GAME DAY: Rockets-Blazers Game 3 at Memorial in Kamloops
Rockets vs. Blazers
Saturday March 26, 2016
Game Time – 7:05 pm
Tonight’s Preview: Welcome to the WHL playoffs. This is game two of an opening round playoff series between the Kelowna Rockets and the Kamloops Blazers. Last night the Rockets were a 3-2 winner. Game three is back in Kamloops on Tuesday with game four, also in Kamloops, next Wednesday. These two teams are meeting for the 6th time in the playoffs. They clashed in 1992, 1999, 2002, 2009, 2013 and now in 2016. In four of the five playoff meetings the series has lasted just four games. Only in 1999 did the series go six games with the Blazers prevailing four games to two.
Game One Recap: Lucas Johansen scored twice leading the Kelowna Rockets to a 3-2 win. Dillon Dube and Johansen scored goals 47 seconds apart in the second period to take a 3-0 lead. The Blazers would fight back when Gage Quinney scored to make it a 3-1 game after 40 minutes. With the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker, Collin Shirley would find the back of the net to make it a one goal game. The Rockets were 0 for 3 on the power play while going 3 for 3 on the penalty kill. Michael Herringer made 19 saves while Blazers goaltender Connor Ingram made 33 stops.
Rockets.Blazers Seasonal Series: The Rockets and Blazers met eight times this season with the Rockets going 5-2-1-0. The Rockets won the first five games before the Blazers won the last three meetings. Tyson Baillie led the Rockets with 6+6=12 in the eight games in the seasonal series. Tomas Soustal had 7+1=8 in the 8 games. The Rockets opened the scoring in five of the eight games. The Rockets out-shot the Blazers in 6 of the 8 games. Overall, the defending champions out-scored their BC Division rivals 27-22. Here is the breakdown of period-by-period scoring during the regular season:
Rockets Review: The Kelowna Rockets finished the regular season in second place in the Western Conference with 48 wins. The team won 27 times on home ice, which was only behind Seattle’s 29 and Lethbridge’s 28 home ice victories. The team scored the 4th most goals in the WHL this season (269) while allowing 218 against, which is the exact same number of goals allowed by the Blazers. The Rockets earned 100 points for a fourth consecutive season and had 10 players with 40 or more points.
Number Crunching: Tyson Baillie has 47 games of playoff experience, the most on the Rockets roster…Baillie has 23+31=54 in those 47 games…Cole Linaker is next with 45 playoff games under his belt…Tyler Mosienko is the franchise leader in playoff games played with 81 …Michael Herringer is 4-0-0-0 in the WHL playoffs with a goals against average of 1.97. Herringer won series clinching games over Tri City, Victoria and Portland in last year’s post season….You can’t make this up. The Rockets and Blazers have the identical age (17.43) when looking at the respective team’s defensive cores….Gage Quinney plays against his old team in this series…The Rockets reached the 100 point mark for a fourth consecutive season and 6th time in franchise history. The team accomplished the goal in 2002-2003 (109), 2004-2005 (104), 2012-2013 (108), 2013-2014 (118) and 2014-2015 (109)…Devante Stephens was the only Kelowna Rockets player to participate in all 72 regular season games this season…The Rockets have out-shot the opponent in 11 of the last 12 games.…The Rockets have fired 369 shots on goal in the last 9 games or 41 shots per game…Michael Herringer has started in 29 of the teams last 34 games…The Rockets have won 11 of their last 17 games overall (11-5-1-0)…The Rockets are a combined 75-1-6-0 when leading after two periods when you combine this seasons totals and last seasons…Tyson Baillie has been named a Western Conference first team all-star…The Rockets handed out its season ending awards. Tyson Baillie was named MVP. Joe Gatenby was the top defenceman. Cal Foote was the rookie of the year. Cole Linaker was the top defensive forward for a third straight season. Rourke Chartier was the sportsmanlike player of the year for a third consecutive season. Foote was the scholastic player of the year. Justin Kirkland was the unsung hero. The humanitarian award went to Riley Stadel.
Who’s Hot: Rourke Chartier is riding a seven game point streak regular season/playoffs. Chartier has 4+10=14 over that period. Chartier has goals in four of his last seven games…Dillon Dube is riding a 7 game point streak regular season/playoffs. Dube has 4+6=10 over that period.. Lucas Johansen has points in 17 of his last 23 games (regular season/playoffs)…Cole Linaker has points in 14 of his last 18 games (regular season/playoffs). Linaker has 5+11=16 over that period…Linaker had a career high 50 points this season, eleven more point than a season ago…Tyson Baillie has points in 16 of his last 21 games…Justin Kirkland has points in 17 of his last 21 games.
