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WHL Kelowna Rockets

Preview: Rockets At Royals â€Â" October 8 & 9

October 7, 2021 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Kelowna Rockets vs. the Victoria Royals
Kelowna Rockets vs. the Victoria Royals
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Paige Bednorz)

While the Western Hockey League opened their 2021-22 schedule last weekend, the Kelowna Rockets had the weekend off to watch and wait. They'll be the final team to open their regular-season schedule when they hit the ice tomorrow night in Victora at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena.

Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. PT on Friday and Saturday. You can watch the game on WHL Live or listen on AM 1150.

Head coach Kris Mallette said that having the gap has benefitted the team.

"It was a training camp all over again for us to some degree. The layoff has given us the opportunity to go over the structure and style of play that we'd like to have, we were also utilizing this time to rest and recover. We've been working hard and planning our days accordingly, we're just working hard to get everything dialled in before Friday."

It's the first time that the Rockets have headed to Victoria since the 2019-20 season, the Royals called Prospera Place home last season for the Hub season.

Kelowna opened and closed their 2020-21 season with wins over the Royals, the Rockets took the season series 4-0. Most recently, the Rockets and Royals faced off in the 2021 preseason, where Kelowna took both games.

Victoria was last in action on Saturday, where they fell 5-0 to the Vancouver Giants on home ice.

As of Thursday morning, forward Colton Dach is still away at the Chicago Blackhawks camp. Acquired from the Saskatoon Blades last week, the 2021 second-round pick of the Blackhawks signed an entry-level contract last week. It is expected that Dach will be returned to the Rockets in the near future.

Players to watch:

Kelowna:

Defenceman Tyson Feist was named the 26th captain in Rockets history yesterday afternoon. Last season he set career bests during the Rockets shortened season, posting ten points (2G, 8A), 18 penalty minutes and a team leadings +15 plus/minus rating over 14 games. Undrafted, the 20-year-old earned an invite to the Arizona Coyotes camp this fall.

Gabriel Szturc, Marcus Pacheco and Caden Price are expected to make their regular-season WHL debuts this weekend.

Max Graham led the Rockets in scoring during the preseason, he posted five points (2G, 3A) over four games and a winning faceoff percentage of 57.1%.

Pavel Novak led the Rockets in scoring during the 2019-20 season with 58 points (25G, 33A) over 58 games as a 17-year-old rookie. The Minnesota Wild prospect returns to the Rockets for the 2021-22 season after spending a season over in Europe - he was unable to obtain a visa due to Covid-19 last season.

2022-2022 B.C. Division Standings

as of Thursday afternoon

# Team GP W L OTL SOL PTS

1 Vancouver Giants 1 1 0 0 0 2

2 Kamloops Blazers 1 1 0 0 0 2

T3 Prince George Cougars 1 0 1 0 0 0

T3 Kelowna Rockets 0 0 0 0 0 0

T3 Victoria Royals 1 0 1 0 0 0

2020-21 Season Series vs VIC: 4-0-0-0

Mar. 26 - VIC 0 at KEL 5 - W

Apr. 19 - KEL 7 at VIC 2 - W

Apr. 27 - KEL 5 at VIC 1 - W

May 12 - VIC 2 at KEL - 3

JDS Projected Lineup

The Rockets will post the JDS Mining Projected Lineup complete with line combos at least half an hour prior to puck drop for all games this season. You will be able to find the graphic on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram stories.

Rockets 1st Goal Contest

The Papa John's 1st Goal Contest returns this season. Tweet your pick for the Rockets first goalscorer on game days before puck drop using the hashtag #Rockets1stGoal for a chance to win a puck signed by that player and a pizza from Papa John's*.

*pizza code only valid for West Kelowna and Kelowna locations

**puck can only be shipped within BC

Watch and listen

You can watch all Rockets games on WHL Live on CHL TV. More are details available by visiting watch.CHL.ca. As of Monday, CHL TV is now compatible with Roku.

You can also listen to the game on AM1550.

The Rockets are set to open their regular season schedule on October 15, 2021, against the Kamloops Blazers. Season tickets are now available to the general public for the upcoming 2021-22 Rockets season.

Check out the Kelowna Rockets Statistics




Images from this story

Kelowna Rockets vs. the Victoria Royals
Kelowna Rockets vs. the Victoria Royals
(Paige Bednorz)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from October 7, 2021


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