Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Mallette keeps bar high ahead of season

Rockets looking at taking another step

Aug 28, 2023 | 8:00 AM

The Kelowna Rockets want to take another step in building a championship contender.

While each season’s goal is to capture the league title, the Ed Chynoweth Cup, realistically the target that the 2023-2024 edition should be focusing on is a smaller prize.

After being eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs last April against eventual WHL champion Seattle, the aim this year should be a birth in the second round of post-season play.

The team hasn’t been out of the open round since the 2016-2017 season when the team went to the Western Conference final under then-head coach Jason Smith.

“When we won the league [2015], Brandon was in the final”, Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette told RocketFAN. “They win it the following year.  They face Seattle and beat them and the T-Birds win it the year after. You have to lose to win. That’s where you hope your leadership group is able to take that next step and recognize those little things that will get you over the top.”

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Winning isn’t easy. Giving yourself the best chance to succeed when the playoffs arrive is placing higher in the Western Conference standings, which means avoiding the 8^th and final playoff spot, which typically gives you a seat in the electric chair as the executioner, a team with typically over 100 points over the course of 68 regular season games, is your opening round opponent.

“Going from 42 wins the year previous, expectations were high”, Mallette looking back at the 27 victories the team put up in 2022-2023. “Am I disappointed with the end result, absolutely.”

Is a top-four finish in the cards in the Western Conference this season? It only got harder when the Winnipeg Ice relocated to Wenatchee, Washington, meaning three teams will now miss the playoffs.

“You always want to win as many games as you can, but some circumstances are out of your control, like injuries,” Mallette added.

The injury bug took a bite out of the team a season ago, and with a lack of depth at forward, the team went into a tail spin. Leading point producer Andrew Cristall went down with an injury and without him, the team crashed to the ground. The 18-year-old is the teams’ offensive driver and injuries to captain Gabriel Szturc and Adam Kydd only compounded problems offensively.

In total, the team had six regulars who missed 10 or more games with injury last season, with Cristall, Szturc, Kydd, Max Graham, Ty Hurley, and rookie Ismail Abougouche failed to reach even the 60-game mark.

The only saving grace a season ago was the 9th place Victoria Royals posted its worst record in franchise history with only 17 victories while the Spokane Chiefs, who finished dead last in the Western Conference, also complied with a franchise low 15 wins.

With the graduation of Carson Golder, who had 55 points including a team-high 31 goals, and Kydd, who will play university hockey in Calgary after a 20-goal season and a 53-point campaign, it will be some fresh new faces that will have to pull up the slack.

On that list is 17-year-old winger Tij Iglina, who was acquired in a trade with the Seattle Thunderbirds in June. Iginla was born at Kelowna General Hospital and calls Lake Country home. The local player has lots of upside and will easily surpass the 6 goals and 17 points he put up on a high-powered, deep T-Birds team.

While Iginla will receive power play time as well as first-line minutes, which is deserving of a first-round WHL bantam pick, the Rockets are banking on rookie Hiroki Gojsic to do some heavy lifting.

At 6’3 and 187 pounds, Gojsic signed with the Rockets this summer after the team plucked his younger brother, Kanjyu, in the third round of the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.  The belief is Horoki, who turned 17 in May, can score at the WHL level after playing on a deep Penticton Vees team last season where he saw limited ice time while finding the back of the net just 10 times.

Both Iginla and Gojsic should be extra motivated as both will be trying to impress NHL scouts for the 2024 draft, which is expected to be held in Las Vegas, the home of the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.

“I’ve been in communication with them [players] and they are telling me they are excited and ready to go”, Mallette added. “The proof is in the pudding when the puck drops late next month.”

With rookie camp starting later this week at Prospera Place and main camp beginning September 3rd, Mallette wants to see a more  focused, determined group who hate to lose.

“We aren’t coming into camp to easy ourselves in. We are coming in gunning.

“There are guys who are fighting for jobs.”