WHL Kelowna Rockets

Game Day: Rockets Host BC Division Rival Victoria

Published on January 30, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Tonight's Preview: The Kelowna Rockets close out a five game home stand tonight against the visiting Victoria Royals. The Rockets are 4-0-0-0 on the home stand after wins against Prince George, Tri City, Medicine Hat and Portland. The Rockets are coming off a 5-3 win last night over the visiting Winterhawks. Rourke Chartier scored twice in the win while Nick Merkley, Tyson Baillie and Justin Kirkland added singles. Calvin Thurkauf collected three assists as the Rockets scored three of five goals in the power play while going a perfect 4 for 4 on the penalty kill. In the big picture, the Rockets have won 30 of their last 40 games overall and are 19-2-2-0 on home ice and 15-9-1-0 on the road. The Rockets have points in 28 of 34 games (25-6-3-0). The team has won 15 of its last 22 games. The team visits the Seattle Thunderbirds tomorrow to close out a three game in three night weekend.

Southam's C: The Kelowna Rockets announced this week they have named 19 year-old Rodney Southam as the franchises 22nd captain. Southam was acquired in November, 2014 from the Tri City Americans for a 5th round bantam draft pick. Southam played in his 150th career WHL game last Saturday against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Home Ice is Nice: Dillon Dube and Tyson Baillie have scored the most goals on home ice of any players on the roster. Dube has 13 of his 20 goals at Prospera Place while Baillie has 13 of his 29 goals coming in front of the home town crowd. Nick Merkley has 11 home goals while Kole Lind has 7 goals on home ice.

Number Crunching: At this point last season, Michael Herringer had appeared in only five regular season games...Herringer is making his 11th straight start tonight....The last time a Rockets goalie started 11 straight games was in the 2010-2011 season when Adam Brown started 11 consecutive games between October 22nd and November 13th. Brown was 7-4-0-0 over that stretch.... Adam Brown started 13 straight games to start the season in 2009-2010...Torrie Jung started 19 straight games in 2006-2007...Kevin Swanson started 38 straight games in 1999-2000...The Rockets have scored the first goal in 28 of 48 games this season. When they accomplish that goal, they are an impressive 23-2-3-0...The Rockets have 24 games left in the regular season. Of those 24 games, 13 will be played on home ice. Of those 24 games, 13 are against BC Division rivals...The Rockets have been out-shot in 32 of 48 games this season...Seven of the team's last 13 games have been decided by a single goal. The Rockets are 4-1-2-0 in those one goal games...The Rockets are 34-11-3-0 after 48 games this season. Last season the team was 37-8-3-0 after 48 games...The team has scored 179 goals after 48 games this season after scoring 210 goals at the same time last season.....The team has allowed 136 goals against, only 13 more than at the same time last season.

This and That: The Rockets are rated this week as the 7th best team in the CHL Top 10 rankings. Last week they were also rated 7th...Michael Herringer is making his 10th consecutive start tonight, which is a first for the soft spoken netminder...The 19 year-old has a career record of 27-7-1-0...Rourke Chartier has 58 goals in his last 76 regular season games....The Rockets have lost three straight overtime games on home ice...5 of the Rockets next 6 games are on home ice...Two former members of the Kelowna Rockets have made the NHL All-Star team. Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators is making his 5th appearance while Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars is making his second trip (NHL All-Star games was cancelled on lockout year and wasn't played in Olympic year). Benn was first named an all-star in 2011-2012...January is a busy month for birthdays. Devante Stephens turned 19 (Jan 2), Jordan Borstmayer turned 18 (Jan 9), Travis Crickard turned 29 (Jan 11), Riley Stadel turned 20 (Jan 16), Kris Mallette turned 37 (Jan 19), Michael Herringer turned 20 (Jan 26), Tanner Wishnowski turned 19 (Jan 28).

Who's Hot: Calvin Thurkauf has points in 9 of his last 10 games. The rookie has 4+10 over that period...Rourke Chartier has points in 11 of his last 12 games. Over that period, the 19 year-old has 9+9...Chartier has 96 career goals and 95 career assists...Dillon Dube has 20 goals this season which is a career high....Dube has 6+6 in his last 12 games... Nick Merkley has 6+13 in his last 10 games...Tyson Baillie has 5+4=9 in his last 7 games....Tyson Baillie has points in 31 of his last 36 games and has been held off the score-sheet only 9 times this season...Justin Kirkland has points in 5 of his last 7 games. Kirkland has 6+5 over that period.

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 30, 2016


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