The Kelowna Rockets continue to struggle against their regional rival the Kamloops Blazers in WHL action.
Kamloops beat Kelowna 2-1 on Saturday evening at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.
The Kelowna Rockets are only 11 games into the 2019-2020 season, but Saturday night’s road loss was the Rockets third match-up with the Blazers this season and so far Kelowna has been unable to defeat Kamloops.
Saturday’s game was a familiar story, with the Rockets failing to get on the score board until the third period.
The Blazers’ Zane Franklin opened the scoring in the first period and teammate Max Martin got an insurance goal in the third.
The Blazers drastically out-shot the Rockets, directing 39 shots towards Kelowna’s goalie Roman Basran while the Rockets only got 26 shots on net.
Kelowna players also spent a lot of time in the penalty box during the scrappy game.
They combined for 29 penalty minutes with Kaedan Korczak being given a 10-minute misconduct while rookie Sean Comrie was handed a five minute major for fighting and two minor penalties for tripping and unsportsmanlike conduct.
With the Blazers often on the power play, the Rockets failed to get the puck into the net until late in the third period.
Kelowna’s Kyle Topping scored with less than four minutes on the clock. Despite pulling their goalie in the final minute, Kelowna couldn’t tie it up.
The Rockets will be back on the ice on Wednesday visiting the Prince George Cougars.
The Kelowna and Kamloops rivalry will continue in mid-November, when the Rockets will be looking for redemption in two home-and-home match-ups with the Blazers on Nov. 11 and 16.