Triple Dose of Prince George
After splitting their weekend series with the Kamloops Blazers, the Rockets are set to challenge the Prince George Cougars to a three game mini-series.
The Rockets will open the three game stint at home on Wednesday night when the Cougars come to Prospera Place.
Set to make their returns to the lineup are missing defensemen Devante Stephens and Braydyn Chizen.
Both were released back to the Rockets from their respective NHL clubs on Monday morning.
The return of the two D-men will aid the short bench that the Rockets were forced to deal with last weekend.
Going into Wednesday the Rockets are 1-1-0-0 and the Cougars are 2-0-0-0.
The Cougars beat the Victoria Royals in back to back games on the opening weekend of the WHL.
They’re being led by centre Brad Morrison who picked up five assists in their two wins thus far.
The Rockets are currently being led by Jake Kryski, Kole Lind, and Cal Foote who have accumulated three points each in their first two games.
In the past 5 seasons the Rockets have held the edge in head-to-head play with the Cougars, holding a combined home and away record of 19-5-0-0.
Rockets head coach Jason Smith says the Rockets are looking to carry momentum from the weekend into Wednesday night’s meeting with the Cougars.
“Saturday’s game was a real good bounce back game. We did a lot of good things and our compete level was where it needs to be” said Smith. “We need to continue with the proper work ethic and pay attention to the detail and the structure that we’ve talked about from day one. If we do those things we’ll be competitive and involved and we can give ourselves an opportunity to compete every game.”
Smith says the focus in practice remains the same as it has been all camp.
“You have your core points on your team… kind of like your staples that you want from your team every day” Smith said. “We put those points back on the ice today in practice and practice was good, and we’ll push for the same thing tomorrow.”
Though he won’t let his players make excuses, Smith acknowledges the fact that the addition of Stephens and Chizen to the back end will alleviate some stress.
“It’s exciting to have them back. They’re two veteran players that bring a presence to our back end and we’ve been short back there” said Smith. “It’ll be good to get back to full strength.”
It’s unknown when the remaining four players away at NHL camps will be returning, as Nick Merkley (Arizona Coyotes), Dillon Dube (Calgary Flames), Calvin Thurkauf (Columbus Blue Jackets), and Lucas Johansen (Washington Capitals) are all still with the NHL clubs.
The Rockets will start the three gamer on Wednesday night, which is Hat-trick night at Prospera Place. Tickets are only $19.99 and they include a pop and a hot dog. Tickets must be purchased before 2:00PM on game day to receive the deal. The puck drops at 7:05PM.
Tickets are available for the game through www.selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at 250-762-5050.
The following two games are both played in Prince George on Friday night at 7:00PM, followed by Saturday night at 7:00PM.
