WHL Kelowna Rockets

Game Day: Rockets-Giants Close out Regular Season

Published on March 19, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Tonight's Preview: It is the final game of the regular season. The Kelowna Rockets host the Vancouver Giants. This is the 8th and final meeting of the season between the two teams. The Rockets are 5-2-0-0 in the first seven games, having out-scored the G-Men 26-23. Three of the seven games have been decided by a single goal. The Rockets were 2-2-0-0 at Pacific Coliseum, winning 5-3 last night and 4-3 back on February 26th. The team dropped 4-2 (February 20th) and 5-2 (September 27th) decisions in Vancouver. Of the 23 goals scored by Vancouver, 11 have come on the power play. The Rockets have out-scored the Giants 20-12 even strength. Justin Kirkland leads the Rockets with 3+9 in the seven games while Tyson Baillie has 5+3=8. Lucas Johansen is bringing it from the blue line with 2+5=7 in seven games. Rourke Chartier has three goals in five games vs. their BC Division rivals.

Rockets/Blazers Battle: The Rockets will meet the Kamloops Blazers in the opening round of the WHL playoffs. Game one is Friday March 25th with game two on Saturday March 26th. Game three is in Kamloops Tuesday March 29th and Wednesday March 30th. If game five is necessary, it will be played Friday April 1st at Prospera Place. These two teams haven't met since the 2013 post season when the Blazers eliminated the Rockets in four games.

Rockets Recap: The Rockets will finish second in the Western Conference and sit third in the overall standings with 98 points, two fewer than Brandon's 100. The Rockets are coming off a 5-3 win last night in Vancouver. Justin Kirkland scored twice while Dillon Dube, Rodney Southam and Cole Linaker added singles. The Rockets out-shot the Giants 38-34. Michael Herringer made 31 saves in the team's 21st road win of the season.

Number Crunching: The Rockets have nine players with 40 or more points. Rourke Chartier joined that group Wednesday night....The Kelowna Rockets are attempting to reach the 100 point mark for a fourth consecutive season. With one more win the team will reach 100 points for the 6th time in franchise history. The team accomplished the goal in 2002-2003 (109), 2004-2005 (104), 2012-2013 (108), 2013-2014 (118) and 2014-2015 (109)....Justin Kirkland has 97 career assists...Devante Stephens will be the only Kelowna Rockets player to participate all 72 regular season games this season.... The Rockets are 12 for 24 (52.2%) on the power play in their last 7 games...The Rockets have out-shot the opponent in 10 of the last 11 games....The Rockets are rated as the 10th best team in the CHL Top 10 rankings this week...The Rockets have fired 318 shots on goal in the last 8 games or 39.8 shots per game...Michael Herringer has started in 29 of the teams last 33 games...Tyson Baillie is 7 points shy of 100. The last Rockets player to hit 100 points was Colin Long in 2007-2008...The Rockets have won 10 of their last 16 games overall (10-5-1-0)...The Rockets are a combined 74-1-6-0 when leading after two periods when you combine this seasons totals and last seasons....The Rockets are one of only three teams in the WHL that have not lost in regulation time when leading after 40 minutes. The Rockets are 32-0-3-0. The Kamloops Blazers and Prince Albert Raiders are also without a regulation loss after two periods ...The Rockets are a combined 55-19-8-0 against BC Division teams on the road in the last five seasons...The Rockets are 26-5-1-0 when Tyson Baillie scores. The only regulation losses when the 20 year-old finds the back of the net were against Vancouver, Red Deer, Saskatoon and Kamloops.....The Rockets were 12-5-3-0 in 20 games against US Division opponents this season. The team was 13-1-0-0 against Central Division opponents. The only loss came in Lethbridge in the sixth game of the season....The Rockets have been out-shot in 40 of 71 games this season.

Who's Hot: Lucas Johansen has points in 11 of his last 16 games...Johansen has (1+12) over that period. Johansen has points in 15 of his last 21 games...Cole Linaker has points in 12 of his last 16 games. Linaker has 5+8 over that period...Linaker has a career high 48 points, nine more point than a season ago...Tyson Baillie has points in 14 of his last 19 games...Justin Kirkland had his 10 game point streak snapped last Wednesday. Kirkland had 5+10 over that period...Kirkland has points in 15 of his last 19 games...The Rockets are 209-59-12-6 in their last 286 regular season games dating back to the start of the 2012-2013 campaign.

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 19, 2016


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