The Kelowna Rockets’ roster took a big hit this week, with the team announcing that forward Kyle Topping is sidelined with a badly broken ankle.
The injury happened during Kelowna’s 1-0 road win in Victoria on Wednesday night.
Topping, 20, who is third in team scoring, was slated to undergo surgery Friday morning. The six-foot centre had five goals and eight assists for 13 points in 14 games.
“Kyle’s health is our biggest priority right now,” said Rockets president and GM Bruce Hamilton. “We don’t have a timeline for his return yet; our concern is his well-being and his health.”
In an interview with Global News, Hamilton said Topping fell on fresh ice and slid into the boards, resulting in a “badly broken ankle,” with a couple of breaks.
“It’s a terrible loss for our hockey club,” said Hamilton, “but, more importantly, it’s a tough, tough pill for a 20-year-old player to swallow right now. We’ll have to see how things go through the surgery, and the doctors will let us know what the timeline is.
“But for sure he’s a couple of months on the shelf. We feel bad for him.”
The Rockets (8-4-1-1) are in action on Friday night, as they host the Prince George Cougars (4-9-0-1).
It’s unknown how long Topping will be out of action, but Kelowna quickly added 20-year-old forward Kobe Mohr to the roster. He is expected to be in Friday’s lineup.
Listed at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds and hailing from Lloydminster, Alta., Mohr is a WHL veteran, having played 248 regular-season games with the Edmonton Oil Kings and Kamloops Blazers.
In those 248 games, he had 33 goals and 62 assists for 95 points, plus 234 penalty minutes.
“He’s got some experience,” Hamilton said of the left-winger. “He’ll bring some energy to our team. He’s a guy that if he was 19, every team would want him on their team.
“But as a 20-year-old, you’re only allowed three (per team). Now that we have (an open) spot with Topping out, we felt we’d bring him in and have a good look at him and give him an opportunity to see what he could do for us.”
Notably, Mohr scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal in Kamloops’ 5-1 win over Kelowna in last season’s tiebreak game. That goal came at 6:10 of the third period to make it 2-1. The win put Kamloops into the playoffs, with Kelowna on the sidelines.
Mohr was recently playing for the Drumheller Dragons of the AJHL, where he had six goals and five assists for 11 points in eight games.
Prior to that, Mohr had started the season with Kamloops, playing six games before joining Drumheller.
In 2018-19, he appeared in 66 games for the Blazers, registering nine goals and 18 assists for 27 points.
Prior to that, he was a member of the Edmonton Oil Kings, suiting up in 175 games. The Oil Kings selected him 20th overall in the WHL’s 2014 bantam draft.
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