Sports stats



WHL Kelowna Rockets

Rockets Earn Spot in 2024 WHL Playoffs

March 9, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Kelowna Rockets' Gabriel Szturc on the ice
Kelowna Rockets' Gabriel Szturc on the ice
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor/Kelowna Rockets)

The Kelowna Rockets clinched a spot in the 2024 WHL Playoffs with a 9-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers on Friday night at Prospera Place.

The Rockets, who entered the night tied with the Vancouver Giants, were able to take sole possession of sixth place in the Western Conference and are a single point back of the Victoria Royals for fifth. Vancouver has a game in hand on both Kelowna and Victoria. The Rockets, who have gone 6-0-1-0 over their last seven games, will wrap up their final two games of the regular season against the Giants later this month.

"I'm really happy," said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette in his postgame interview about clinching a playoff spot. "We're just going to continue to try to move up the standings and see what happens over these next six games."

Washington Capitals prospect Andrew Cristall set a new career high with seven points (2G, 5A) in a game, pushing him past the 100-point mark. With 37 goals and 65 assists, Cristall now sits at 102 points on the season. He's the first Rocket to record a 100-point season since Colin Long during the 2007-2008 season, where he posted 100 points (31G, 69A) over 72 regular-season games.

"Things were clicking I guess," said Cristall. "I think our line's starting to play really good, we're finding each other all over the ice and it was a fun game.

"It's nice that we're for sure in the playoffs, but the main message in our room is that we're building for something bigger and want to keep climbing the standings to get the highest seed possible."

GAME SUMMARY

Marek Rocak (8) broke the scoreless tie midway through the opening period after he jumped up in the rush alongside Andrew Cristall, who centered the feed for him. Sixty-four seconds later defenceman Carter Kowalyk (1) wrapped the puck around into the net for his first goal as Rocket. Two and a half minutes later Cristall beat the race to scoop up the puck behind the Blazers net, sending the puck to the top of the slot where Gabriel Szturc (29) ripped a one-timer past Blazers goalie Jesse Sanche.

While on the power play Cristall dished the puck to Dylan Wightman (10) low in the slot to give the Rockets a four-goal lead. Cristall (36) then intercepted a clearing along the left point, making a move around a Blazers defenceman, he was able to work the puck around Sanche's pad on his back-hand and tuck it into the net on his forehand to record his 100th point of the campaign.

Wightman cleanly won the faceoff in the right circle back to Luke Schelter (14) to push Kelowna out to a six-goal lead 1:38 into the third period. Just over one minute later Blake Swetlikoff's (7) power play marker broke Jari Kykkanen's shutout bid. Cristall (37) found the back of the net for the second time on the night after he took off on a breakaway while on the man advantage. Kayden Longley (6) redirected Ethan Mittelsteadt's shot over Sanche's shoulder before Max Graham (16) added another power play marker late in the game.

https://twitter.com/Kelowna_Rockets/status/1766322285684879414

ADDITIONAL STATS

The Rockets record is now 30-28-3-1

Rockets goaltender Jari Kykkanen stopped 30 of 31 shots fired his way to pick up his 25th win of the season and earn third star honors

Kelowna was 3/4 with the man advantage, while the Kamloops power play went 1/4

The Rockets outshot the Blazers 40-31

This was the seventh between the two this season, the Rockets record is 3-3-1-0 against the Blazers this season.

UP NEXT

The Rockets wrap up their season series against the Blazers on Saturday night in Kamloops - puck drop is set for 6:00 pm. Fans can listen to the game on 104.7 The Lizard with Regan Bartel or watch on CHL TV at https://watch.chl.ca/.

The Rockets next home game is Wednesday, March 13 when the Prince George Cougars, the winners of the 2023-24 BC Division title, wrap up the season series at Prospera Place. It's a Fan First Menu game with hot dogs on fo $2 and Lucky Lager for $5.

Single Game Tickets for all Rockets games 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' Gabriel Szturc on the ice
Kelowna Rockets' Gabriel Szturc on the ice
(Steve Dunsmoor/Kelowna Rockets)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from March 9, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central