Rockets Hit the Road to Tri-City
Published on March 27, 2018 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release
Kelowna Rockets Forward Dillon Dube vs. the Tri-City Americans
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Cindy Rogers)
The Kelowna Rockets are on the road for games three and four in Kennewick, WA. to take on the Tri-City Americans starting on Wednesday night.
After dropping the first two games of the series, Assistant Coach Travis Crickard says there are a few key factors his team needs to implement heading into Tri-City.
"There are a few things we need. Our best players need to elevate their game. We've had two games where a couple of them could give us more," Crickard said. "Of course our defensive play and our penalty kill needs to be better, and just an overall commitment to being accountable for your own play and not worrying about others. We have too many guys trying to do other guys jobs or blaming mistakes on others so that's the number one thing."
The Rockets are currently behind 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. In game one the Rockets came out flying in the opening frame recording 19 shots in the first 20 minutes of play. Despite the barrage, Americans goaltender Patrick Dea shut the door, and Tri-City led 1-0 after one period. After making it a 2-0 game after 40, the Americans notched three power play goals in the third period to take game one 5-0. Morgan Geekie(2G, 1A), Michael Rasmussen(2G, 1A), and Patrick Dea(39 save shutout) were standouts for Tri-City in the series opener. In game two the Rockets weren't going to be shutout again, as Kole Lind opened the scoring 36 seconds in. 15 seconds after that Kyle Topping made it 2-0 Kelowna before Captain Cal Foote made it a three-goal advantage at the 3:00 mark. After opening the game on their heels, the Americans began to push back, starting with a power play marker at 8:51 from Michael Rasmussen. Nolan Yaremko cut the Rockets lead to only one before Rasmussen evened things at 3-3. Before the opening frame was over, Yaremko scored his second of the period and Tri-City held a 4-3 lead after 20 minutes of play. Right off the hop in the middle frame Nolan Foote evened things up once again for Kelowna before Kole Lind restored a one-goal lead on the power play. The lead was short lived and the see-saw battle continued as Isaac Johnson tied things up for Ams once again. Before the second period came to a close, Kaedan Korczak made an end-to-end rush, finishing it off with his first career WHL Playoff goal to make it 6-5 for Kelowna heading into the final frame. In the final frame of game two, Morgan Geekie struck for the third time in the series to tie things up at 6's. Carsen Twarynski restored Kelowna's one-goal lead for the fourth time of the evening, but the Americans would not go away. Geekie scored his second of the night before Johnson scored his, and the Tri-City took an 8-7 lead in a crazy run-and-gun style game. Nolan Yaremko later scored in the empty net to complete the hat-trick and give the Americans a 2-0 series lead heading back to Tri-City for games three and four. Kole Lind(2G, 2A) and Cal Foote(1G, 3A) both notched four points in the defeat.
Game three goes on Wednesday, March 28th at 7:05pm at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, WA. and game four goes the following night, Thursday, March 29th at 7:05pm again in Kennewick.
The full first round schedule is as follows:
Game 1 Tri-City @ Kelowna Thursday, March 22 7:05
Game 2 Tri-City @ Kelowna Saturday, March 24 7:05
Game 3 Kelowna @ Tri-City Wednesday, March 28 7:05
Game 4 Kelowna @ Tri-City Thursday, March 29 7:05
Game 5 * Tri-City @ Kelowna Saturday, March 31 7:05
Game 6 * Kelowna @ Tri-City Sunday, April 1 5:05
Game 7 * Tri-City @ Kelowna Tuesday, April 3 7:05
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 Forward Dillon Dube vs. the Tri-City Americans (Cindy Rogers) |
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