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WHL Kelowna Rockets

Preview: Rockets At Royals

March 21, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Kelowna Rockets vs. the Victoria Royals
Kelowna Rockets vs. the Victoria Royals
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)

The Kelowna Rockets road trip will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday night when they face the Victoria Royals on the road at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, BC - puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. both nights.

It's the first time in two weeks that the Rockets will face an opponent that isn't the Kamloops Blazers, the two have played each other four times over the last two weekends. Kamloops and Kelowna will wrap up their seasonal series this weekend with another home-and-home series.

The Rockets were last in action on Saturday, falling 4-0 to the Blazers at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops. The Blazers jumped out to a 3-0 lead through 20 minutes of action; scoring all three goals in different ways, on the power play, at even strength and while short handed. Kamloops added a fourth tally in the final minutes of the third period. Talyn Boyko made the start for the Rockets, stopping 36 of the 40 shots he faced.

It was just the second time this season that the Rockets were shutout, Vancouver blanked the Rockets back on October 23rd.

The Royals are fighting for one of the three final playoff spots in the Western Conference. They leapfrogged their way into seventh place with a 3-0 victory over the Prince George Cougars on Saturday, thanks to Bailey Peach's hat trick. Twenty-year-old Peach continues to light the WHL on fire after coming over from the QMJHL, the forward leads the Royals in scoring with 72 points (33G, 39A) through 57 games this season.

THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET

The Kelowna Rockets made yet another third-period comeback this season, this time to down the Victoria Royals 5-4 in overtime on March 4th at Prospera Place. Down by a pair of goals in the third, Max Graham and Tyson Feist found the back of the net in the last half of the third period to force overtime. Import rookie Gabriel Szturc sealed the deal in overtime with his first career overtime goal. Pavel Novak and Mark Liwiski were the other Rockets goal scorers. Talyn Boyko picked up his 22nd win of the season, turning aside 24 of the 28 shots he faced.

ROSTER NEWS

The Rockets have no injuries to report this week.

Injury updates for all WHL teams can be found in the WHL Weekly Report.

ROCKETS TO WATCH

Centreman Nolan Flamand has been held pointless his last three outings, look for Flamand to find his way onto the scoresheet. He has 31 points through 48 games this season.

Jari Kykkanen's last start came on March 6th, he only played one period and was replaced in net after allowing three goals on eleven shots. The rookie netminder has a record of 5-1-0-0, a 3.47 GAA and .855 SAV%.

WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS

# Team GP W L OTL SOL PTS

1 X Everett Silvertips 59 41 10 3 5 90

2 X Kamloops Blazers 59 43 14 2 0 88

3 X Portland Winterhawks 60 40 15 3 2 85

4 X Seattle Thunderbirds 59 36 17 4 2 78

5 X Kelowna Rockets 56 34 16 1 5 74

6 Vancouver Giants 57 23 30 4 0 50

7 Victoria Royals 59 19 34 5 1 44

T8 Spokane Chiefs 59 19 35 4 1 43

T8 Prince George Cougars 57 20 34 2 1 43

10 Tri-City Americans 59 17 37 5 0 39

AS OF MONDAY AFTERNOON

SEASON SERIES (9-1-0-0)

Oct. 8 @ Victoria 6-3 L

Oct. 9 @ Victoria 6-4 W

Oct. 30 vs. Victoria 5-4 OTW

Dec. 14 vs. Victoria 5-4 OTW

Jan. 1 vs. Victoria 5-2 W

Jan. 14 vs. Victoria 6-4 W

Jan. 15 vs. Victoria 9-1 W

Jan. 25 @ Victoria 4-3 SOW

Jan. 26 @ Victoria 4-3 W

Mar. 4 vs. Victoria 5-4 OTW

Mar. 22 @ Victoria 7:05 PM

Mar. 23 @ Victoria 7:05 PM

Apr. 2 vs. Victoria 7:05 PM

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.

WATCH AND LISTEN

You can watch all Rockets games on WHL Live on CHL TV. More are details available by visiting watch.CHL.ca.

You can also listen to the game on AM1550.

The Rockets next home game is Saturday, March 26th when Kelowna will host the Kamloops Blazers for their 14th and final meeting of the regular season. Fans can purchase their tickets online at selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at 250-762-5050. The box office is open 11:00 a.m. to 4:00p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and opens at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday home game days.

Check out the Kelowna Rockets Statistics




Images from this story

Kelowna Rockets vs. the Victoria Royals
Kelowna Rockets vs. the Victoria Royals
(Steve Dunsmoor)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from March 21, 2022


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