Rockets Host Thunderbirds For First Time This Season
November 12, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release
Hiroki Gojsic of the Kelowna Rockets leads the charge
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)
The Kelowna Rockets will wrap up their mini three game home stand on Wednesday, November 13 th when they host the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Kelowna hosted the Eastern Conference leading Saskatoon Blades on Friday and Spokane Chiefs on Saturday and managed to walk away with three out of a possible four points thanks to a 2-1 victory over Saskatoon and a 6-5 overtime loss to Spokane.
THUNDERBIRDS
Seattle comes into the game having hosted Red Deer on Tuesday night to wrap up a five game homestand. They previously played Victoria and Calgary on Friday and Saturday night and fell 4-3 to the Hitmen and 5-2 to Victoria.
ROCKETS TO WATCH
Marek Rocak registered four assists on Saturday against Spokane which comes just two games after the 19-year-old defenceman scored his first goal of the season. Rocak now has nine points in 15 games.
Hiroki Gojsic scored his second and third goals of the season against the Chiefs, including the game tying goal that sent the game to overtime off a beautiful power move with a rush to the net where he deposited the puck behind the Chiefs goaltender. Coming off an injury Gojsic has six points in nine games.
THUNDERBIRDS TO WATCH
Thunderbirds goaltender Scott Ratzlaff was selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres and is one of the candidates to start in goal for Canada at the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa. Ratzlaff is 4-5-1-1 in 12 games with the Thunderbirds and has a 3.75 goals-against-average and .892 save percentage.
Braeden Cootes is a top prospect eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft. In 19 games Cootes has six goals and 17 points which is tied for first on the team with fellow forward Nathan Pilling and defenceman Sawyer Mynio.
THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET
The Rockets and Thunderbirds last met on January 10 th, 2024 at Prospera Place in a game Kelowna won by a 5-2 score. Seattle got out to a 2-0 lead in the first period but Kelowna scored five unanswered goals for the victory with Andrew Cristall scoring twice including the game winner.
SEASON RECORD
Nov. 13 vs SEA - @ 7:05 PM
Jan. 17 vs SEA - @ 7:05 PM
Jan. 18 @ SEA - @ 6:05 pm
Feb. 11 @ SEA - @ 7:05 pm
WATCH AND LISTEN
Radio broadcast
Rockets games will be broadcast on 104.7 FM the Lizard this season with Regan Bartel calling all of the action.
Don't forget to download the RocketFAN app and visit rocketfan.ca for more exclusive Rockets content from Pattison. Fans can stream the radio broadcast of all Rockets games on the app.
Online video stream
All Rockets games will be available on WHL Live. WHL Live on is available to fans anywhere in the world, providing high-quality streaming of WHL games on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV platforms, via mobile with iOS and Android, and on web using Safari or Google Chrome web browsers. Visit watch.chl.ca for complete details and subscription options.
Six and twelve game Mini Packs for the Kelowna Rockets season are now on sale through Select Your Tickets.
Images from this story
 Hiroki Gojsic of the Kelowna Rockets leads the charge (Steve Dunsmoor) |
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Western Hockey League Stories from November 12, 2024
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