Through 65 minutes of play at Prospera Place, the Kelowna Rockets and Kamloops Blazers settled nothing, thanks mainly to an outstanding performance in goal by the Rockets James Porter.
It took a fourth round shootout tally by Liam Kindree for the Rockets to emerge with a 2-1 victory on a night when the Blazers probably deserved a better fate.
The two Okanagan Valley rivals convened following a 10-day break in the Western Hockey League’s regular season schedule. It was only the third meeting of the campaign between the divisional foes and the match up in Kelowna drew a capacity crowd of 6,238 spectators.
Porter, who earned the nod as the game’s first star, was credited with 46 saves on the night. Kamloops dominated the territorial play for much of the night, yet it took 58 minutes and 42 seconds for the visitors get a puck past Porter.
It was defenceman Joe Gatenby, a former member of the Rockets, who scored his eighth of the season to tie the affair at 1-1 on the Blazers 43rd shot of the night.
Kole Lind, the game’s second star, had given the Rockets a 1-0 lead with his 17th of the season at the 1:14 mark of the second period.
Dylan Ferguson, the third star, handled 22 of 23 shots on the night for the Blazers, including a penalty shot by Lind in the first frame.
The Rockets took four of seven minors on the night.
Kelowna has won three in a row and improves to 21-11-2-1, good for sole possession of first place in the B.C. Division with 45 points. The Victoria Royals, which dropped a 5-3 decision to the Prince George Cougars remain in second place with 43 points. The Blazers are now 16-17-0-2.
The teams will renew their acquaintance on Friday evening at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.
