Sixteen-year-old defenseman Owen Hayden knew earning a roster spot with the Kelowna Rockets would not be easy. This year, it is even tougher. With the 2026 Memorial Cup coming to Kelowna next May, the Rockets are shaping up to be older, deeper, and more experienced than ever. Last season, the club carried three 16-year...

Brandon McMillan has returned to Prospera Place, not as a player, but as an assistant coach with the Kelowna Rockets. After nearly three decades in the game - from his first strides at age five, through junior glory, the NHL, and a decade in Europe - he has traded skates for the bench and is now focused on guiding the ...

Will Sharpe's first full season with the Kelowna Rockets is shaping up to be one of opportunity, expectation, and unfinished business. The 18-year-old defenceman arrived in Kelowna from the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the trade deadline, and now he faces a season where personal growth and team goals collide. "When yo...

Fresh faces on the coaching staff. A refurbished score clock. An upgraded sound system. A few added veterans and a brand-new season. Something just felt different inside Prospera Place when I walked through the players-only entrance Thursday morning. You can sense it in the building, like the walls themselves know this...

For a second straight training camp, the Kelowna Rockets will have the rookies mingle with the veterans right from the start when camp opens today at Prospera Place. Sixty-two players will try to earn a spot in this Memorial Cup hosting season. Ok, some of the players attending camp are ineligible to play for the team ...

Cam Paddock chuckles over the phone, thinking about one of the most common questions he's ever been asked: which Kelowna Rockets team was better, the 2003 squad that captured the Western Hockey League championship, or the 2004 group that fell in the Western Conference final but showed its true mettle by winning the Mem...

Jeff Pilon once battled defensive linemen in the CFL. His son, 18-year-old Jake, now faces slapshots as a veteran goalie for the Kelowna Rockets. Different sports, same elite mindset. RocketFAN was interested to learn that his dad didn't push him into the sport in which he excelled. "Jake has never played a snap o...

The Kelowna Rockets are celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2025-26 with a return to their original logo and a new commemorative crest. The anniversary mark, featuring crossing rockets and the number "30," will be showcased across the season, including at center ice in Prospera Place. Branded under the slog...

The Kelowna Rockets have signed forward Tomas Poletin, the team's first overall pick in the 2025 CHL Import Draft. Poletin, 18, is from Praha, Czechia. The 6'1", 205-pound forward was drafted by the New York Islanders in the fourth round of the 2025 NHL Draft. Last season, he played in Finland with the Pelicans pr...

Former Kelowna Rockets netminder Jordon Cooke has a smile in his voice when he talks about returning to the WHL, this time as the Spokane Chiefs' goaltending coach, which the team officially announced last week. But beneath the stories of big saves and long bus rides lies a candid look at the mental battles goalies fac...

The Kelowna Rockets are excited to welcome former NHL defenseman and Rockets alum Josh Gorges to the coaching staff as an Assistant Coach for the 2025-26 season. Gorges will join Head Coach Derrick Martin, Associate Coach Don Hay, and Assistant Coach Brandon McMillan behind the bench, bringing pro experience, leadershi...

Brandon McMillan is back! The ex-Rocket has been hired as an assistant coach for the 2025-26 season. You might remember McMillan from his playing days with the Rockets from 2006 to 2010. He was a key part of the 2009 WHL Championship team and a big reason why the Rockets were so strong back then. "Brandon brings p...

You always hear Canadian hockey players talk about the honour of wearing the maple leaf. And fair enough. It is a big deal. But don't kid yourself. It is just as much of a thrill for an American kid to throw on the stars and stripes. Kalder Varga gets to do just that. The Kelowna Rockets forward is in Slovakia to play ...

At the 2004 Memorial Cup in Kelowna, Rockets forward Randall Gelech could do no wrong. He scored one of the biggest goals in franchise history, set up another. He banged on the glass like a man possessed and then somehow didn't get credited with an assist on the championship-winning goal. Or did he? Down 1-0 to Gatinea...

Being a 17-year-old rookie during a Memorial Cup season on home ice is enough pressure to make anyone tighten up. But for Justin Keller, music was the outlet that helped him breathe. "Mike Card and I would fool around a bit on the guitar," Keller said. "I had an acoustic guitar, and so did he. We would b...

Simon Ferguson got a reality check when he joined the Kelowna Rockets in the winter of 2003. Spoiler alert: it wasn't a gentle one. The 19-year-old forward, recently traded from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, walked into the gym and was immediately thrown into a different world. One where the standard was higher, the pace ...

There was a time when getting into sports journalism was not about going viral, or chasing clout with hot takes. It was about telling stories. Not just the scores and stats, but the human side of the athletes we cover. What drives them? What shaped them? What failures and doubts have they carried, and what moments stil...

Sometimes, all it takes is one phone call. That call came earlier this week, from NHL defenceman and Kelowna Rockets alumnus Luke Schenn to 20-year-old blueliner Mazden Leslie, a player caught between two very different hockey paths. Leslie had recently been acquired by the Kelowna Rockets in a trade with the Vancouver...