Rockets down Chiefs 7-4
The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Spokane Chiefs 7-4 on Wednesday night at Prospera Place. The Rockets got on the board first as Kyle Topping tallied at 5:14 of the opening frame. Kaedan Korczak extended Kelowna’s lead by one with his first career Western Hockey League goal at 14:57. Jeff Faith cut into the Rockets lead at 18:27 and Kelowna led 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Tyson Helgesen tied things up 19 seconds into the middle stanza. Jaret Anderson-Dolan gave Spokane a lead at 2:11, but it was short lived as Nolan Foote tied things up once again. Cal Foote restored a lead for Kelowna on a Rockets power play at 14:20 and the score was 4-3 Rockets after 40 minutes of play.
At 7:53 into the final frame, Braydyn Chizen made a nice rush and finished it off with his fourth of the campaign to give Kelowna a two-goal cushion. Zach Fischer responded for the Chiefs at 15:41, but with 1:54 remaining Topping collected his second of the night, then with 1:05 to go, Kole Lind sealed it for Kelowna, 7-4 Rockets final.
James Porter’s record improves to 176-2-0 after stopping 23 of the 27 shots he faced. Porter entered the game in Roman Basran’s relief after Basran made five saves on five shots. The Chiefs outshot the Rockets 32-25.
Kelowna’s record improves to 26-12-21.
The Rockets enjoyed multi-point evenings from Kyle Topping(2G, 1A), Carsen Twarynski(3A), Nolan Foote(1G, 1A), and Kole Lind(1G, 1A).
A ceremony was held prior to the puck drop as the Rockets honoured World Junior gold medal champions Cal Foote and Dillon Dube. Unfortunately Dube was unable to attend as he came down with the flu. Foote was presented with a new Hugo Boss suit from Rockets President/GM Bruce Hamilton.
The Rockets are back in action on Friday when they visit the Seattle Thunderbirds. Puck drop for that one is at 7:35 p.m. They visit the Vancouver Giants the following evening. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Kelowna is back home again on Wednesday, Jan. 17, when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m.