Rockets Stumble 5-4 to ICE
October 23, 2022 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Kelowna Rockets News Release
Kelowna Rockets’ Will Munro versus Winnipeg ICE’s Josh Medernach and Skyler Bruce
(Kelowna Rockets)
The Kelowna Rockets fell 5-4 to the Canadian Hockey League’s number-one-ranked team, the Winnipeg ICE, on Saturday night at Prospera Place.
Arizona Coyotes prospect Conor Geekie posted two goals, including the game-winner. ICE goaltender Daniel Hauser remains perfect on the season, making 33 saves on 37 shots to pick up his ninth win of the season.
Kelowna battled back to tie the game with 30 seconds to play, but Winnipeg charged back seven seconds later to score the game-winning goal.
“It’s a team you can’t fall asleep on for a second,” said Rockets assistant coach Quintin Laing in the post-game media availability.
“A few plays we let our guard down and they capitalized, they’re one of the best teams in junior hockey for a reason. You’ve gotta keep your focus, you gotta have your deals and you can’t give up for five seconds or else they’re going to bite you. Tonight we let our guard down for a little bit and it bit us.”
The Rockets were without veteran defenceman Elias Carmichael, playing with five defencemen and thirteen forwards.
“It was a big ask, four of those d played a lot of minutes. Having Carmichael out hurts, but that’s an opportunity for guys to play more minutes and step up. Hats off to them, I thought they worked extremely hard tonight.”
GAME SUMMARY
The Rockets got on the board first after Rilen Kovacevic (3) picked the puck off of an ICE defender and beat Daniel Hauser 2:32 into the game. Defenceman Ben Zloty (2), pulled off a highlight reel lacrosse goal to tie the game, and on the ensuing faceoff Conor Geekie (7) took off up the ice to push the ICE ahead. Gabriel Szturc (5) tied the game on a power play one-timer from the right faceoff circle set up by Andrew Cristall. Ty Nash’s (3) jammed the puck past Talyn Boyko to reestablish the Winnipeg lead.
Vladislav Shilo (1) stretched Winnipeg’s lead to two goals, but Turner McMillen (3) pulled Kelowna back within one.
With Boyko on the bench for the extra attacker in the final seconds of the game Savoie hit the goal post, the play shifted the other way with Cristall setting up Adam Kydd (5) on a cross-ice feed to tie the game with 30 seconds left on the clock. Seven seconds later Geekie (8) beat Boyko glove side with the game-winner.
ADDITIONAL STATS
Kelowna outshot Winnipeg 37 to 32
The Rockets were 1/5 on the power play while the ICE were 0/5
Zach Benson was the game’s first star, Turner McMillen was the second and Ben Zloty was the third
The Rockets record moves to 3-6-1-0
Andrew Cristall posted a pair of assists, it was his fifth multipoint game of the season
Talyn Boyko stopped 27 of the 33 shots fired on him, his record is now 0-2-0-0
UP NEXT
Kelowna’s off until next weekend when they’ll head to Portland for a pair of games against the Winterhawks on Friday and Saturday.
The next Rockets home game is Saturday, November 5th when the Kamloops Blazers will visit Prospera Place for the first time this 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.
Mini Packs are now on sale for the 2022-23 season, pick from between a six or twelve-game pack.
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