The Kelowna Rockets get set for a double-header weekend beginning on Friday as they host the Victoria Royals before heading to Seattle on Saturday to face the Thunderbirds.
One day following a 5-0 defeat to the Vancouver Giants, Rockets assistant coach Travis Crickard said his team needs to focus on the fundamentals in order to get back to playing like they did on Saturday, when they beat the Prince George Cougars 5-2.
“We need to make passes on the tape. We need to compete. In our win on Saturday, we played like the team that we need to be this year,” said Crickard. “We need to be a blue collar team that finishes every check and skates as hard as they can. Unfortunately, last night, we didn’t do that and a big reason for that was our passing. If we want to be able to exit our zone properly, we need to pass the puck on the tape. And the same goes for our power play, if we want to capitalize on the power play we need to be able to create momentum and we need to be able to complete passes.
“Against Vancouver, we focused a little too much on what they were doing. We need to focus right now on what we’re doing, because we’re struggling to do what we actually want to do. So we just need to worry about ourselves first.”
Friday night is the first of eight meetings between these two B.C. Division rivals this season. They met a total of eight times last season with the Rockets going 4-3-1-0.
In B.C. Division standings, Victoria (4-0-0-0) and Vancouver (4-1-0-0) are tied for first with eight points while Prince George (2-2-0-1) is third with five points. Kamloops (2-3-0-0) is fourth with four while Kelowna (1-5-0-0) is fifth and last with just two.
On Saturday, Kelowna will visit the Seattle Thunderbirds. Game time at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., is 6:05 p.m. The match will be Kelowna’s first of the season against an opponent from outside the B.C. Division.
It will be the first meeting of four this season between the Thunderbirds and Rockets. Last season, they split the season series, each going 2-2-0-0.
In U.S. Division standings, all five teams are separated by just one point. Spokane (2-1-0-1) and Portland (2-2-0-1) are tied for first with five points while Seattle (2-1-0-0), Tri-City (2-1-0-0) and Everett (2-2-0-0) are tied for third through fifth with four points.
Next week, the Rockets host Seattle on Wednesday, October 10th, 7:05 p.m. at Prospera Place. That’s followed by a home-and-home set with Tri-City. The Rockets will visit the Americans in Kennewick, Wash., on Friday, October 12th, then host Tri-City at Prospera Place on Saturday, October 13th at 7:05 p.m.
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