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| Chiefs HC Don Nachbaur |
Tonight’s Preview: The Kelowna Rockets
open a stretch of playing four games in five nights when they welcome the
Spokane Chiefs this evening to Prospera Place. The team hosts Calgary tomorrow,
Seattle on Monday and travel to Kent to face the T-Birds on Tuesday night. The
Rockets are coming off a 2-1 win Tuesday night over the visiting Lethbridge
Hurricanes. Tomas Soustal snapped out of a 14 game goal scoring drought with
two goals in the one goal win. Michael Herringer was named the first star with
yet another terrific performance. The Rockets were 0 for 2 on the power play
and killed off both Hurricane power play chances. In the big picture, the
Rockets have won 31 of their last 43 games overall and are 20-3-2-0 on home ice
and 15-10-1-0 on the road. The Rockets have points in 29 of 37 games
(26-8-3-0). The team has won 16 of its last 25 games.
Seasonal Series vs
Spokane: These
two teams are meeting for only the second time this season. Back on November 14th,
in Spokane, the Chiefs were a 4-3 winner in overtime. The Chiefs make a return
visit on February 27th before the seasonal series concludes March 12th
in Spokane. In the last 17 regular
season games between these two teams, the Rockets are 10-5-1-1. Gordie Ballhorm
leads the Rockets in scoring against the Chiefs in the seasonal series with
1+1=2.
Number Crunching: The Rockets are
18-2-1-0 when Tyson Baillie scores. The only regulation losses when the 20
year-old finds the back of the net were against Red Deer and Saskatoon….The
Rockets have lost 13 games in regular time this season. That is the exact same
number of losses from all of last season….The Rockets are attempting to become
the first team to reach the 50 win plateau in four straight seasons. For that
to happen, the team must win 15 of their final 21 games or they can suffer only
six more regular losses in order to hit the 50 win mark…Did you know rookie
Kole Lind has not earned a power play point this season?…Did you know that
Devante Stephens and rookie Gordie Ballhorn are the only two Rockets to play in
all 51 games this season? The last rookie to play in all 72 games was Zach
Franko in 2010-2011….The Rockets have only trailed heading into the third
period 13 times this season. They are 2-11-0-0 in those games…. Michael
Herringer is making his 14th straight start tonight…Torrie Jung
started 19 straight games in 2006-2007…Kevin Swanson started 38 straight games
in 1999-2000…The Rockets have scored the first goal in 30 of 51 games this
season. When they accomplish that goal, they are an impressive 24-3-3-0…The
Rockets have 21 games left in the regular season. Of those 21 games, 11 will be
played on home ice. Of those 21 games, 12 are against BC Division rivals…The
Rockets have been out-shot in 34 of 51 games this season…The Rockets are the
only team in the WHL without a 20 or 19 year-old defenceman and only one of
four teams without an average defenceman…The Rockets have not lost three
straight games this season.
This and That: The Rockets added 17
year-old goaltender Brody Salmond for the remainder of the season. Salmond was
the Rockets 10th round bantam pick in the 2010 WHL draft and was
playing this season in the Alberta Junior Hockey League with the Camrose
Kodiaks. Salmond is the son of Hockey Canada’s Scott Salmond. Scott Salmond had
a brief stint with the Kelowna Spartans in 1990-91…The Rockets are
rated this week as the 6th best team in the CHL Top 10 rankings.
Last week they were also rated 7th …Five of the team’s next eight
games are on home ice. The only road games over that stretch are in Seattle
next Tuesday, in Prince George for back-to-back games February 12th
and 13th and in Vancouver on February 20th…The Rockets
play 13 games in 25 nights in the month of February…Only one birthday to
celebrate in February. Tomas Soustal turns 19 on February 15th… The
Kelowna Rockets named 19 year-old Rodney Southam as the franchises 22nd
captain on January 25th. Southam was acquired in November, 2014 from
the Tri City Americans for a 5th round bantam draft pick.
Who’s Hot: Calvin Thurkauf has
points in 9 of his last 13 games. The rookie has 4+10=14 over that
period…Rourke Chartier has points in 11 of his last 15 games. Over that period,
the 19 year-old has 9+9=18…Chartier has 96 career goals and 95 career
assists...Dillon Dube has 20 goals this season which is a career high….Dube has
6+7=13 in his last 15 games… Nick Merkley
has 6+13=19 in his last 13 games…Tyson
Baillie has 5+4=9 in his last 10 games….Tyson Baillie has points in 31 of his
last 39 games and has been held off the score-sheet 12 times this season…Justin
Kirkland has points in 6 of his last 10 games. Kirkland has 7+5=12 over that
period.
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