Photo credit: Spokane Chiefs

By Regan Bartel

Big saves propel Rockets past Spokane

Boettiger shines as Kelowna caps off hot month

Nov 30, 2025 | 6:00 AM

A strong month of November (8-3-2-0) is in the books for the Kelowna Rockets. They closed it out with a 4-1 win over the Spokane Chiefs on Saturday night. It’s only the second month of the season, but the Rockets are starting to figure out how to play, and more importantly, how to win.

Carson Wetsch led the way, scoring twice. But the real story was in goal. Harrison Boettiger was calm, steady, and solid from start to finish. Spokane tried to push early, but Boettiger never panicked. He controlled rebounds, read plays, and kept the Rockets in control.

“He was really good. He should have been the first star, and he was,” Rockets Associate Coach Don Hay told RocketFAN. “He plays so calm. Harrison just looks really calm. It is disappointing that the goal went in. It kind of looked like a delayed process. It hit something along the way and went in. I think it was just at the end of the penalty kill. Too bad, but I thought he was outstanding.”

The rookie goalie now owns the best save percentage in the league, and the second best goals against average.

Special teams were huge again Saturday night. The Rockets’ penalty kill has been one of the league’s best, and they showed why Saturday. They survived a long five on three, and Boettiger making the big save when it counted.

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“We got a bit lucky on the 5 on 3,” Hay admitted when a goal was called back after a forward was called for goaltender interference. “The call went our way, though it could have easily gone the other way. But we’ll take it. That was a big kill for us — he stopped the penalty shot. Let’s not forget that”.

Hay says the players are buying into defending, resulting in the team owning the second best penalty killing unit in the WHL.

“The guys are doing a good job,” Hay said with a smile on his face. “They are all on the same page. A few weeks ago we really thought we needed more penalty killers, so again we had a specialty team practice. We used guys that maybe were a little more offensive like [Tij] Iginla and Hiroki [Gojsic]. We found some chemistry. [Shane] Smith is a really smart player, a Swiss Army knife. [Connor] Pankratz kills penalties. [Owen] Folstrom kills penalties. [Tomas] Poletin and Wetsch are doing a good job. They are paying the price blocking shots.”

At five on five, Kelowna spread the scoring around. Hiroki Gojsic made it 2-0 with a clean wrist shot after a turnover. Poletin added another in the third period with a heavy shot that Hay called elite.

“Great goal by Hiroki, a great shot, and then a great shot by Tomas. He is an elite shooter. He scores.”

Even the empty-net goal mattered. It came off a three-pass sequence the team had practiced all week.

“Nobody left the zone and the forwards came out together and tic tac into the empty net. You love those empty net goals because you take a deep breath and you feel yeah, we are close, we are going to win this one.”

Kelowna ran with six defencemen because of injuries. That meant bigger minutes for younger players like Owen Hayden, and Hay said he’s learning on the fly.

“He is a big strong young man and he has to learn to be physical. You want to keep teaching him and pushing him so he can make the next step. We are down to six defencemen and those minutes are really important.”

Spokane made a push in the second, but ended the night going 0 for 5 with the man advantage. A few failed clears annoyed the coaching staff, but Boettiger was there to kick aside 33 shots.

“Clears are really important,” Hay added. “When you stop clearing pucks, they usually end up biting you. We got through it with good goaltending. Good goaltending is your best penalty killer, and Boettiger was definitely good tonight.”

Now Kelowna heads home for a big matchup Wednesday against the Prince George Cougars — their last home game until Christmas.

“I do not know why you cannot beat anybody in the league,” Hay said about the B.C Division leaders. “If you are prepared, if you are ready to play.

“I do not want to say it is a must win game, but it is our last home game until Christmas, so we want to perform really well.”