Rockets-Pats
Dec. 14, 2011 – Regina, SK
The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Regina Pats 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday night as defenceman Cole Martin made his first Western Hockey League goal a big one, scoring the overtime winner.
Martin scored the OT winner at 2:33 of the extra period, and added an assist in the game, as Kelowna earned its first win on its six game road trip, improving to 1-2-0-1 with games remaining against Prince Albert and Saskatoon.
Assistant coach Ryan Cuthbert told the AM 1150 post game show it was a big win for the club that should build some momentum for the final two games of the six game trip.
“We found a way to win tonight. I think that will charge us up for the next two games,” he said. “We’re feeling good, we get to enjoy this tonight and get recharged for the next two games.”
Wednesday’s game began with a bang when Brett Bulmer scored just 19 seconds into the game, less than 10 hours after being released from Team Canada’s World Junior program. After getting the news, Bulmer made the trip from Calgary to Regina, joining the Rockets and making an immediate impact. For Bulmer it was his 12th goal of the season.
“Brett played a very, very good game,” said Cuthbert. “He wanted to make Team Canada very badly and you never know how a guys going to react in that situation. But he had a great game.”
Tyson Baillie also scored for Kelowna, putting home his fifth of the season late in the second period and giving Kelowna a 2-1 lead that nearly stood up for the rest of the game.
Regina was able to tie the game with the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker when Morgan Klimchuk scored with just 33 seconds left in the third period. Andrew Rieder had the other Pats marker.
Jordon Cooke earned the win in the Rockets net, facing 31 shots
The Rockets are idle tomorrow before closing its road trip with two straight games on the weekend. Kelowna will meet Prince Albert on Friday and Saskatoon on Saturday before the team breaks for the Christmas season.
The Rockets return to Prospera Place on Dec. 27 when they host Spokane.