Rockets close out regular season with home-and-home set against rival Giants
Kelowna visits Vancouver tonight, in Langley, then hosts finale on Saturday
The Kelowna Rockets take on the Vancouver Giants tonight in Langley for the opener of a home-and-home set to close out the regular season.
Having won their last three games, Rockets head coach Jason Smith says the team needs to stick to the basics to continue this success into the post-season. “Hard work and commitment to doing the right thing for your team are going to earn us the results we want,” said Smith. “Playing our game and the systems that we want with structure and detail are going to be the things that allow us to have success this weekend.”
This will be the seventh of eight meetings between the two clubs.
The first time they met was back on Nov. 10 when Carsen Twarynski scored the winner in a 5-4 overtime victory on home ice. They met again eight days later in Langley, but things went the other way for Kelowna, as Tyler Benson recorded two goals and an assist in a 6-1 thumping of the Rockets on Nov. 18.
Just six days after that, on Nov. 24, Kelowna returned to Langley and earned redemption as captain Cal Foote had two helpers in a 3-2 road win.
The Rockets and Giants didn’t face off again until Jan. 13 — again in Langley — but this time James Malm pulled through for Vancouver, notching a goal and an assist in a 3-2 victory for the hosts.
The rivals met again on Feb. 7 in Kelowna, when the Rockets had big nights from Twarynski (1G, 1A), Kole Lind (1G, 1A) and Kyle Topping (2A) en route to a 4-1 win.
The most recent meeting was on March 7, when the Giants visited Prospera Place at the tail end of a five-game losing skid for Kelowna. The Giants took advantage of the battered Rockets team and — despite two goals from Twarynski — Vancouver escaped with a 4-3 victory in overtime.
Kelowna enters tonight with a 41-22-5-2 record for 89 points. With Wednesday’s win over the Prince George Cougars, the Rockets clinched the B.C. Division title for the seventh time in franchise history (eighth including West Division title in 2000).
The third-place Giants have a record of 36-25-6-3 for 81 points. The Victoria Royals are second in the division, with 84 points — three ahead of the Giants as they battle for home-ice advantage in their first-round playoff series.
Kelowna hosts Vancouver in the return game on Saturday — St. Patrick’s Day — when the first 1,000 fans into Prospera Place get a Percy Penguin doll to toss during the second intermission as part of CIBC Game Night. The fan that throws a penguin closest to the centre ice face-off target will win $500 courtesy of CIBC, which will match the $500 in a donation to the Kelowna S.P.C.A.
It’s also Jersey Off The Back Night for the Rockets. Fans have been entering all year to win one of these fancy St. Patrick’s Daythemed jerseys, sponsored by Bekins Moving & Storage. Lucky fans will be awarded the jerseys following Saturday’s game.
The Rockets will open the WHL playoffs by hosting Game 1 on Thursday, March 22 and Game 2 on Saturday, March 24 at Prospera Place. Kelowna’s opponent has yet to be determined as the Tri-City Americans and Seattle Thunderbirds battle for wild-card positioning.
Tickets are already available for the home games in that first-round playoff series.