The stage is set for what may just be the two most important regular-season games for Kelowna this weekend, as the Rockets roll into Kamloops to start a home-and-home series.
For now, the magic number for the Rockets is three: Any three Kelowna wins or any three Kamloops losses, and the Rockets will wrap up third place in B.C. Division standings, along with a guaranteed playoff position.
Kelowna (27-30-5-1) has 60 points with just five regular-season games remaining. Kamloops (23-32-5-2) has 53, but has six regular-season games left. If Kamloops was to win out, the Blazers would have a maximum of 65 points. To finish ahead of Kamloops, Kelowna needs just six points to ensure that third-place finish.
However, this is a home-and-home set between the two B.C. Division rivals – what some sports fans call four-point games — so the magic number is also two.
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If the Rockets sweep the Blazers this weekend, Kelowna would have 64 points. The maximum Kamloops would be able to earn is 61.
To Kelowna head coach Adam Foote, the changing numbers are a sideshow.
“I don’t even look at it that way,” said Foote. “I look at it one game at a time.”
But numbers can help tell the story sometimes. And so far this season, the Rockets are 4-3-1-0 against the Blazers. Notably, the Blazers are 4-3-1-0 against the Rockets.
Four of the games have been decided by one goal, with each team winning twice in those one-goal decisions.
“They play us well,” said Foote. “They’re a physical team especially in the first 10 to 20 minutes. They really come out hard.”
As a Kelowna kid who grew up watching the Rockets, Alex Swetlikoff knows all about the Kelowna-Kamloops rivalry. Now he’s part of it.
“It’s a huge rivalry historically,” said Swetlikoff.
The Rockets enter the weekend on a winning note, having gone 5-4-1-0 in their past 10 games, including a 4-3 victory over Portland on Sunday. The Blazers, meanwhile, are 3-5-1-1 in their past 10.
Kelowna will be without forward Mark Liwiski, who is serving a three-game suspension for a boarding major he took on Sunday against Portland.
According to Foote, Liwiski’s absence will be noted.
“He plays a very tenacious game,” Foote said of Liwiski, “and someone has to fill that void and bring it because he brought it every shift. We will definitely miss that, but someone has to step up.”
No matter what the magic number is, if Kelowna can take two wins away from Kamloops this weekend, the Rockets will secure a playoff berth.
“Absolutely, you want to be in driver’s seat for sure,” said Rockets defenceman Dalton Gally.
Friday’s game in Kamloops starts at 7 p.m., with Saturday’s match in Kelowna starting at 7:05 p.m.
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