GAME DAY: Rockets look to bounce back tonight vs. Winterhawks
Rockets vs. Winterhawks
Saturday January 28, 2017
Game Time – 7:05 pm
Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets play game three of a four game home stand tonight when they welcome the Portland Winterhawks to Prospera Place. This is the 4th and final meeting of the season between these two teams. The Rockets are 3-0-0-0, having won by scores of 5-3, 3-2 and 4-1. Overall, the Rockets have out-scored the Hawks 12-6. The Rockets are 12-1-2-0 in their last 15 games against the Winterhawks including winning all four games in the seasonal series in 2015-2016. The Rockets are coming off a 3-2 home ice loss last night to the visiting Kamloops Blazers. Lucas Johansen and Calvin Thurkauf scored in the one goal loss. Michael Herringer made 20 saves in the setback. The Rockets have 23 games left in the regular season and will play those games over the next 50 days. The Rockets host Calgary Wednesday night before traveling to Prince George for back-to-back games next weekend.
Digg’n Deeper: Kole Lind leads the Rockets with 2+4=6 in three games against the Winterhawks. Tomas Soustal has 3+2=5 while Calvin Thurkauf has 0+4=4. Devante Stephens has three goals against the Winterhawks, all in one game down in Portland earlier this season. The Rockets are 4 for 13 (30.8%) in the seasonal series. Michael Herringer is 2-0-0-0 with a goals against average of 2.00 and a save percentage of .947.
Counting Down: The Kelowna Rockets have 23 games left in the regular season. Of those 23, 13 of them are against BC Division rivals. The Rockets have five more games against Vancouver, four more vs. Prince George and two more against the Kamloops Blazers and Victoria Royals. The team has two more each against US Division Everett, Seattle and Spokane and singles against Portland and Tri City. Edmonton and Calgary are the only Central Division teams they face down the stretch.
Dare to Compare: The Rockets had a record of 34-12-3-0 (27-18-4-0 this season) after 49 games last season. The team was 19-3-2-0 (12-8-2-0 this season) on home ice. A season ago the team scored 180 (166 goals scored this season) goals and allowed 139 (149 goals against last season) against. Michael Herringer had played in just 25 games at the 49 game mark last season. Tyson Baillie was the leading scorer with 70 points.
That’s a Fact Jack: Calvin Thurkauf is riding a 7 game point streak. Thurkauf has 5+4=9 over that period…The Rockets have been shorthanded the most times in the entire Canadian Hockey League. The team has been shorthanded 265 times…NHL Central Scouting has released its mid-term rankings. Cal Foote is dated 12th among North American skaters while Kole Lind is ranked 21st…Jack Cowell has 2+4=6 in his last 6 games. It took him 26 games to score his first-two goals of his WHL career……The Rockets have surrendered 5 or more goals 9 times this season. The teams’ record, not surprisingly, is 0-8-1-0 …Calvin Thurkauf has points in 11 of his last 14 games ……Dillon Dube has been held off the score-sheet just 6 times this season….10 of the teams last 14 games have been decided by a goal ………Reid Gardiner and Erik Gardiner are the 6th set of Rockets brothers to play with one another. They join Kiel and Gavin McLeod, Lucas and Evan Bloodoff, Josh and Jake Morrissey, Joe and Danny Gatenby and Cal and Nolan Foote…The Rockets are 16-8-4-0 in their last 28 games and have points in 18 of their last 25 (14-6-4-0)….Defenceman Cal Foote and forward Kole Lind have been named to the roster for the CHL Top Prospects game. They will not play tonight as they attend the game Monday in Quebec City.
Broadcasters Bits: Kole Lind hit the 100 point mark for his career last Saturday night with a four point effort. Lind joins Tomas Soustal and Dillon Dube, who both hit the milestone earlier this season. Who’s next? Carsen Twarynski has 91 career points…Calvin Thurkauf is two games shy of 100 for his career…Michael Herringer is 3 more starts shy of 100 for his career…GM Bruce Hamilton has
traded/released six players from the teams opening day roster…Kole Lind had his 13 game point streak snapped December 18th against the Edmonton Oil Kings. It is the longest point streak by a Rockets player this season …Calvin Thurkauf was named the WHL Player of the Week December 7th to 11th …The Rockets were 8-3-2-0 in December…The Rockets were 6-4-0-0 in 10 games in November after going 8-4-0-0 in 12 games in October…The Rockets are the only team in the WHL that has failed to surrender a shorthanded goal against this season…The Rockets are 9-11-0-0 against BC based teams this season…Michael Herringer has started in 30 of the last 39 games…The Rockets are 8-1-2-0 against U.S Division teams this season.
Game Notes Compiled by Regan Bartel of AM 1150
