By Regan Bartel

Who will earn the backup spot?

Jari Kykkanen’s crease

Sep 3, 2023 | 10:57 AM

There are several storylines to consider heading into Kelowna Rockets main camp, which opens today at Prospera Place.

The biggest question mark may be in goal, where Jari Kykkanen is the clear starter. What we don’t know is who will be the 19-year-old’s backup.

It is wide open.

The team has brought in five other goalies, a sixth if you include 15-year-old American-born netminder Oliver Kanat, who isn’t eligible to play in the WHL until next season. While the Corona De Mar California product can’t challenge for a position this season, the experience for the second pick in the 2023 U.S. Prospects Draft will be invaluable.

Of the five that have a legitimate shot of making the team this season, you would think Adam Kelly would have the best chance of earning that coveted spot.

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Why?

Kelly is a 2005-born player, so turning 18 in October makes him the oldest among the five contenders. Invited to camp, he is also the biggest at 6’4 and 212 pounds. Size doesn’t matter as much at the WHL level when it comes to filling the net with a bigger-sized goalie, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

Kelly played in the AJHL last season with a weak Grande Prairie Storm team that mustered only 19 wins and finished third to last in the entire league. We are not here to defend Kelly, who must prove his worth in training camp, but the number of shots he faced in 25 appearances was staggering. In 10 of 25 games, Kelly faced over 40 shots, including a season-high 53 in a victory in the last regular season game of the season against the Lloydminster Bobcats. It should come as no surprise he was named the first star for his efforts after stopping 50 pucks in the two-goal win.

Of the drafted goalies at camp, it will be interesting to see how 16-year-old Nathan Kam has evolved. Chosen in the fifth round of the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, Kam just turned 16 in June and could have a leg up on the others considering the organization invested a spot on their 50-man protected list after drafting him and would likely have more intel on the Burnaby born goalie then the others.

Kam has decent size at 6’1 and shared goaltending duties with the Burnaby Winter Club last season.

Two other goalies invited to camp to earn a backup spot are Ben Polhill from Cochrane Alberta and Tyson Adams, who played this past season with the Okanagan Rockets U-15 team.

Polhill is about to turn 17 in early September and was originally selected by the Tri-City Americans (10^th round – 2021) in the WHL Prospects Draft.  The Americans, as an organization, are astute at selecting goalies, so Polhill is worth keeping an eye on.

Clearly it’s Jari Kykkanen’s crease this season. The 19 year-old has had a season and a half to learn under graduated goalie Talyn Boyko.

If I was a bettering man, if healthy, the personable backstopper should start in 50+ games this season, which is doable considering another goalie just down the road in Kamloops, Dylan Ernst, who is also the same age as Kykkanen, defended the Blazers goal 53 a season ago after playing just 24 times behind 20 year-old veteran Dylan Garand.