Rockets Double-up on Cougars, 6-3

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WHL Kelowna Rockets

Rockets Double-up on Cougars, 6-3

January 11, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Kelowna Rockets' Jakub Stancl
Kelowna Rockets' Jakub Stancl
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor )

The new look Kelowna Rockets overcame an early 2-0 deficit to come back and defeat the Prince George Cougars 6-3 in a spirited, hard-fought affair.

Jakub Stancl made his return to the line up from the World Juniors and continued his hot play, registering three goals and five points while Max Graham also chipped in with a goal and three assists of his own. Newly acquired Will Sharpe and Dawson Gerwing both scored their first goals as Rockets while Hayden Paupanekis has two helpers in his debut. Andrew Petruk did not suit up in Friday's game and is expected to meet the team in Vancouver on Saturday.

Derrick Martin was also victorious in his first game as interim Head Coach of the Rockets.

GAME SUMMARY

The Cougars came out the gate quickly as Aiden Foster would score 21 seconds into the game to put Prince George ahead early. The Cougars would add to their lead when newly acquired Ben Riche took a feed from Lee Shurgot and deposited it past Rockets goaltender Jake Pilon to make it 2-0. Kelowna would turn the tide and get itself on the board when captain Max Graham finished off a sweet feed from Hayden Paupanekis to give the Rockets some momentum heading into the first intermission with the score 2-1.

The Rockets would tie the game with Stancl's first of three goals on the evening, his 12th of the campaign but Prince George quickly responded with a goal of their own by Kayden Lemire. Stancl scored his second in the late stages of the period to give the game a 3-3 score heading into the final frame.

The Rockets would go ahead for good when Will Sharpe broke in to score his first of a Rocket just 37 seconds into the period and Dawson Gerwing would score just nine seconds later to put the Rockets up 5-3. Stancl would round out the scoring with his hat trick goal.

"They're a mature group and they're really, really intelligent. The challenge we set forward today didn't have anything to do with X's and O's ... we don't have to look too far to come up with an excuse tonight as to why not to show up ... there's been enough things going on in our dressing room that are hard to overcome," said Rockets interim Head Coach Derrick Martin.

"I was really proud of our group tonight. They found the reason they love this game and we saw that passion. It was as close to a 60-minutes performance that we've seen from this group in a while. It feels really good."

ADDITIONAL STATS

Kelowna outshot Prince George 38-35

Kelowna went 1/6 on the power play while Prince George went 0/2

Jake Pilon made 32 saves for the victory

UP NEXT

The Rockets will get right back at it when they travel to Vancouver to take on the Giants at 7:00 PM. The Rockets will return home for a midweek game against the Spokane Chiefs in what will be the return of Rockets second all-time leading scorer Andrew Cristall. Puck drop for that game will go at 7:05 PM.

Tickets can be purchased online at selectyourtickets.com, by calling Select Your Tickets at 250-762-5050 or by visiting the Select Your Tickets box office at the Prospera Place box office. The box office is open 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and opens at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday home game days.

Check out the Kelowna Rockets Statistics




Images from this story

Kelowna Rockets' Jakub Stancl
Kelowna Rockets' Jakub Stancl
(Steve Dunsmoor )		   

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