’s Hot: Liam Kindree has points in four of his last five games. Kindree has 0+4=4 over that period…Kyle Topping has 5+13=18 in his last 18 games…Leif Mattson has 3+10=13 in his last 11 games….Alex Swetlikoff has 5+5=10 in his last 11 games….Nolan Foote has 12+4=16 in his last 18 games….Lassi Thomson has 7+5=12 in his last 19 games …The Rockets have points in 16 of their last 23 home games (12-7-4-0). Mark Liwiski has 7+2=9 in his last 14 games…Shael Higson has 1+4=5 in his last 9 games…Nolan Foote has a shot on goal in every game he has played this season.
Broadcasters Notebook: Nolan Foote has 65 career goals, with 31 of them coming on the power play….Foote’s 33rd goal last night matches the same number of goals Jamie Benn scored with the Rockets at the same age back in 2007-2008….Leif Mattson has 21 goals, with 14 of those coming on the road. The last 9 goals Mattson has scored have all been on the road…. The Rockets have 6 games left in the regular season. Four of those 6 are on home ice…Lassi Thomson’s 16 goals are two shy of the franchise record for goals by a European d-man. Tomas Slovak holds the record (18 goals) in 2002-2003…The Rockets were 6-5-0-0 in 11 games in February….The team is 9-13-2-0 in 24 games since January 5th….Kyle Topping’s next assist will be the 100th of his career…The team has been out-shot in 17 of the last 25 games…The Rockets are 6-10-2-0 in 18 games against a US Division team this season. Three of the six wins have come against Tri City with two victories over Spokane, Everett and Seattle…The team plays two more games against Portland and Spokane.…The Rockets have played 19-one goal games at home this season. Last year they played 15-one goal games at Prospera Place…The team has played in 10-one goal games on the road…The Rockets are 12-15-2-1 against BC Division teams this season…Five members of the Kelowna Rockets have made NHL Central Scouting’s latest rankings. Lassi Thomson is rated 14th, Nolan Foote is ranked 26th and Kaedan Korczak is 31st. Kyle Topping is 195th while Alex Swetlikoff is 217th, Among goalies, Roman Basran is 11th among North American netminders…..Adam Foote was officially named the new head coach of the Kelowna Rockets on October 23, 2018 replacing Jason Smith.,.The Rockets are 10-13-2-0 when playing the second game of back-to-backs.
Season Highs/Lows:
Most goals scored: 8 @ Victoria October 19/18 (8-2 W)
Most goals allowed: 9 vs. Seattle October 10th, 2018 (9-6 L)
Most shots on net: 45 @ Seattle October 6th, 2018 (4-1 L).
Fewest shots on net: 13 @ Edmonton November 17, 2018 (3-1 L)
Most shots allowed: 50 @ Portland November 10, 2018 (3-0 L)
Fewest shots allowed: 16 vs. Victoria December 7, 2018 (2-0 win)
Last time shut out at home: October 3rd, 2018 vs. Vancouver (5-0 L)
Last time shut out on road: February 1, 2019 @ Spokane (4-0 L)
Last shutout at home: February 23, 2019 vs. Blazers (2-0 W – Roman Basran 18 saves)
Last shutout on the road: January 18, 2019 @ Everett (2-0 W – James Porter 40 saves)
Most power play goals allowed: 4 vs. Seattle October 10th, 2018 (9-6 L). T-Birds were 4/5 on power play.
Most power play goals scored: 4 @ Victoria October 19, 2018 (8-2 W)
Overtime Games (8): vs. Portland (2-1 L) March 2/2019, vs. Kamloops (2-1 W) February 2, 2019, vs. Seattle (3-2 Loss) January 30, 2019, @ Kamloops (3-2 Loss) December 28, 2018, vs. Saskatoon (5-4 Loss) December 1, 2018, @ Tri City Nov 30, 2018 (3-2 win), @ PG (4-3 Loss) November 14, 2018, vs. PG (4-3 win) October 27, 2018.
Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150
