Rockets back home to play host to Prince George

Playoff races heating up with just 9 games left in regular season

The Kelowna Rockets current homestand consists of one game, but it’s an important game with the battle for playoff positions in full swing.

With nine games left in the WHL’s regular season, the Rockets host the Prince George Cougars tonight at Prospera Place.

The Cougars lead the B.C. Division and trail Everett by one point for first in the Western Conference. Kelowna is just six points behind Prince George and one point behind second-place Kamloops — with a game in hand on both teams.

With the Rockets getting healthy down the stretch, consistency and familiarity has been key to the team’s recent success, according to head coach Jason Smith.

“I think it helps, it’s nice to have a full lineup,” he said.

“I think you have to expect to go through parts of the season where you deal with injuries, or players away at the world juniors or, at the start of the year, you got players at NHL training camps, but it’s nice to have a group of guys right now playing and have the depth we have of guys who have been in and out of the lineup.

“We’ve been able to get contributions from everybody in our lineup, from our topline players to guys that play on the fourth line, and when you’re getting scoring from your depth and contributions from everybody, it really allows your team to have success.”

The Rockets played a three-game road trip on the weekend, taking wins in Kamloops (8-2) and Spokane (9-5) while losing in Seattle (5-3).

The Rockets finished the month of February with a 10-2-1-0 record.

The Cougars officially punched their ticket to the playoffs on the weekend with a pair of wins over the Edmonton Oil Kings. The Cougars are 4-4-0-2 in their last 10 games.

Tonight is the eighth and final meeting between Kelowna and Prince George. The Rockets have won the three most recent match-ups — taking back-to-back wins in Prince George on Feb. 3-4 then winning 5-2 on Feb. 18 at Prospera.

After tonight, the Rockets head to Everett on Friday to take on the Silvertips (38-18-82) before opening a six-game homestand on Saturday against Tri-City (38-23-3-0).