Holiday break over for Rockets, who host Blazers tonight

We’ll need to continue to build on our success and fine tune our systems through repetition and attention to detail.

Rockets assistant coach Kris Mallette

The Kelowna Rockets get ready to take on the Kamloops Blazers tonight at Prospera Place.

With it being the first game back from the Holiday break, Assistant Coach Kris Mallette is ready to get back at it.

“We’re definitely excited to be back. Anytime you can step away and try to shut your brain off for a few days, and get reacquainted with family and friends who often take a back seat during the hectic season, it’s great,” Mallette said.

The Rockets come back from the break with a record of 20-11-2-1 that gives them 43 points and places them in in first place in the B.C. Division. The Victoria Royals are also tied for first with 43 points. The Vancouver Giants trail the Rockets and Royals by three points.

The Blazers sit in fourth in the B.C. Division with a record of 1617-0-1 giving them 33 points. They’re four points ahead of the fifth place Prince George Cougars.

Mallette believes the team just needs to continue to tweak minor details to keep their success going.

“We’ll need to continue to build on our success and fine tune our systems through repetition and attention to detail,” Mallette said.

“We know that the second half is where we need to be dialed in to try and set ourselves up for what we hope will be a long playoff run again. Kamloops has been playing very well since their start and had a very successful Eastern road trip so these division games are huge and we need to be ready and worry about our team game.” Puck drop tonight is at 7:05 p.m. Kelowna will be without Rockets Captain Cal Foote and Rockets Assistant Captain Dillon Dube as they are in Buffalo, N.Y., taking part in the World Junior Championships for Team Canada.

With Dube captaining the squad, they are currently 1-0-0-0 in round robin play after defeating Finland 4-2 on Boxing Day. They play again today at 4 p.m. facing off against Slovakia.

The Rockets are back in action again on Friday, when they head to Kamloops for a rematch of tonight. Puck drop on Friday is at 7 p.m.

Kelowna is back home again on Saturday, when they host the Victoria Royals for another holiday B.C. Division battle. Puck drop on Saturday is at 7:05 p.m.

Tickets are available for Rockets home games through selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at 250-762-5050.