By Regan Bartel

Sick and tired of being sick and tired

Things that me me go hmm…

Mar 16, 2026 | 11:38 AM

We all get sick. WHL broadcasters aren’t immune either. But actually losing our voices? Thankfully, that doesn’t happen very often.

It happened to me Saturday night in Kamloops, when I planned to call the game between the Kelowna Rockets and Kamloops Blazers at Sandman Centre. I’d been nursing a cold for a few days. With the team playing five games in eight nights, it slowly got worse. I managed to get through Friday’s 4-1 win, but just barely. I hoped a night of rest would get my voice back in time to call the rematch less than 24 hours later. It didn’t. By 4 p.m., about two hours before puck drop, my voice was almost gone. We had to pivot quickly.

Has this ever happened before, where I literally had no voice to broadcast a game? Thankfully, only once.

Back in 1998, while working with the Swift Current Broncos, I faced the same challenge. That night was a home game, which made it easier to handle. Being in your own building means finding someone to step in at the last minute is far more realistic than on the road.

Saturday in Kamloops was different. No one was available to replace me, so the only option was to tap into the Kamloops broadcast with Jon Keen and carry his call on our radio feed. Considering the rivalry between the Rockets and Blazers, Keen handled it with real professionalism. Normally, broadcasters lean toward the team they cover. On this night, he kept the call balanced, letting Rockets fans follow the game just as easily as Blazers fans.

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At the end of the day, he was doing us a favour. He didn’t have to help, but he did. I’m extremely grateful.

Two big wins for the Rockets over the weekend: a 4-1 victory Friday, followed by a 5-1 win Saturday night in Kamloops.

The scores may suggest these games weren’t close, but they were. The results were still important for the Rockets, especially against a potential first-round playoff opponent.

After some inconsistent performances down the stretch, struggling to get up for games against teams like the Vancouver Giants and Wenatchee Wild, questions have to be asked about the team’s ability to make a deep playoff run. Playing subpar hockey this late in the season, with playoffs starting March 27, is dangerous. As many coaches will say, you can’t simply flip the switch when the playoffs begin and expect everything to fall into place.

Goaltender Harrison Boettiger looks playoff-ready.

If the Rockets meet the Blazers in the first round, the rookie netminder will likely be their go-to goalie. Boettiger made a career-high 47 saves Saturday. He was square to the puck all night, and his rebound control was key to his first-star performance.

He came oh-so-close to his first career shutout, allowing a goal with just 1:37 remaining. Had he gotten it, he would have been the first Rockets goalie to earn a shutout in Kamloops since James Porter Jr. stopped 28 shots in a 3-0 win on December 29.

The 18-year-old finishes the season 3-1 against Kamloops, with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage. If the playoffs bring a Blazers matchup, the Rockets will be counting on Boettiger to carry that kind of performance into the most important games of the season, and he’s already shown he’s ready.

Defenceman Mazden Leslie has played 345 WHL regular-season games. With two more games against the Penticton Vees this weekend, he’ll finish with 347. Only one player in franchise history has played more: Geordie Wudrick, who played 349 games after being acquired from Swift Current in 2009.

Leslie arrived in a similar way, acquired last summer in a trade with the Vancouver Giants. If he dresses for both games, he’ll leave the WHL just two games shy of Wudrick’s mark, a testament to the longevity and durability required to reach nearly 350 games in junior hockey.

Vojtech Cihar scored three goals in Saturday’s win in Kamloops.

He becomes the first European Rockets player to record a road hat trick since fellow Czech Jakub Stancl did it last season in Spokane. Stancl is now playing professionally with the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Defenceman Nate Corbett is a standout personality. Most players don’t reach out to broadcasters. Corbett, however, consistently finds ways to be thoughtful and inclusive. Even when I couldn’t call Saturday’s game, he walked by on the bus, smiled, and said something like, “We missed your voice.”

Maybe that’s why he wears an “A” on his jersey? He looks out for others and is easily one of the biggest glue guys on the team.

Are the Everett Silvertips the odds-on favourite to represent the WHL at the Memorial Cup in Kelowna this May? On paper, yes. Winning 55 games and the league’s regular-season title makes them hard to bet against.

But we’ve seen this before. Winning the regular season is all well and good, but until they raise an Ed Chynoweth Cup banner, the jury’s still out.

We mentioned it on our broadcast, but we will repeat it here. Ty Halarburda has played the most games of anyone in the WHL this season, 70 in total. Those games have been split between the Vancouver Giants and the Kelowna Rockets. After digging a little deeper, RocketFAN learned that this is the most games anyone in the CHL has played this season.

I’ll be honest, I usually pay zero attention to the three-star presentation after games at Prospera Place. That said, I couldn’t help but notice it following Friday’s home win over Kamloops.

The presenter, Shayah Lessard, might be 10 years old at most. She was smiling, jumping, and full of excitement as players received their awards. It was impossible not to smile along. Maybe it wasn’t her first time, maybe it was, but if it was a one-off, she needs to be brought back. Her energy, enthusiasm, and sheer cuteness made for the perfect way to end a home-ice win.

A lot of hockey people pay close attention to goal differential, which is the difference between the goals a team scores and the goals it allows. It’s a good way to see which teams are consistently better, not just lucky in close games. The Rockets are at plus 45, showing they’re strong on both offense and defense. Penticton leads the B.C. Division at plus 69, followed by Prince George at plus 54 and Kamloops at plus 10. Victoria is struggling at minus 39, and Vancouver is having a really tough season at minus 81.

The Rockets have scored 45 more goals this season than last year, but even more impressive, they’ve allowed a staggering 98 fewer goals than in 2024-25.

Jamie Benn needs just one more season. The Dallas Stars captain will have to play next year if he wants to become the Kelowna Rockets alum with the most NHL games. That record is currently held by Duncan Keith, who played 1,256 career games. If Benn stays healthy and finishes this regular season playing every game, he’ll end up just five games short of Keith’s impressive total.