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WHL Kelowna Rockets

Preview: Rockets at Thunderbirds and Silvertips

December 6, 2021 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Max Graham of the Kelowna Rockets
Max Graham of the Kelowna Rockets
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)

The Kelowna Rockets will wrap up their three-game road trip with a pair of weeknight games against the Seattle Thunderbirds and Everett Silvertips.

The Rockets will face the Thunderbirds at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent on Tuesday, then head to Everett where they'll take on the Silvertips on Wednesday night at the Angel of the Winds Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. both nights.

This is the Rockets second road trip to the US this season, they're 0-2-0-1 in a previous road trip that saw stops in Spokane and Portland.

After falling 5-3 to the Vancouver Giants on Wednesday, the Rockets rebounded with a 4-3 victory over the Kia CHL Top 10 second-ranked major junior hockey team in Canada, the Kamloops Blazers. The Blazers (17-4-0-0) have only lost four games this season, with three of those losses coming against the Rockets.

Kamloops shot out of the gate with an early goal from Matthew Seminoff, but Colton Dach responded for the Rockets. Connor Levis pushed the Blazers head once again before the end of the period. While on the power play, Dach notched his second of the night. Turner McMillen then gave Kelowna their first lead of the night. Trailing heading into the third, Caedan Bankier tied the game up once again but McMillen found the back of the net for the second time on the night to give the Rockets their 11th win of the season. Talyn Boyko made 33 saves on 36 shots to earn his sixth win of the campaign.

The Thunderbirds last played on Saturday, where they fell to the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 in overtime. They were also defeated in overtime on Friday night, falling 5-4 to the Victoria Royals.

Seattle has the top penalty kill in the WHL as of Monday afternoon, only allowing 15 goals against on 101 opportunities with a kill rate of 85.2%.

The two won't have to wait long to meet up again, Seattle will be in Kelowna to face the Rockets on Saturday night at Prospera Place. Fans can purchase 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. The Silvertips slid from second to third in last week's Kia CHL Top 10 rankings. They're currently the top team in the Western Conference with a record of 18-3-1-1 and 38 points.

Everett played three games over the weekend; downing Tri-City 8-2 on Friday, but losing consecutive games in regulation for the first time, falling 6-5 to Vancouver on Saturday and 7-1 to Portland on Sunday.

It just isn't busy on the ice this week for Kelowna, the WHL US Prospects Draft takes place Wednesday and the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft (which is typically held in May) will take place on Thursday due to Covid-19 pushing the date back.

Seattle Thunderbirds (13-6-3-0 - 29 points) 2nd U.S. Division Power Play: 17/92 - 18.5% Penalty Kill: 86/101 - 85.2% Last Ten: 4-4-2-0 Streak: 2-0-2-0 GF: 75 GA: 64 PIM: 294 Kelowna Rockets (11-6-0-2 -24 points) 3rd B.C. Division Power Play: 15/61 - 24.6% Penalty Kill: 54/69 - 78.3% Last Ten: 6-3-0-1 Streak: 1-0-0-0 GF: 67 GA: 63 PIM: 231 stats and records as of Monday afternoon

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Kelowna:

* The newly formed fourth line of Turner McMillen - Max Graham - Marcus Pacheco line was clicking on Saturday night against the Blazers. The trio combined for two goals, four assists and five shots on goal.

* It's the first time that former Everett Silvertip Max Graham will get to face his former team. The seventeen-year-old was acquired in late August From the 'tips in exchange for Alex Swetlikoff and the Rockets sixth-round pick in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft. Graham posted two assists over 18 games as a sixteen-year-old with Everett last season, through 18 games with Kelowna this season the 6'3, 180-pound centreman has 11 points (3G, 8A). Seattle

* Dallas Stars prospect Conner Roulette is tied for the Thunderbirds team lead in scoring with 24 points over 22 games this season.

* In the series of trades made during the 2019 WHL Draft, the Rockets acquired the tenth overall pick in the draft through the Sean Comrie deal with Brandon that was later flipped to the T-Birds in the Lee-Hamaliuk-Schwebius deal. Seattle used that pick to select defenceman Kevin Korchinski, who has posted 15 points through 22 games this season. Everett

* Through 23 games this season, former Kelowna Rocket Alex Swetlikoff has posted 26 points (11G, 15A), 22 penalty minutes and a +11 plus/minus rating. The overage centreman was dealt to Everett this past August along with a draft pick for seventeen-year-old Max Graham.

* Much like Rockets forward Pavel Novak, Michal Gut has returned to Everett after spending all of last season playing in his native Czech Republic. The 5'11 forward leads the team in scoring with 28 points (5G,23A) over 20 games this season.

B.C. DIVISION STANDINGS

# Team GP W L OTL SOL PTS

1 Kamloops Blazers 21 17 4 0 0 34

2 Vancouver Giants 21 13 7 1 0 27

3 Kelowna Rockets 19 11 6 0 2 24

4 Prince George Cougars 22 8 14 0 0 16

5 Victoria Royals 20 6 11 3 0 15

U.S. DIVISION STANDINGS

# Team GP W L OTL SOL PTS

1 Everett Silvertips 23 18 3 1 1 38

2 Seattle Thunderbirds 22 9 10 3 1 22

3 Portland Winterhawks 23 9 10 3 1 22

4 Spokane Chiefs 21 6 12 2 1 15

5 Tri-City Americans 20 5 12 3 0 13

as of Monday afternoon

SEASON SERIES

vs SEA Dec. 7 @ Seattle 7:05 PM

Dec. 11 vs Seattle 7:05 PM

Feb. 27 @ Seattle 5:05 PM

Mar. 1 @ Seattle 7:05 PM

SEASON SERIES

vs EVT Dec. 8 @ Everett 7:05 PM

Jan. 21 vs Everett 7:05 PM

Feb. 11 vs Everett 7:05 PM

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 AM1150.

Check out the Kelowna Rockets Statistics




Images from this story

Max Graham of the Kelowna Rockets
Max Graham of the Kelowna Rockets
(Steve Dunsmoor)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from December 6, 2021


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