UPDATED STORY:
The effort was there for the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, so were the errors.
At Prospera Place, Roman Basran had a great game for Kelowna, stopping 32 shots, but the Rockets couldn’t overcome giveaways en route to a 2-1 loss to the more-structured Vancouver Giants. At one point, the shot clock read 22-11 for Vancouver until Kelowna pushed back in the third.
By that time, though, the Rockets had expended a lot of effort and, despite back-to-back penalties midway through the frame, couldn’t score. In fact, during one power play, Kelowna made back-to-back turnovers, which caused many fans to voice their displeasure.
“We played a good hockey team,” Rockets head coach Adam Foote said following the game. “Again, it was a close game. We were right there again . . . we fought hard. I think they had four power plays to our one until the third period. We hung in there and it was a chance for us to get a point or a win, but we had to fight through some adversity.”
The Giants, who lead the B.C. Division and increased their lead with the win, were a very satisfied bunch after the game. They outshot Kelowna 34-21 and held the Rockets to 0-for-3 on the power play. Vancouver was 1-for-5.
“We know how well Kelowna is playing right now; they’re one of the most improved teams in the league,” Giants head coach Michael Dyck said after his team improved to 3-0 against Kelowna this season. “We know how structured they play and we knew we had to play a good road game.
“In order to do that, you have to limit your turnovers and stay out of the penalty box. For the most part, we played a pretty good road game.”
Dyck said at the start of the season, his team wasn’t playing like it is now. But “it’s taken some work to get to this point. Give a lot of credit to our players. Coming in, we weren’t a real structured team and we’ve become more structured. We still have a ways to go, but the players have bought into it and, again, it’s just a matter of work to position and commitment to checking.”
Wednesday’s game was one of three this week for Kelowna. The Rockets visit the Tri-City Americans on Friday, then host the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday.
Against Saskatoon, the Rockets will also be hosting their annual teddy bear toss game. Following Saturday’s game, the Kelowna Rockets players will deliver Teddy Bears from the 2018 Teddy Bear toss to children in the pediatric ward and elderly patients in the Rehabilitation ward at Kelowna General Hospital on Sunday morning.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The Kelowna Rockets fell to their B.C. Division rivals, the Vancouver Giants, 2-1 on Wednesday night at Prospera Place.
The Giants have won all three of their regular-season games against the Rockets this season.
Dylan Plouffe opened the scoring for the Giants on a power play in the first period.
Nolan Foote answered for the Rockets less than eight minutes later, with a short-handed goal.
A point-shot from Milos Roman in the second frame was the last goal of the game, and the Giants skated off with a 2-1 win.
The Rockets are in Tri-City on Friday before hosting the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday.
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