Kelowna Rockets Mid-Season Review

To suggest the current campaign has been a tumultuous one for the Kelowna Rockets would be an understatement.

Although the team sits in second place in the B.C. Division, arguably the weakest in the Western Hockey League this season, the Rockets have amassed a record of 16-17-2.

It’s a far cry from last season’s B.C. Division winning standard of 43-22-5-2.

The first half has been most eventful, both on and off the ice. And in sports, at most every level, comparisons are inevitable. To a large degree so far, the numbers certainly tell the story.

2018-19 2017-18
Scoring (Forwards) GP G A P P/GP
P/GP Diff.
Kyle Topping 35 13 25 38 1.09 0.99 0.10
Leif Mattson 35 16 18 34 0.97 0.95 0.02
Nolan Foote 33 18 14 32 0.97 0.80 0.17
Liam Kindree 29 7 19 26 0.90 0.54 0.36
Erik Gardiner 35 5 6 11 0.31 0.71 -0.40
Conner Bruggen-Cate 34 3 6 9 0.26 0.64 -0.38
Jack Cowell* 26 2 3 5 0.19 0.48 -0.29

(* Cowell was dealt to the Kootenay Ice on Nov. 30 for a 3rd round pick at the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft. Cowell did not report to Cranbrook and the WHL has voided the trade.)

Kyle Topping

While there are key players maintaining their respective scoring pace from a season ago, their impact on overall production has not been particularly significant.

The Rockets were the fifth highest scoring team in the WHL last season with 280 goals through 72 regular season contests. That’s an average of 3.88 goals per game. The team was talented enough offensively to win games while surrendering 3.46 goals per game.

So far during 2018-2019, Kelowna has scored 92 goals in 35 games. The Rockets are 18th overall in team scoring, an average of 2.63 goals per outing while giving up 3.09 per match.

The numbers suggest the current group is pretty much a .500 team at best, with 33 games remaining this season.

Another glaring difference this season is the offensive contribution from the backend. Last season, defenceman Cal Foote collected 70 points, leading the blueline brigade that compiled 196 points. Naturally, the total was in part supported by the proficiency of the forward group, but the veteran presence was an important part of the Rockets regular season success.

Lassi Thomson

This season, the group on defence has been unable to contribute significantly to the offence. Led by rookie import Lassi Thomson from Finland (22 points), the Rockets ledger includes just 61 points from the backend through 35 games. It’s a significant drop from a season ago.

Last season, Kelowna scored 17 shorthanded goals, tops in the WHL. So far this season, the Rockets have scored twice while shorthanded.

While it has been challenging since day one this season, there has been improvement of late.

Adam Foote

Under new head coach Adam Foote, who replaced Jason Smith on Oct. 22, the Rockets are 12-7-2.

Perhaps most importantly, Kelowna has begun to make Prospera Place a tougher building for opponents, going 7-1-1 under Foote.

In early December, the Rockets and assistant coach Travis Crickard cut ties. Former NHL defenceman Josh Gorges has been active at practices of late, but has not officially been added to the coaching staff.

The  Rockets have also been very good front-runners. At 9-0-1 when leading after the first period and 13-0 when leading after two periods, Kelowna is in very good company league wide. In addition to the Rockets, only the Everett Silvertips (21-0-0) and Prince Albert Raiders (27-0-0) have yet to suffer a defeat when leading after 40 minutes. Coincidentally, the Rockets will play host to both the ‘Tips (Jan. 9) and Raiders (Jan. 19) next month.

With the Christmas break over with, the Rockets will play six of their next seven games against a pair of B.C. Division rivals.

B.C. DIV. GP W L OTL SOL PTS % GF GA
Giants 32 22 8 2 0 46 0.719 100 73
Rockets 35 16 17 2 0 34 0.486 92 108
Royals 30 16 13 1 0 33 0.55 88 91
Blazers 31 12 16 2 1 27 0.435 98 104
Cougars 33 11 19 1 2 25 0.379 75 114

The Rockets travel to Kamloops Blazers (12-16-2-1) on Friday before the teams battle in Kelowna on Saturday and again at Prospera Place on Jan. 5.

The Blazers won both previous meetings, 4-1 in Kamloops and 3-1 in Kelowna, though the divisional foes have not met since the opening weekend of the season.

The Blazers currently occupy the second wild card playoff spot in the western conference standings and have four games in hand on the Rockets.

Kelowna will also play the Prince George Cougars (11-19-1-2) three times before mid-January, once at home (Jan. 4), then a weekend doubleheader in Prince George on Jan. 11 & 12.

The Rockets and Cougars have met five times. Kelowna has won twice. Each team has won once in overtime. Prince George has two games in hand.

All told, the Rockets have 33 games remaining, 19 of which will be played in Kelowna. A total of 21 games involve divisional opponents, while 10 games remain against U.S. Division teams.

Also of note is the WHL trade deadline on Jan. 10.