Goalie Coach Eli Wilson works with Jari Kykkanen and Jake Pilon at CN Centre

By Regan Bartel

Starting the second-round on the road

Rockets and Cougars clash in round two

Apr 12, 2024 | 7:00 AM

It was the spring of 2000.

Twenty-four years ago, the Kelowna Rockets opened a Western Hockey League playoff series in Prince George against the Cougars.

The Cougars, with a young defenseman named Dan Hamhuis, who would eventually go on to play 1148 games at the NHL level, would host a visiting team coached by Marc Habscheid.

With 5,966 fans packed into the building on Ospika Blvd, Kiel McLeod would score twice, and Travis Moen fired one into an empty net for a Rockets 5-3 road victory.

That was the last time the Cougars, not the Rockets, held home-ice advantage in a playoff series between the two organizations. They met in the 2011 post-season, with the Rockets earning a four game sweep.

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The post-season rivalry will be renewed tonight when the BC Division rivals clash in the second-round, with what is expected to be a crowd that equals the one from more than two decades ago.

“Going up there and putting our best foot forward will be the important thing,” Rockets General Manager Bruce Hamilton told RocketFAN before game one (104.7 The Lizard has the pre-game show at 6:35 pm and the puck drops at 7:05 pm.) “If Kykks [Jari Kykkanen] can do what he does, we have a chance.”

Kykkanen was arguably the team’s best player in an opening round six-game series win over Wenatchee, where the 19-year-old was named a star in four of the games and was asked to take the post-game skate to salute the crowd as the first star on three separate occasions.

“The thing about our team is we can score goals too,” Hamilton added. “If our power play gets back operating, which I am confident it will, then if you take any liberties, we have people that can make you pay.”

The Rockets scored a playoff-high 25 goals in the first-round, one more than high-powered Moose Jaw. The Cougars allowed just nine goals against in a series sweep of Spokane.

“I think the most important thing is to not get intimidated,” Hamilton said when asked about what he hopes his team gleans from this series against one of only two teams that scored over 300 goals during the regular season. “I think our guys are not that worried about that.”

In four games at CN Centre this season, the Rockets were 1-3-0-0, with a shootout victory and a 3-2 loss in the season opener against the two clubs.

“In the last month, I have felt really good about our team,” Hamilton added. “Our top players have been really good. You aren’t going to win if you don’t get good goaltending, and we’ve had great goaltending.”

While Kykkanen has played in all six games in this post-season, the Cougars started rookie Joshua Ravensbergen in the first three games against the Spokane Chiefs before veteran Vancouver Canucks draft pick Ty Young played game four.

“We are young, but this is an exciting time for our organization,” Hamilton said. “This is a big step for this group [getting into the second round] because pretty much all of these guys will be back next year, the core for sure.

“You need to learn how to win, and I emphasize this to them [players] and the coaching staff regularly, winning is one thing but learning how to win on a regular basis is the hardest thing.”