A roundup of junior hockey results from the Okanagan.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
The Kelowna Rockets inched closer to securing a playoff spot on Wednesday night, thanks to a flurry of late goals against the Spokane Chiefs.
At Prospera Place, Carson Golder and Andrew Cristall each tallied a hat trick as Kelowna scored four times in the third period to break open what had been a close game.
Dylan Wightman also scored for the Rockets (23-31-3-0), who led 3-1 after the second period following a 1-1 tie after 20 minutes. In all, the two teams combined for seven goals in the final period.
Spokane made it 3-2 early in the third, at 2:51, but the Rockets then scored three times in the next five minutes to make it 6-2. However, the Chiefs kept at it and made it 6-4 before Cristall closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal at 17:02.
“I thought we started well,” said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette. “They’re a hungry, young team.
“They’re working hard and they made things interesting. I didn’t feel safe at any point throughout the game with any lead that we had built up. It was crazy … they’re a team that’s playing real desperate and has nothing to lose.”
Berkly Catton, Chase Bertholet, Kooper Gizowski and Carter Streek replied for Spokane (13-37-3-4), which outshot Kelowna 45-33 and had won four of its prior six games.
Jari Kykkanen made 41 saves for the Rockets, with Dawson Cowan turning aside 26 of 32 shots.
Kelowna was 2-for-4 on the power play while Spokane was 0-for-6.
“They’ve knocked off some real good teams of late and they just keep coming,” Mallette said of the Chiefs. Our guys, we didn’t do ourselves any favours with the penalties we took.”
With the win, Kelowna now has 49 points. In Western Conference standings, the Rockets are eighth out of 10 and hold the last playoff spot.
They are two points behind seventh-place Prince George (51 points) but 12 ahead of ninth-place Victoria (37 points) and 10th-place Spokane (33 points).
Victoria has played 59 games so far and has nine games remaining. At best, the Royals would have 55 points if they ran the table. So all Kelowna needs is six points, maximum, in their remaining 11 games to clinch a spot.
For the playoffs, the two division winners in each conference claim the top two spots. From there, the remaining teams battle it out for playoff positions three through eight.
And when the playoffs start, it’ll be the traditional format of first versus eight, second versus seventh, third versus sixth and fourth versus fifth.
If Kelowna does finish eighth, they will play Seattle (92 points), which has all but locked up top spot in the Western Conference. Kamloops is second overall with 82 points.
Wednesday’s results
- Medicine Hat 6, Winnipeg 4
- Brandon 7, Moose Jaw 3
- Vancouver 6, Prince George 2
- Saskatoon 5, Red Deer 2
Friday’s games (all times PT)
- Brandon at Red Deer, 5 p.m.
- Winnipeg at Regina, 5 p.m.
- Edmonton at Medicine Hat, 6 p.m.
- Lethbridge at Prince Albert, 6 p.m.
- Moose Jaw at Saskatoon, 6 p.m.
- Kelowna at Kamloops, 7 p.m.
- Spokane at Prince George, 7 p.m.
- Portland at Everett, 7:05 p.m.
- Seattle at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
- Victoria at Vancouver, 7:30 p.m.
B.C. HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Salmon Arm, Casy Laylin and Nathan Mackie each scored twice for the Silverbacks in their three-goal victory over the Smoke Eaters.
Raoul Boilard also scored for Salmon Arm (25-16-4-1-0), which led 2-1 and 4-1 at the period breaks.
Jordan Hendry, who opened the scoring just 21 seconds into the game, and Mathieu Cobetto-Roy, who made it 4-2 in the third, replied for Trail (17-23-3-3-0).
Matthew Tovell turned aside 16 of 18 shots for the Silverbacks, with Keegan Maddocks making 31 saves on 35 shots for the Smoke Eaters.
Salmon Arm was 2-for-4 on the power play while Trail was 1-for-1.
Wednesday’s results
- Coquitlam 2, Surrey 1
- Victoria 3, Nanaimo 2 (OT)
Friday’s games (all times PT)
- Nanaimo at Cowichan Valley, 7 p.m.
- Penticton at Merritt, 7 p.m.
- Victoria at Powell River, 7 p.m.
- Vernon at Prince George, 7 p.m.
- Chilliwack at Trail, 7 p.m.
- Cranbrook at West Kelowna, 7 p.m.
- Coquitlam at Surrey, 7 p.m.
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