Regan’s Notes: Thunderbirds at Rockets

TEAM NOTES PREPARED BY REGAN BARTEL OF AM 1150

• Tonight’s Preview: Hello March! The final month of the regular season is upon us with a three-game home stand against the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between these two teams. The Rockets are 3-0-0-0, having out-scored the T-Birds 14-7 in the opening three games. Two of the three games have been decided by a single goal (3-2 scores). The only blowout was an 8-3 Rockets win on the road October 11^th. Pavel Novak (2+3=5) leads the team with 5 points in the seasonal series while Dillon Hamaliuk has three goals in the three games. Cole Schwebius is 2-0-0-0 against his old team with a goals-against-average of 1.92 and a save percentage of .944. Following tonight’s game, the Rockets welcome the Lethbridge Hurricanes tomorrow night. The Hurricanes are led by former Rockets head coach Peter Anholt, who is now the GM in Lethbridge. This upcoming Wednesday, the Victoria Royals pay a visit for the final time this season.

• Who’s Hot: Pavel Novak has points in 8 of his last 11 games (4+12=16). Novak has scored 22 goals, 12 of which have come on home ice….Matthew Wedman has points in 7 of his last 10 games (7+7=14)…..Dillon Hamaliuk has points in five of his last seven games…Kyle Topping has 2+4=6 in his last 6 games.

• Broadcasters Notebook: The Rockets are 6-12-2-1 since the trade deadline…The Rockets have called up 16-year-old Nolan Flamand, a second-round WHL bantam pick who played for the Saskatoon Blazers this past season. Flamand was second in team scoring this season with 8+43=51….The Rockets have taken the title of ‘interim’ head coach away from Kris Mallette. Mallette now wears the badge as head coach after taking over the reins from Adam Foote back on February 19^th…A win tonight will match the Rockets win total (28) from all of last season…The Rockets have 15 road wins, one better than the 14 they captured one season ago ….The Rockets have 12 home-ice wins. The team had 14 all of last season….Kris Mallette is 9-1-2-1 as a head coach in the WHL.…With 8 games left in the regular season, 6 are on home ice with only 2 on the road. Those road stops include singles in Kamloops and Vancouver… The Rockets are 9-9-1-0 against teams in the US Division….The Rockets are now 19-6-1-0 when scoring the games first goal…The Rockets have played in 33-1 goal games this season…The Rockets are 12-14-1-1 against teams in the BC Division…The Rockets were 5-5-0-0 in December, 4-9-0-0 in January and 5-5-2-0 in 12 games in February.