Rockets Shine in Season Opener
The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Kamloops Blazers 6-1 on Saturday night at Prospera Place in Kelowna, opening up the 2014-15 WHL season with a convincing win over the Blazers.
Tyson Baillie and Kris Schmidli each had a goal and two assists in the win, while goalie Jackson Whistle stopped 32 of 33 Kamloops shots to earn the win in net.
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Other Rockets goals came from Riley Stadel, Colton Heffley, Austin Glover and Carter Rigby while Nick Merkley and Joe Gatenby chipped in with a pair of helpers apiece.
The Rockets played with several regulars still at NHL camps including captain Madison Bowey.
“Whenever you have a lot of guys away from your team you need your veterans to step up and I thought our older guys led the way,” said Rockets head coach Dan Lambert. “I thought our guys looked pretty good tonight. Everyone was nervous at the start but once we got one goal we got going.”
Prior to the game the Rockets held a ceremony to raise the 2014 WHL BC Division and Regular Season Championship banners at Prospera Place.
The team was energized after the ceremony, scoring three times in the opening period and outshooting the Blazers 15-8 in the opening period. Shots in the game were 39-33 for Kelowna.
It was the first win for new Rockets head coach Dan Lambert since taking over behind the bench for the Rockets.
The home opener was the Rockets only game of the weekend as the team will now get set to head to Prince George for a pair of games next weekend.
The team will return to Kelowna on Wednesday Oct. 1 to host the Vancouver Giants.
