Americans fall 5-2 on the road to Rockets
Published on January 8, 2026 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Tri-City Americans News Release
Kelowna, B.C. - The Tri-City Americans (20-15-2-0) pushed back over the final two periods, but a 4-0 deficit to the Kelowna Rockets (18-14-3-2) after one period proved to be too big of a hill to overcome in a 5-2 loss at Prospera Place.
The game had a back and forth start for the opening 10 minutes which included a pair of great scoring chances for the Americans. Connor Dale and Jaxen Adam were both denied trying to cut across the crease off the rush as Harrison Boettiger denied the Americans of the open goal.
The final 10 minutes of the opening period belonged to Kelowna. It started while the two teams were playing four-on-four as Tij Iginla threw the puck toward the net from the corner and it deflected off Tri-City stick into the net.
A little over five minutes later the Rockets added to their lead. Vojtech Cihar had the puck behind the Americans net and fed it up to Parker Alcos at the top of the right circle.
With traffic in front of the net, Alcos let a wrist shot go that beat Xavier Wendt through the screen to push Kelowna's lead to 2-0. Just 42 seconds later Kelowna pushed it to 3-0 as Mazden Leslie stole the puck in front of the net before spinning and firing a shot off the post and in.
The Rockets then capped off their first-period outburst with a shorthanded goal, sending Tri-City into the locker room trailing 4-0.
Tri-City punched back in the second period, getting on the board 90 seconds into the middle frame. Jake Gudelj tried a wraparound attempt, and his rebound went right up the slot.
Crew Martinson was there and quickly snapped the puck on net, beating Boettiger on the blocker side with his ninth goal of the year. Martinson has five goals in his last six games.
Seven minutes later Dale brought the Americans to within two. Taking a flip pass from Cruz Pavao and racing through center ice, Dale got to the left faceoff circle in the Kelowna zone before firing a shot through the five hole of Boettiger for his 15th of the season, cutting the deficit to two.
Both teams killed off penalties in the late stages of the second period as the score remained 4-2 Kelowna heading into the intermission.
Wendt and Boettiger shut the doors at either end of the rink in the third period as both teams had numerous chances to score, but the game remained 4-2 entering the final minutes.
Tri-City pulled Wendt for the extra attacker and won a few faceoffs in the Kelowna zone to keep up the pressure, but Kelowna was able to withstand the late push before Tomas Poletin hit the empty net to seal the 5-2 Rockets win.
The Americans wrap up their four-game road trip Friday night when they meet the Vancouver Giants (16-22-1-1) at the Langley Events Centre.
Western Hockey League Stories from January 8, 2026
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