Rockets split games on American Thanksgiving weekend

The Kelowna Rockets gave the hometown crowd something to cheer about on Saturday night at Prospera Place as they dispatched the Regina Pats 9-1.

Andrew Cristall and Tij Iginla both had five points in the evening while Jakub Stancl chipped in with a goal and three helpers. Goaltender Jake Pilon made 26 saves on the evening for his sixth victory of the season. 

GAME SUMMARY

The game started off quick as Kelowna and Regina traded goals within the game's first five minutes. Jakub Stancl opened the scoring with a bullet of a shot that beat Pats goaltender Ewan Huet at 3:22 before Regina tied it thanks to Tye Spencer's seventh of the season at 4:45. From there it was all Rockets as they would score four more goals in the frame, going ahead 5-1. Hiroki Gojsic quickly answered Regina's goal less than a minute later and was followed by Andrew Cristall's first of three goals, Tij Iginla and Max Graham. 

Kelowna would continue to pressure Regina as Cristall would score his second and third goals of the game, one coming on a breakaway and the other going bar down on Kelton Pyne, who replaced Huet after the first period. Kanjyu Gojsic would extend the lead to 8-1 after 40. 

Nate Corbet scored his second goal in Rockets colours with a shot from the point to make it 9-1 in favour of the home side. 

"I like the fact that we were able to roll four lines and six defencemen," said Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette. "There have been some games where we haven't had that luxury, so I thought the challenge for our group was to try and play a team game. We had short shifts, made simple plays and I thought they got rewarded for it."

ADDITIONAL STATS

• Kelowna outshot Regina 31-27
• Kelowna went 1/2 on the power play while Regina went 0/3
•  Jake Pilon made 26 saves

UP NEXT

The Rockets will now have some time to rest and recover before hitting the road for three games in three nights. They'll begin their trip in Everett on Friday December 6th, and wrap up with a pair of games in Victoria on December 7th and 8th. 

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ROCKETS DROP AFTERNOON GAME TO WINTERHAWKS

The Kelowna Rockets fell 6-4 on Friday afternoon to the Portland Winterhawks at the Veterans Memorial Arena.

Kalder Varga scored twice on the afternoon to continue his scoring streak with three goals in his last two games while Rhett Stoesser turned aside 37 shots in the defeat.

GAME SUMMARY

Varga would open the scoring in this game, firing a shot past Portland goaltender Marek Schlenker seven minutes into the first period for a 1-0 lead. Varga's goal was his third of the season and second in consecutive games. Portland would tie the game late in the first and take the lead early in the second off goals from Kyle Chyzowski and Kyle McDonough to go up 2-1.

Varga would score his second of the game and fourth of the campaign to tie the game before Andrew Cristall would extend his point streak to 14 games when he hammered a shot past Schlenker to put Kelowna up 3-2. Over the duration of Cristall's point streak, he's registered 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points. Cristall has only been held without a point in one game this season which came in a 4-0 Rockets victory over Wenatchee on October 18th. Portland would answer the Rockets brief lead as Josh Zakreski scored twice while Hudson Darby also tallied a goal as Portland scored twice in the final minute of play to take a 5-3 lead to the dressing room through 40 minutes.

Owen Folstrom would score his second of the season less than a minute into the third period to get Kelowna within striking distance, but Zakreski would complete the hat trick with an empty net goal to give Portland a 6-4 win.

ADDITIONAL STATS

• Kelowna outshot Portland 45-43
• Kelowna went 0/4 on the power play while Portland went 1/4
• Rhett Stoesser made 37 saves