Rockets Grab Win from Seattle
Published on February 24, 2018 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release
Kelowna Rockets celebrate with the bench
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Marissa Baecker)
The Kelowna Rockets scored late to edge the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-4 at Prospera Place on Friday night.
With 12:34 remaining in the opening frame Donovan Neuls(20) tipped a shot past Rockets goaltender Brodan Salmond to get Seattle on the board first. The T-Birds took at 2-0 lead with 8:25 left in the period as Dillon Hamaliuk notched his 14th. Despite a 9-8 advantage in shots the Rockets were held scoreless through 20 minutes.
19 seconds into the middle stanza Rockets Captain Cal Foote snapped home his 16th of the season to cut the Thunderbirds lead in half. Just 1:54 later Dillon Dube scored his 30th of the campaign courtesy of Leif Mattson's setup pass and the score was knotted 2-2 through 40 minutes of play.
Just under three minutes into the final frame Leif Mattson(19) gave the Rockets their first lead of the night on a Kelowna power play. Kaedan Korczak(3) extended their lead to two ripping a point shot past T-Birds netminder Dorrin Luding on another Rockets power play. With 5:16 to play Matthew Wedman(15) cut the Rockets lead to one before Zack Andrusiak(24) evened things up once again just 29 seconds later. With the game locked at 4-4 and only 1:21 remaining Rockets leader in points Kole Lind sniped his 32nd goal and 79th point of the season to restore a one-goal Kelowna lead. The Rockets shut down a late push from Seattle and escaped with a 5-4 win.
Brodan Salmond's record improves to 10-8-0-1 after stopping 23 of the 27 shots he faced. Kelowna outshot Seattle 29-27.
The Rockets enjoyed multi-point evenings from Leif Mattson(1G, 2A), Dillon Dube(1G, 1A), and Kaedan Korczak(1G, 1A).
Kelowna's record improves to 37-18-4-1.
The Rockets are right back in action tomorrow night when they host their divisional rival the Kamloops Blazers. Puck drop on Saturday is at 7:05pm. Find Trail Appliances at the game collecting non-perishable items and donations for the Food Bank. Help fill the Trail Truck.
Kelowna will head out on the road for a three game road-trip after this weekends action. The first stop is in Prince George to take on the Cougars Tuesday and Wednesday night, before finishing the trip off in Everett next Friday.
The Rockets return home again following their three game trip on Saturday, March 3rd when they host Dan Lambert and the Spokane Chiefs at 7:05pm at Prospera Place.
Tickets are available for Rockets home games through selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at 250-762-5050.
Images from this story
 Kelowna Rockets celebrate with the bench (Marissa Baecker) |
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