Kelowna Rockets play host to Prince George Cougars

Adam Foote started his headcoaching career on the right foot with Tuesday’s home win over the Swift Current Broncos.

It was a solid 3-2 victory that saw the Rockets dominate the opening 40 minutes, then hold on to edge the WHL’s last-place team.

Tonight, Foote and the Rockets will look to make it two in a row against a division rival in the Prince George Cougars.

This is a bigger test and even though the season is still quite young, the result will impact the standings and the playoff picture in the B.C. Division.

The Rockets (5-10-0-2) are just two points behind the Cougars (56-0-2) for the third seed in B.C.

A regulation win would pull Kelowna even with Prince George, although the Cougars have two games in hand on the Rockets.

Regardless, these are a big two points at stake tonight at Prospera Place. Puck drop is 7:05 p.m.

Call it a four-point game, and a chance for Kelowna to avenge a disappointing home-ice defeat back on Sept. 26 in the third game of the regular season for the Rockets. That 4-2 loss — which dropped Kelowna to 0-3-0-0 out of the gate — stands out as one of the games that got away and may have had a hand in the eventual coaching change from Jason Smith to Foote, who took over this week.

The Rockets also lost 3-2 in P.G. on Sept. 28 before bouncing back for a 5-2 win and their first victory of the season in the back half of that twinbill on Sept. 29.

That was also the most recent result between the teams, who haven’t faced off since that three-game mini-series in the early stages.

The Rockets will likely get top-line forward Nolan Foote back in the lineup tonight after missing the past two games with an upper-body injury sustained in Victoria last weekend. Adam has coached Nolan throughout his minor-hockey career, but this would be their first game together at the junior level.