Big crowd. Tough finish.
With a season-high 6,088 fans in the building, the Rockets closed out the regular season the same way they opened it—at home, and on the wrong side of a lopsided score.
Opening night saw them fall 8-2 to Spokane.
Game 68 ended in a 5-0 loss to Penticton.
And in both cases, it wasn’t much of a contest.
The building was full on Saturday. Fan Appreciation Night. A chance to end on a high note.
But the game never really gave it that chance.
It never felt like the Rockets were in it. Not early. Not late. Not at any point where you thought, this is where it turns.
You kept waiting.
You thought an early, lopsided scrap by d-man Nate Corbet would energize his team and the building.
It never came.
“We came out flat,” said associate coach Brandon McMillan. “We couldn’t find any energy. It just dragged through the whole game. We couldn’t grab onto anything and get going. Just a flat effort—and not the way you want to end the season.”
And it’s not the first time Penticton has done this in this building.
Back in January, the Vees came in and shut out the Rockets 5-0.
Two visits. Two shutouts. Both on Kelowna ice.
That part stings.
The frustrating part is the night before looked very different.
In Penticton, the Rockets played a tight game. They lost by one goal and probably deserved better. There was pace. There were chances. There was life.
“Maybe we deserved a little bit better last night,” McMillan said. “We had really good looks, just couldn’t finish. But tonight, we just weren’t ready. That’s the difference.”
And it showed.
Passes were missed. Battles were lost. The power play didn’t generate much. Meanwhile, Penticton stayed simple. Clean. Efficient. And when they got their chances, they scored.
“They’re a good team,” McMillan said. “Full credit to them. But there’s no excuse for us. This is a rival. We need to have that intensity. They had nothing to play for, and they came out and played the right way.”
The Rockets didn’t.
And maybe part of it is what the final game of the regular season can bring.
The playoffs are close. The standings are set. The body is tired. It’s easy to start thinking ahead.
“You’re thinking about next week,” McMillan said. “It can creep in. You’re looking ahead to Friday. But when you start thinking like that, that’s when you get into trouble. You’ve just got to play.”
Instead, it looked like a team stuck in between.
Not fully in the game. Not completely out of it.
Just there.
“The margins are so thin,” McMillan said. “If you let your foot off the gas even a little bit, top teams will take advantage. And they did.”
Still, the bigger picture tells a better story.
The Rockets finish the regular season 38-21-6-3. Fourth in the Western Conference. A team that improved as the season went on and started to find its game.
“Look at where we were at the start,” McMillan said. “Look at what we brought in and where we got to. We’ve really climbed. It took time, but I think we got the group going in the right direction.”
That matters now.
Because the playoffs don’t care how you finished Game 68.
They care how you play in Game 69.
“I think we’re built the right way,” McMillan said. “We’re physical. We can play different styles. That’s important this time of year.”
And more than anything, it comes down to mindset.
“100%,” he said. “The games are so tight. Every little mistake can be the difference. The team that quits first is going to lose. If you can stay with it longer than the other team, that’s who wins.”
That’s the test now.
Not what happened Saturday.
What happens next.
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