Rematch: Rockets Look to Bounce Back Against Portland
Feb. 9, 2013 – Kelowna, BC
Kelowna and Portland are back on the ice at Prospera Place tonight after the Winterhawks 5-3 win last night in front of 6,122 fans.
Tickets are still available at the Prospera Place box office, by phone at 250-762-5050 or Buy Rockets Tickets here.
Game Notes By Regan Bartel:
Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets face the Portland Winterhawks for the fourth and final time this season. Last night the Winterhawks built up a 4-0 second period lead and held on for a 5-3 win. The Rockets scored three unanswered goals in the third period before Brendan Leipsic ended the game with an empty netter, snapping Kelowna’s 23 game home ice winning streak. These two teams also met September 28th and 29th in the ‘City of Roses’ with Portland winning 1-0 before the Rockets scored a 4-3 win in game two. These two teams have met in the playoffs the last two seasons. Last year the Hawks eliminated the Rockets in four games. In 2010-2011, the Hawks used six games to dispose of the Rockets in the second round. The Rockets are 17-2-2-0 in their last 21 games. The Rockets have seven regulation losses in their last 45 games (35-7-2-1) with setbacks to Portland, Spokane, Tri City (twice), Edmonton, Seattle and Calgary. The Rockets have won 32 of their last 39 (30-6-3-0) games overall. The Rockets close out the weekend tomorrow afternoon (5:05 pm) in Everett before hosting the Tips Thursday night at Prospera Place.
Home Cook’n: The Rockets are 24-3-0-0 at Prospera Place. The team has scored 138 goals (5.1 per game) and has allowed 52 goals against (1.92 per game). The Rockets have scored at least 3 or more goals in every home game this season except one, when they lost 3-2 to the visiting Kamloops Blazers. The Rockets have scored four or more goals in 20 of their 27 home games. Jordon Cooke and Jackson Whistle have combined for six home ice shutouts this season. The team has allowed two or fewer goals at home this season in 19 of 27 games.
This and That: The Rockets have lost back-to-back games only twice this season. Last night and Wednesdays setback in Spokane was followed by back-to-back losses against Tri City in November (16th and 17th)…. The Rockets have 16 games left in the regular season. Of those sixteen, 11 are against BC Division teams. Five of the final 16 games are against the Kamloops Blazers….The Rockets play 12 games in the month of February, with 6 games at home and 6 games on the road.….The Rockets have 7 road games left in the regular season with 6 of them against BC Division teams…Five of the Rockets 12 regulation losses this season have been decided by a single goal… Jordon Cooke was named the WHL Goaltender of the Month for December. Cooke was 6-0-0-0 and posted a goals against average of 2.00….Since a 3-0 win over the Kamloops Blazers November 1st the Rockets are 31-6-2-0….The Rockets 23 game home ice winning streak was the third longest winning streak on home ice in WHL history….Dylen McKinlay is the only Rocket to play in every game this season…The Rockets have led going into the third period in 37 of their last 47 games with two games being tied heading into the final frame.…The Rockets have 39 power play goal in their last 47 games (39 for 160 over that span – 24.4 %)…..The Rockets have scored 217 goals in their last 47 games (average 4.6)….Madison Bowey (22), Mitch Wheaton (63) and Myles Bell (87) are rated among the top players by NHL Central Scouting for June’s draft. The mid-season rankings were released by NHLCS. Jackson Whistle is rated (26) among North American goalies…The Rockets have out-scored the opposition 138-52 on home ice this season…Zach Franko has twenty more points (59) than the 39 he put up all of last season. That is a new career high for the 19 year-old…..Dylen McKinlay has five shorthanded goals…Since relocating from Tacoma to Kelowna for the start of the 1995-96 season, the Rockets have picked up 667 wins over the last 18 seasons…Since entering the WHL in 1991, the Tacoma/Kelowna Rockets have scored 4 thousand 577 goals (4,577)…The Rockets have participated in one shootout game this season. That is a league low. Last season the Rockets were involved in a league high 15…The Rockets lead the WHL in home ice wins with (23)…Dylen McKinlay leads the team in plus/minus with a +46. It is the highest +/- total for a Kelowna Rockets player. Jesse Schultz was +40 in 2002-2003…Since November 1st the Rockets have lost six times in regulation…Five of the teams twelve regulation losses came in the first five weeks of the season…Zach Franko has 151 career points….JT Barnett played in his 250th career game last night…Tyrell Goulbourne has 19 fighting majors this season…Damon Severson is four points shy of 100 for his career…Including the playoffs, the Winterhawks have won 8 straight games at Prospera Place. The last loss for Portland in Kelowna was January 14/2011 in a 5-3 setback.
Who’s Hot: Tyson Baillie has 6+6=12 in his last nine games…..Jesse Lees has five goals in his last nine games…Colton Sissons has points in 24 of his last 26 games….Ryan Olsen has goals in nine of his last fifteen games… MacKenzie Johnston has 13 points (4+9=12) in his last 16 games…Carter Rigby has 7+3=10 in last six games… Cody Fowlie has 3+4=7 in his last seven games…Tyrell Goulbourne has 2+4=6 in his last seven games…Damon Severson had a six game point streak snapped Wednesday. Severson had 2+7=9 over that stretch.
