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WHL Kelowna Rockets

Rockets Get First Win Of 2025 With 6-4 Victory Over Blazers

January 3, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Kelowna Rockets' Kayden Longley On Game Night
Kelowna Rockets' Kayden Longley On Game Night
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Allen Douglas)

The Kelowna Rockets nabbed their first win of 2025 with an exciting 6-4 victory over the Kamloops Blazers on Friday night at the Sandman Centre.

Andrew Cristall scored twice while Max Graham potted the winner thanks to a shorthanded tally in the third period.

GAME SUMMARY

The Rockets got off to a very quick start Friday night as Andrew Cristall deflected a Gabriel Guilbault shot past Blazers goaltender Dylan Ernst 24 seconds into the contest. The goal was Cristall's 25 th of the season in 27 games and Guilbault's first point in the Western Hockey League to give the Rockets a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Kelowna continued its strong play into the second period when Cristall scored his second of the game at 13:43 while Kayden Longley was the benefactor of some great work down low by Kanjyu Gojsic to get it to Longley out front for his sixth of the season less than three minutes after Cristall's marker to put the Rockets ahead 3-0 after the second.

Kamloops would get back into the game 1:35 into the third as overage forward Oren Shtrom would strike on a breakaway to bring it to 3-1. Kamloops would bring the game within one just minutes later as Nathan Behm would deposit his 20 th goal of the season past Rhett Stoesser. The furious first half to the third period would continue with Kalder Varga regaining Kelowna's two goal lead 4:07 into the period with his seventh of the campaign. Emmitt Finnie got Kamloops back within one but Max Graham put Kelowna up 5-3 with his 12 th goal coming shorthanded. The goal would stand as the game winner as Behm would pot his second to make it 5-4 before Michael Cicek would ice the game with an empty netter from Michael Cicek.

ADDITIONAL STATS

Kamloops outshot Kelowna 36-20

Kelowna went 0/1 on the power play while scoring a shorthanded goal while Kamloops went 1/3

Rhett Stoesser made 32 saves in the game

UP NEXT

The Rockets will now return home on January 4th to host the Vancouver Giants with puck drop going at 6:05 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' Kayden Longley On Game Night
Kelowna Rockets' Kayden Longley On Game Night
(Allen Douglas)		   

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 3, 2025


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