Rockets aim to sweep double header
The Kelowna Rockets head into a Friday night matchup with the Victoria Royals looking to sweep a set of back-to-back games in the B.C. capital this week.
The Rockets are 3-2-0-0 against their divisional rivals from the coast this season.
Assistant coach Travis Crickard says the recent additions of Reid Gardiner, and Carsen Twarynski will help bolster their lineup.
“Both are big pieces of our line up going forward. Reid adds an element of maturity having played professional hockey, he knows how to instruct other players on the bench if something didn’t go their way,” said Crickard.
“Carsen adds a piece we really needed, we needed a power forward. We needed someone who’s physical.”
The Rockets started off the season series with two wins against the Royals. They beat the Royals 6-4 at Prospera on October 26th. They then split wins in back-to-back games in Victoria winning 5-1 on November 20th, and the Royals then responded with a 6-2 victory on November 22nd. The Royals evened up the season battle defeating the Rockets 2-1 on December 30th at Prospera Place in Kelowna. The Rockets battled the Royals last night in a game that saw a thrilling third period comeback. That game ended 4-3 in the Rockets favour.
The Rockets and Royals will face each other again twice this season following Friday night. The final two meetings between the two will be March 7th and March 11th at Prospera Place.
Kelowna comes into Friday night with a record of 25-15-3-0, tied with the Kamloops Blazers for second place in the B.C. division with 53 points, seven points back of the division leading Prince George Cougars.
Victoria has a record of 22-17-4-0 on the season, sitting fourth in the B.C. division with 48 points.
After the Friday night battle with the Royals the Rockets are back in action on Monday afternoon when they visit the Everett Silvertips.
Kelowna’s next home game is January 18th, when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors at Prospera Place.
Tickets are available for Rockets home games through www.selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at 250-762-5050.
