Underway: Kelowna and Spokane
The Spokane Chiefs defeated the Kelowna Rockets 5-2 Saturday night at Prospera Place in Kelowna.
The Chiefs outshot Kelowna 38-18 in the game, scoring twice in the first and third periods and once in the second period to earn the convincing win.
Spokane led 2-0 after the first and and 3-1 after the second. Early in the thid period the Chiefs took a 4-1 lead on Levko Koper’s second goal of the game. Rockets rookie Colton Sissons made it 4-2 but Kelowna couldn’t get any closer and Koper added an empty netter for his hat trick to seal the victory.
Trailing 2-0 after the first period Shane McColgan pulled Kelowna within one with an early second period goal. McColgan took a cross-crease feed from Zach Franko and slid his 14th goal of the season into the net to make the score 2-1 at 1:24 of the second period.
The Rockets couldn’t generate the tying goal and later in the period Spokane’s Darren Kramer restored the Chiefs two goal lead when he scored on a wraparound after Spokane had Kelowna hemmed in its own zone.
The Chiefs dominated the first period outshooting the Rockets 15-2. Koper opened the scoring at 11:22 of the first when a loose puck caromed around in the slot before finding Koper who had an empty net to score is 16th of the season. Just 1:32 later Brady Brassart netted his fourth on another scramble in front of the Kelowna net.
The Rockets will close a busy week Sunday when they travel to Kamloops to play the Blazers in a 6 p.m. start from Kamloops.
Notes:
Starting Goalies:
Kelowna – Adam Brown
Spokane – James Reid
Scratches:
Kelowna – Tyson Barrie, Jason Siebert, Andreas Stene, Mitchell Callahan, Colton Heffley
Spokane – Jared Cowen, Mitch Holmberg, Reid Gow, Kyle Krzyzaniak,Collin Valcourt
