ROCKETS GET GOALS FROM SEVEN DIFFERENT PLAYERS IN THANKSGIVING VICTORY OVER PRINCE ALBERT
The Kelowna Rockets and its fans were thankful for seven different goal scorers on Thanksgiving Monday, as those goals propelled the group to a 7-5 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders at Prospera Place.
Andrew Cristall, Ethan Neutens, Kanjyu Gojsic, Max Graham, Michael Cicek, Carter Kowalyk and Brett Calhoon all scored for Kelowna, while Jake Pilon kicked aside 35 shots to move to 3-0. Gojsic’s second period marker was his first in the Western Hockey League, marking the second consecutive game the Prospera faithful have seen a rookie pot his first, with Jaxon Kehrig scoring his first major junior tally on Friday against Portland. Gojsic now joins Kehrig, Levi Benson and Owen Folstrom as Rockets who have scored their first goal this season.
HIGHLIGHTS | BOXSCORE | POST GAME MALLETTE | POST GAME PRICE | POST GAME GOJSIC
GAME SUMMARY
The Rockets would once again score the game’s first goal, the second consecutive time doing so thanks to a beautiful power play goal from Andrew Cristall off a nice cross seam feed from Tij Iginla.
Kelowna would hold onto that lead into the second period and extend it to 3-0 when Ethan Neutens crashed the net and deflected the puck past Raiders goaltender Max Hildebrand to make it 2-0. The Rockets would get more contributions from their young players as for the second consecutive game the team saw a player score his first goal in the WHL. Kanjyu Gojsic tapped in a nice give-and-go feed from Andrew Cristall to put the home side up by three. Prince Albert would fight back though as Niall Crocker would cut the lead back down to two midway through the second, and after Max Graham scored to put Kelowna back up by three, the Raiders got power play goals from Krzysztof Macias and Tomas Mrsic to make the score 4-3 Kelowna after 40.
The Raiders would feed on that late period momentum as the visitors scored twice before the midway mark of the third to tie the game, off a goal from Harrison Lodewyk, and take a 5-4 lead when Brayden Dube finished off an odd man rush. The Prince Albert lead would be short lived however, as less than a minute after Michael Cicek was able to shovel home his fifth of the season to bring the game back on even footing which set the stage for two unlikely heroes as stay-at-home defenceman Carter Kowalyk would score the winner and Brett Calhoon would add the insurance marker at 17:33 to give the Rockets a 7-5 win.
Kowalyk’s marker was his first of the season, and seventh of his career as the 19-year-old rearguard has suited up in 134 WHL games, while Calhoon’s goal was his second of the season and sixth of his career.
"It’s got to be by committee," said Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette about the Rockets seeing seven different players end the afternoon with a goal. "We’re going to have some nights where the big boys are going to need some help carrying the mail, so you need those contributions. But on the flip side, we need everyone playing the right way. I think when we got away from it five-on-five, you got a good team in Prince Albert play a simple game and came towards us and were rewarded for it so you’re trying to instil those details and habits positionally."
"When you do it right, you’re usually going to get rewarded and I think that’s what you saw from some of those goal scorers tonight. It wasn’t anything spectacular, wasn’t anything high risk, high reward … it was just simple, strategic, structured hockey and they got rewarded for it."
ADDITIONAL STATS
- Prince Albert outshot Kelowna 40 to 27
- Kelowna went 1/3 on the power play while Prince Albert went 2/7
- Caden Price finished the afternoon with four assists
- The Rockets game winning goal came from defenceman Carter Kowalyk, his seventh career goal
UP NEXT
Kelowna will now head back to the United States for a pair of weekend games against the Wenatchee Wild on Oct. 18 and the Tri-City Americans on Oct. 19. The team will then return home to host the Victoria Royals on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Puck drop for that game will go at 7:05 PM.
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ROCKETS EXPLODE FOR NINE GOALS IN VICTORY OVER PORTLAND
The Kelowna Rockets got goals from seven different goal scorers – including a hat trick from Tij Iginla – and points from nine different skaters on Friday night at Prospera Place as Kelowna defeated the Portland Winterhawks by a score of 9-4.
The Rockets took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission before exploding for six goals in the second period putting them ahead 9-1 after 40, which they rode through the third period to victory.
GAME SUMMARY
Kelowna would nab the game’s first goal less than five minutes into the game as Andrew Cristall found Tij Iginla in at the left face off dot where Iginla snapped a shot above Portland goaltender Ondrej Stebetak’s blocker side to give Kelowna their first, first period goal this season as well as their first, first period lead. Iginla would add his second of the night at 10:24 of the period, before Cristall would pot his first of the campaign to make it 3-0. It was Cristall’s first game back in Kelowna since being sent back to the Rockets from Washington Capitals training camp. Portland would cut the lead back down to two off a goal from Jordan Duguay, but Kelowna would take a two goal lead into the break.
Kelowna came out firing in the second period, as Caden Price got the party started early with a rocket from the point to make it 4-1. Jakub Stancl continued his strong play the last few games, scoring his fourth goal in three games to make it 5-1 before rookie forward Jaxon Kehrig scored his first in the Western Hockey League to extend Kelowna’s lead to five. The scoring wouldn’t stop there as Hiroki Gojsic scored his first of the campaign, Iginla completed his hat trick off of a beautiful two-on-one, give-and-go play with Cristall to make it 8-1. Graham would finish the onslaught with his first to make it 9-1 Rockets.
Portland would score three power play goals in the third from Josh Zakreski, Reed Brown and Diego Buttazzoni to give the game its final score of 9-4. Iginla finished the night with a hat trick, while Cristall had a goal and four assists while finishing +6 on the evening. The line of Graham, Iginla and Cristall combined for 10 points and a +17.
"Our group was obviously excited to play. We were able to make some plays early and the addition of Andrew (Cristall) back into the line up brought a renewed confidence and we were able to get off to start that we did … we kind of rode that momentum. It was fun to watch," said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette. "That line (of Graham, Iginla and Cristall) obviously contributed, but they were able to wear down the opposition to allow other lines to get in there and do the same thing and they were rewarded for it. That first 40 minutes was fun to watch, we got a lot that we deserved."
"In the future some of those goals might not go in, but some of the momentum we were able to generate was really lively for our bench."
ADDITIONAL STATS
- Kelowna and Portland were even in shots at 34 each
- Kelowna went 0/1 on the power play while Portland went 3/5
- Jake Pilon made 30 saves for his second consecutive victory
- The Rockets top line of Max Graham, Tij Iginla and Andrew Cristall combined for 10 points
