Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Early lead fades as Silvertips rally

Lead lost, lesson learned in Everett

Jan 22, 2026 | 6:00 AM

The Kelowna Rockets had a three-goal lead Wednesday night in Everett. They did not have control of the game.

Despite what is considered the worst lead in hockey, the Rockets were outshot heavily over the final two periods and watched the Everett Silvertips score five unanswered goals in a 5-3 loss at Angel of the Winds Arena. Two of those goals came just 40 seconds apart early in the third period, giving Everett its first lead of the night and flipping the game in a hurry.

Dawson Gerwing, Tij Iginla and Tomas Poletin scored for Kelowna, which suffered its 15th regulation loss of the season.

Associate coach Don Hay pointed to discipline and game management as the biggest issues, especially once Everett began to tilt the ice.

“We took too many penalties,” Hay told RocketFAN. “When you start taking non-physical penalties, you’re not playing in the offensive zone anymore. You’re defending, and that puts you on your heels.”

Rockets face road test in games 3 and 4

Goaltending, discipline and depth driving 2-0 series lead over Blazers

Mar 30, 2026

Rockets DOA. Dominate. Overcome. Achieve

Things that make me go hmm....

Feb 02, 2026

Too good to ignore, too hated to care

Kelowna Rockets: The team the Internet loves to hate

Jan 13, 2026

Kelowna scored first and made the most of its chances early, but the flow of the game shifted as Everett’s pace began to show. The Silvertips outshot the Rockets 32-16 over the final two periods, spending long stretches in the Kelowna zone and forcing the Rockets to defend.

“That’s a fast team,” Hay said. “When you play a team like that, your tempo has to be quick. You can’t have long changes. You can’t be stuck in your zone, and you can’t be icing the puck.”

The Rockets carried a 3-1 lead into the third period, but Hay said the warning signs were already there.

“I didn’t love the second period, even though we were up,” he said. “We were taking too many defensive-zone faceoffs. That usually tells you you’re not playing in the offensive zone enough.”

Kelowna had a chance to regain momentum early in the third on a power play, but came up empty. Iginla hit the post, and moments later the game turned.

“That power play was important,” Hay said. “If we score there, maybe it changes the game. Instead, we didn’t get much out of it, and then we took penalties.”

A sequence of hooking, interference and delay-of-game penalties kept the Rockets defending. Everett tied the game as a penalty expired, when a puck that missed the net bounced out to centre ice and caught Kelowna out of position.

“That’s momentum,” Hay said. “You kill a penalty, you don’t get rewarded on your power play, and then you get burned right as the guy comes out of the box.”

Just 40 seconds later, Everett struck again, converting on a breakdown to take a 4-3 lead, the Silvertips’ first of the night.

“We got caught,” Hay said. “We had a responsibility on that play, and we didn’t execute.”

Everett added an empty-net goal late to finish the comeback and cap a third period where the Rockets struggled to get the puck out cleanly or generate sustained pressure.

Despite the result, Hay praised Kelowna’s penalty kill overall and the play of goaltender Harrison Boettiger, who faced steady traffic.

“I thought he was really good,” Hay said. “He was our best player tonight. He gave us a chance.”

The frustration for the Rockets came from knowing the game was still there after 40 minutes, even without having carried play.

“We’ve been in these situations before,” Hay said. “It’s about learning how to manage the game when you have a lead. That’s part of the process.”

Hay also pointed to how quickly momentum can shift in junior hockey, especially on the road.

“It’s hard to slow it down once it starts going,” he said. “They get energy from their building, and they feed off that. You have to be able to settle things before it gets away.”

The Rockets used their timeout at 3-3 in an attempt to calm things down, but the push didn’t come.

“You make decisions in the moment that you think are right,” Hay said. “Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. That’s hockey.”

Kelowna now turns its attention to Friday night in Seattle, looking for a response after a loss that slipped away quickly.

“You can’t dwell on it,” Hay said. “You address it, you fix what you can, and you move forward. That’s our job.”