Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Getting younger on blueline

Rockets move veteran for big forward

Jan 7, 2025 | 10:00 AM

Make it one.

The Kelowna Rockets now have only one 19-year-old defenseman on their roster after the team traded veteran Marek Rocak to the Swift Current Broncos. That lone d-man is Carter Kowalyk.

Rocak was in his third season with the team after being acquired in the first round of the CHL Import Draft (43rd) in 2022. He was an alternate on Team Czechia, winning a bronze medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships.

In return, the Rockets receive 18-year-old Dawson Gerwing, a 6’3, 227-pound winger from Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. Gerwing was a third-round selection in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft. The team also picks up a fourth-round bantam pick.

Gerwing is the third Rockets player to hail from Meadow Lake, following in the footsteps of Blake Comeau and DJ King.

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With Gerwing’s inclusion, the Rockets now have three players from the third round of that 2021 draft. Gerwing was chosen 48th, Nate Corbet, acquired from the Medicine Hat Tigers this season was taken 60th, before Gabriel Guillbault was chosen 61st.

The last time the Rockets made a trade with the Broncos involving a European-born player was in 2009, when the team dealt Stepan Novotny to the ‘Frontier City’ along with the rights to Tanner Clark for forward Geordie Wudrick. Wudrick would score 9 goals in 12 playoff games with the Rockets, including eight (still a club record) in an opening-round series with the Everett Silvertips.

Regan’s Take: Marek Rocak would not have returned next season as a 20 year-old as the team hosts the Memorial Cup. His value as a two-spotter (Import and overager) wouldn’t have made sense. Coming off a career season with 8 goals and 29 assists, the belief was at 19 he could increase those totals significantly, but finding the back of the net was hard to come by with just one goal. In Gerwing, the team gets more size up front, and his six fighting majors this season shows he is willing and able. He leads the Broncos in penalty minutes but has also scored six times. It is fair to say, the Rockets are a smaller team at forward, so the extra size is welcome.