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WHL Kelowna Rockets

Rockets Tangle With Giants In Weekend Matchup

February 21, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kelowna Rockets News Release


Kalder Varga of the Kelowna Rockets (right)
Kalder Varga of the Kelowna Rockets (right)
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)

The Kelowna Rockets will meet up with a familiar rival as they'll matchup with the Vancouver Giants in a pair of games this weekend, starting on Friday, February 21 st at Prospera Place before travelling to Vancouver the next day for the rematch.

Kelowna comes into the game following a 3-2 shootout loss at the hands of the Tri-City Americans on Family Day Monday. Michael Cicek and Levi Benson scored in the loss while Jake Pilon was superb in goal, turning away 43 shots.

GIANTS

Vancouver has won their previous two games, defeating Victoria by a 4-3 score in a shootout on Saturday before beating Prince George 7-2 on Family Day. Goaltender Burke Hood was exceptional in both games, being named the game's first star on Friday and second star on Monday.

TALK TODAY GAME

The Kelowna Rockets and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Kelowna are teaming up to raise awareness about the importance of mental health for the Rockets home game on February 21 st against the Vancouver Giants.

This awareness campaign is part of an ongoing commitment by the Rockets and CMHA Kelowna to implement Talk Today. Talk Today provides mental health support to players and raises awareness about mental health and suicide prevention throughout communities across the Western Hockey League (WHL).

A key piece of the Talk Today program has been to educate players about mental health and suicide prevention. Every team in the WHL has received mental health training specific to suicide prevention. Each team is also now linked to a CMHA Mental Health Coach, who provides support and mental health resources to individuals in need.

ROCKETS ROSTER AND INJURY UPDATE

The Rockets were dealt a blow when it was announced that captain Max Graham would be out indefinitely due to undergoing successful knee surgery. The Rockets have already been out without star forward Tij Iginla who underwent successful hip surgery earlier in the season.

Forwards Andrew Petruk and Jakub Stancl are both day-to-day with illness.

ROCKETS TO WATCH

Hayden Paupanekis has a goal and an assist the last time these two teams met on January 25 th.

Jake Pilon was rock solid in the Rockets net on Monday, finishing the game with a 1.85 goals-against-average and .956 save percentage.

GIANTS TO WATCH

Burke Hood has gone 2-0 in his past two games, turning aside 59 of the 64 shots he faced.

Ryan Lin returned from injury that had him sidelined since February 2 nd. Since returning Lin has put up four points in three games.

THE LAST TIME THESE TWO MET

Hayden Paupanekis scored twice while Kelowna held a 3-2 lead late in the second period but Vancouver rallied for a late period goal to tie the game before scoring three times in the third period for a 6-4 victory.

SEASON RECORD

Nov. 22 vs VAN - 8-3 W

Dec. 29 at VAN - 3-1 L

Jan. 4 vs VAN - 7-0 L

Jan. 11 at VAN - 6-4 L

Jan. 25 vs VAN - @ 6-4 L

Feb. 21 vs VAN - @ 7:05 pm

Feb. 22 at VAN - @ 7:00 pm

Mar. 23 at VAN - @ 4:00 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.

Check out the Kelowna Rockets Statistics




Images from this story

Kalder Varga of the Kelowna Rockets (right)
Kalder Varga of the Kelowna Rockets (right)
(Steve Dunsmoor)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from February 21, 2025


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