WHL Kelowna Rockets

Rockets Edges, 3-2, by Royals

Published on February 17, 2024 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


The Kelowna Rockets fell 3-2 to the Victoria Royals on Friday night at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena in Victoria, BC.

Overage forward Dawson Pasternak earned the first star of the game after recording the opening goal of the night and the Royals game-winner, he also recorded an assist on the Royals other goal.

Dawson Pasternak (21) scooped up a bouncing puck along the half wall, he skated through the left faceoff circle firing the puck through Jari Kykkanen's five-hole to put Victoria on the board first 13:52 into the game. Late in the frame Pasternak spun and skated away from a Rockets defender back to the top of the right faceoff circle, he made a cross-ice feed to tee up Tyson Laventure (23) with a one-timer.

Rockets captain Gabriel Szturc served a four-minute double minor penalty for high sticking early in the third period that Kelowna was able to kill off. However, shortly after the kill the Royals struck to go up 3-0. Cole Reschny pressured defenceman Marek Rocak, allowing Tyson Laventure to intercept and push ahead to Reschny heading into the zone. Reschny then passed it off to Pasternak (22), who toe-dragged around KaydenSadhra-Kang and let a shot go from the slot. While on the power play, Tij Iginla (36) skated from above the top of the right faceoff circle ripping a shot from the slot to beat Braden Holt blocker side.

With 62 seconds left in regulation and the Rockets net empty, Caden Price's (10) seeing-eye shot from the left faceoff dot found its way into the Royals net to pull Kelowna within one.

ADDITIONAL STATS

The Rockets record is now 24-27-3-0

Rockets goaltender Jari Kykkanen stopped 26 of 29 shots fired his way

Victoria was 0/5 with the man advantage, while the Rockets power play went 0/3

The Rockets outshot the Royals 30-29

UP NEXT

The Rockets and Royals will meet again on Saturday at 6:05 pm to finish up the season series.

Kelowna's next home game is set for Family Day on Monday, February 19 when the Tri-City Americans make their final visit of the season to Prospera Place. Kids (12 and under) tickets are on sale for $10. It will also be a Fan First Menu night at Prospera, which means $2 hot dogs and $5 beer from Lucky Lager.

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

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 17, 2024


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