Rockets looking to clip wings in Seattle

T-Birds ended Kelowna’s home winning streak at 13

The Kelowna Rockets are anxious to take revenge on the Seattle Thunderbirds tonight—at least that’s the plan.

Kelowna meets the T-Birds tonight for the first time since Seattle snapped the Rockets’ 13-game home winning streak last Friday, 6-4. Assistant coach Travis Crickard said the T-Birds will be even tougher in their rink.

“Seattle plays a very hard game, especially at home. Their defence is strong and they forecheck hard. They compete significantly harder than most teams for loose pucks and they dominate in faceoffs,” said Crickard. “We need our players to appear in the game ready to battle.”

The Rockets go into the game on Friday night with a 26-12-2-1 record giving them 55 points. They currently sit in the top spot in the B.C. division, one point ahead of the second place Vancouver Giants with three games in hand.

The Rockets are up five points over the Victoria Royals and have two games in hand.

The T-Birds go into tonight’s game with a 20-14-4-2 record giving them 46 points and placing them fourth in the U.S. Division.

They lead the Spokane Chiefs by one point, and trail the third-place Tri-City Americans by three.

This is the second of four meetings between Kelowna and Seattle. The next time they meet will be Jan. 19, once again in Seattle.

The Thunderbirds come back to Kelowna on Feb. 23 for their final regular season meeting.

Friday's puck drop is at 7:35 p.m. You can listen on AM1150.

Following the game on Friday night, Kelowna returns across the border to take on the Vancouver Giants in Langley. The Giants have Friday night off and head into Saturday with a 24-14-4-2 record.

This will be the fourth of eight meetings between the Rockets and Giants this season. They met on Nov. 10 in Kelowna with the Rockets skating to a 5-4 overtime victory.

They met again on Nov. 18 in Langley and the Giants got redemption handing Kelowna a 6-1 loss, but Kelowna returned to Langley on Nov. 24 and got the edge once again, winning 3-2.

The next time these two meet following Saturday will be Feb. 7 in Kelowna.

The Rockets are home on Jan. 17 to host the Lethbridge Hurricanes.