(Image Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)

By Regan Bartel

Series shifts to Kamloops for two games

Road test raises the stakes

Mar 31, 2026 | 6:03 AM

The Kelowna Rockets and Kamloops Blazers’ opening-round playoff series shifts venues tonight, but the road team looks to stay on the course that has brought them success through the first two games.

The Kelowna Rockets take a 2–0 series lead over the Kamloops Blazers into Sandman Centre for Games 3 and 4 after a 3–1 win in Game 1 and a 5–1 win in Game 2. But nothing about that carries over once the series changes buildings.

Listen to tonight’s broadcast with Regan Bartel and Kevin Parnell at 6:35 pm on 104-7 The LIZARD or stream the game on RocketFAN.ca.

Before the puck dropped for Game 1, there was already conversation around pressure, and where it sits in a matchup like this, between two teams separated by 10 points in the Western Conference standings.

RocketFAN spoke to Rockets head coach Derrick Martin about it, and he didn’t buy the idea that it sits on one side more than the other.

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“I think there’s pressure on everybody when you get into the playoffs,” Martin said. “You can’t say that the standings get thrown out the window and say that you’re the underdog. I mean, everybody not named the Everett Silvertips technically should be the underdog coming into the playoffs.”

“I don’t look at it as one team’s favoured, one team’s not. We expect to win. You can’t tell me that they [Kamloops] don’t expect on that side to win.”

Game 2 showed how quickly momentum can shift.

Kamloops had the better of the opening 10 minutes, skating with more pace and pushing play early. Kelowna had to absorb it before the game settled. The turning point came on offsetting penalties that led to 4-on-4 hockey. Once the ice opened up, Kelowna took control.

From there, the Rockets dictated the game.

“You’re aware of the players on the other side, but our focus doesn’t change,” Martin said. “We’ve got to play inside our structure and not get pulled out of it.”

That “casual kills” mindset around their game, keeping things simple, not overplaying, has been part of how they’ve controlled stretches when the game speeds up.

Kelowna has also scored first in both games. When they get ahead, they’ve been hard to chase.

Four of their eight goals in the series have come in the third period, showing they are not just starting games well; they are finishing them.

Discipline has also been a strength. Just six penalties through two games have kept the Rockets from giving Kamloops long looks on the power play or momentum swings they can feed off.

Martin also pointed to something that shows up every spring in junior hockey: players who rise when the stakes get higher.

“What’s fun about the playoffs is there always seems to be a player on both sides that elevates, that does more than you ever envisioned that they would do,” Martin said. “They just, for whatever reason, the playoffs bring something else out of them.

“And we’re gonna find out who that player is. Sometimes it’s the player or players that you think, and sometimes it’s a player you had no idea they even had that in them.”

Jacob Henderson was a great example, scoring his first career playoff goal in game 2 after scoring just twice during the regular season.

Martin also described his group as an older team that has already gone through the grind of a full season.

“These guys aren’t 16-year-olds. They’re older players. They know what’s at stake, they know what’s on the line, and they know they’re closer to being out of this league than starting in it,” Martin said.

“We’ve had 68 games in the regular season for them to learn the standard, and learn what boundaries to cross and when to cross them.

“They haven’t been perfect because they’re still young men and human error still exists in our game, but I think that they’ve shown a lot of growth and maturity.”

Now the challenge shifts again.

Kamloops at home is different. The building, the energy, and the push all change the rhythm of a series.

And history says it matters. Home teams are 14–3 so far in these 2026 WHL playoffs.

Kelowna has proven it can win away from home, finishing the regular season with 19 road victories, but this is a different level of execution required.

A 2-0 series lead only means one thing in the playoffs.

You haven’t finished anything.