The Kelowna Rockets didn't take control right away. Once they got up to speed, there was no stopping them. What started as a difficult opening period, the Rockets pulled away for a 5-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers Saturday night at Prospera Place. The victory gives Kelowna a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, with ...

The playoffs often come down to one simple truth: the team that defends best usually lasts the longest.On Friday night, the Kelowna Rockets showed they are ready to embrace that reality.In a tight, low-event Game 1, the Rockets leaned on structure, discipline, and patience to earn a 3-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers. I...

He has worn three jerseys in 287 career games in the Western Hockey League. Three cities. Three rooms. Three versions of the same player trying to find something that finally sticks.And now, with the WHL playoffs here, Shane Smith is no longer moving.He's driving.Smith's career doesn't read like a straight line. It rea...

The Kelowna Rockets are heading into the WHL Prospects Draft with a rare piece of franchise history, the first overall pick. At Thursday night's WHL lottery in Calgary, Kelowna officially secured the top selection for the May 6th and 7th draft. It's just the second time the organization has picked first overall since r...

Harrison Boettiger has never been one to dodge pucks. As a goaltender, that comes with the job. So when the question turned to pressure ahead of Game 1, he didn't dodge that either.For Boettiger, the moment is here. The WHL playoffs open Friday night on home ice against the Kamloops Blazers."Yeah, I think there's ...

Move over, Jason Deleurme. You have company.Tij Iginla is now a two-time MVP of the Kelowna Rockets, joining Jason Deleurme as the only players in franchise history to win the award twice.At a table nearby sat Jarome Iginla. Close enough to see it all. Not as a Hall of Famer in that moment, but as a father.And a few st...

The quote "the pressure is on them" comes from Shaun Clouston, speaking to (CFJC TV/Kamloops) reporter Marty Hastings.That tells you everything about how the Kamloops Blazers are approaching this series. They're embracing the underdog role. They're loose. They believe they have nothing to lose.What the Rocket...

It started on September 19.Eighty-four... no, scratch that - 184 days later, it was over.That's the window the Kelowna Rockets had to play 68 games, build a team, survive injuries, make changes, and figure out exactly who they were.And somewhere along the way, it all started to make sense."You look at game one and...

It's Rockets and Blazers in round one.For the first time since 2017, Kelowna and Kamloops meet in the opening round of the WHL playoffs.Games one and two go Friday and Saturday night at Prospera Place, with the series shifting to Kamloops for games three and four Tuesday and Wednesday.The last time these two teams met ...

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 conte...

They say the playoffs are when everything changes.For Ty Halaburda, that's not quite true.Because in his world, his final season, his final stretch, his last shot at it, the playoffs don't arrive on the schedule.They arrive when he does.And this year, they're already here.A week before the WHL Playoffs officially begin...

He doesn't rush his answers.Bruce Hamilton never really has.There's a pause before he speaks, not for effect, but because he's already thought it through. Bus rides. League meetings. Years in the game. It's all in there somewhere, filed away, ready when the question comes.And when it does, the answer usually sounds sim...

More than twenty years later, Paul Mitchell can still feel the moment in his hands."My jaw hit the floor," he said. "My hand is still sore from high-fiving."In the winter of 2002, Mitchell - a longtime Kelowna lawyer - stepped into one of the biggest challenges of his career. Alongside Bill Winters,...

We all get sick. WHL broadcasters aren't immune either. But actually losing our voices? Thankfully, that doesn't happen very often.It happened to me Saturday night in Kamloops, when I planned to call the game between the Kelowna Rockets and Kamloops Blazers at Sandman Centre. I'd been nursing a cold for a few days. Wit...

The road to 100 games behind a Western Hockey League bench rarely arrives in a hurry.For Kelowna Rockets head coach Derek Martin, it almost felt like a blur.Martin coached his 100th WHL game Friday night as the Rockets earned a 4-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers, a milestone that arrived less than two years after he fir...

The Kelowna Rockets beat the Kamloops Blazers for the third straight time this season on Friday night. The Rockets scored at least one goal in each period and held Kamloops to just one goal in the 4-1 win. The victory also extended their strong stretch of play and earned another important two points in a tight Western ...

If the Western Hockey League's Player of the Year award was decided purely on impact, Tij Iginla would be difficult to overlook.But awards rarely follow a straight line.The Kelowna Rockets' 19-year-old forward is in the middle of the most productive stretch of his WHL career, riding a career-high 14-game point streak a...

The Kelowna Rockets didn't deliver their sharpest performance Wednesday night. They still managed to collect the two points.Tij Iginla scored 3:28 into overtime as the Rockets edged the Victoria Royals 2-1 at Prospera Place, ending a tight goaltending duel between Harrison Boettiger and Royals netminder Jake Pilon.The ...