Preview: Rockets Set For Doubleheader In Portland
October 27, 2022 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Kelowna Rockets News Release
Kelowna Rockets take on the Portland Winterhawks
(Kelowna Rockets, Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)
The Kelowna Rockets will head to the United States for the first time this season this weekend where they’ll face the CHL’s seventh-ranked team in the country, the Portland Winterhawks, on Friday and Saturday.
Puck drop at Veterans Memorial Coliseum is set for 7:00 pm on Friday and 6:00 pm on Saturday.
“I think in order for us to have success we have to get back to simplifying our game,” said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette when asked what the team needs to do this weekend prior to departing for Portland. “Our structure and our compete needs to be much higher in those one on one battles.”
Kelowna will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak. They were last in action last Saturday against the number-one-ranked team in the country, the Winnipeg ICE. It was a heartbreaker of a loss, as the Rockets battled back to tie the game with 30 seconds left in the third period, but Arizona Coyotes prospect Conor Geekie scored the game-winner just seven seconds later.
“When our team is focused and determined we can play,” said Mallette about the Rockets game last weekend. “You saw that we just worked as group and put ourselves in a position to almost have a point at least against one of the best teams in the league. Just cleaning up a couple of those puck decisions could turn the tides a lot in our favour. We’re close, we just need to make sure that we’re eliminating those chances and really working as hard as a group collectively.”
Portland enters the weekend with a record of 7-1-0-0. They played one game last weekend, falling 7-3 to Tri-City-the squad’s first loss of the season after winning its first seven.
The last time these two met
Kelowna opened the regular season against the Winterhawks on September 24th falling 6-5 in overtime.
Falling behind twice, Kelowna pushed back to take a 3-2 lead heading into the third period. The Rockets created a two-goal cushion early in the third, but Portland pushed back. Kelowna once again restored the two-goal lead just before the middle of the third frame, but Portland responded with two straight goals to force overtime, where they eventually won the game.
Players to watch
Kelowna
Forward Andrew Cristall and defenceman Caden Price both earned B rankings on the NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary players to watch list presented by BioSteel released Tuesday. Players with B ratings are considered possible second- or third-round choices for the upcoming 2023 NHL Draft in June.
Gabriel Szturc leads the Rockets in scoring with 16 points (5G, 11A) through ten games. He recorded two goals and two assists in the Rockets game against Portland on September 24th.
Turner McMillen recorded two assists in the Rockets loss to Winnipeg last weekend.
Portland
Overage forward Robbie Fromm-Delorme leads Portland in scoring with 12 points (5G, 7A) through eight games this season.
Gabe Klassen leads the Winterhawks in goals with eight through four games, posting four of them against the Rockets on September 24th.
Defensemen Luca Cagnoni, Carter Sotheran, and goaltender Jan Špunar were also listed on the NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary players to watch list. Cagnoni earned a B rating, while Sotheran and Špunar were both graded as C prospects.
Roster Updates
The Rockets will be without forward Colton Dach (upper-body) and defenceman Elias Carmichael (lower-body) this weekend.
Both are listed as week-to-week on the injury report for this week. To view the Rockets injury report click here.
Dach, who was injured on October 14th against Everett, resumed skating on Thursday morning after the team departed for Portland
Series at a glance
2022-23 Season Series vs POR
Sept. 24 vs Portland 6-5 OTL
Oct. 28 @ Portland 7:00 pm
Oct. 29 @Portland 6:00 pm
Feb. 18 vs Portland 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 on CHL TV. WHL Live on CHL TV 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.
The Rockets next home game is Saturday, November 5th when they’ll host the Kamloops Blazers for their first matchup of the regular season. Single-game tickets for all Rockets home games are on sale at Select Your Tickets. Tickets can be purchased online through www.selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office, or by phone at 250-762-5050.
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