Rockets aim to extend winning streak tonight as they face off against B.C.-division rival
Kelowna goaltender key to success vs. Victoria
If the Kelowna Rockets are going to go far — or anywhere — in the WHL playoffs, they need Michael Herringer playing like he did this past week.
The over-age goaltender, in the midst of an up-and-down season to date, backstopped three straight wins over playoff-bound teams — including both Western Conference division leaders — in posting a 1.10 goals-against average and .961 save percentage.
Herringer made a total of 80 saves, counting six consecutive shootout stops in Friday’s 3-2 win over the U.S. Division-leading Everett Silvertips where he was the difference in outdueling worldjunior goalie Carter Hart despite not being named a star. Hart, the second star, stopped 23 shots to Herringer’s 34 through regulation and overtime, with Kelowna rookie Nolan Foote netting the only goal of the tiebreaker in the sixth round.
Herringer also beat the B.C. Division-leading Prince George Cougars for the fourth time in a calendar month, with last Wednesday’s 5-1 triumph at Prospera Place. Herringer was the second star that night, with 25 saves, and he didn’t allow more than two goals in any of those victories dating back to Feb. 3.
Kelowna won 3-2, 5-1, 5-2 and 5-1 again — after previously losing the first four games in that season series against P.G.
Herringer also stopped all 15 shots in relief of Brodan Salmond as the Rockets rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the visiting Tri-City Americans 4-2 on Saturday night.
That effort, combined with his two prior starts, cemented Herringer as the WHL’s goaltender of the week. He earned that award on Monday for the second time this season, having also been honoured for the week of Oct. 17-23.
Now comes another tough test for Herringer — maintaining that consistency against the streaking Victoria Royals (37-23-4-1), who are unbeaten in their last seven games (6-0-0-1) and could still be a first-round playoff opponent for the Rockets (40-21-5-0).
Two of the hottest teams in the entire league will clash twice this week, tonight and Saturday — both 7 p.m. puck-drops at Prospera Place, as Kelowna continues its six-game homestand that started against Tri-City.
“We’ve got six in a row at home, but we’re worried about the next game now,” Rockets head coach Jason Smith said following Saturday’s victory. “We’ll come back to work Monday morning and we’ll prepare for them. It’s a game-to-game preparation and a gameto-game situation.
“We’re not worried about what’s happened in the past or what’s going to happen in the future. We want to worry about the game at hand, and we’ll continue to do that.”
The Royals roll into town on a six-game winning streak, while the Rockets have won four in a row.
Kelowna is 8-1-1-0 in its last 10 and has now won 10 of 12 — with only one regulation loss — since suffering a 6-0 beating in Kamloops on Feb. 8. The Rockets avenged that with an 8-2 thumping of the rival Blazers, also in Kamloops, on Feb. 24 in their final meeting of the regular season.
Victoria is 7-2-0-1 in its last 10 and has lost just six times in 21 games (15-5-0-1) since getting blown out by Kelowna, 9-2 in Victoria on Jan. 13.
The Royals will be eager to make amends for that embarrassment tonight — their first shot at redemption against Kelowna — but the Rockets lead the season series (4-2-0-0), which wraps up on Saturday.
“We need to play smart hockey. We just need to continue to build off of previous games and continue to improve our structure, discipline, and we need to continue playing 200-foot hockey for a full 60 minutes,” Smith said on the team’s website.
“Those will be two fun games,” added Kelowna forward Dillon Dube, who scored twice in the win over Tri-City to start and complete that comeback. “We’re trying to make a push right now and this is the time to do it . . . .
“It’s kind of fallen in our laps right now, to have that opportunity (to get home ice in the playoffs), and the boys are coming out every night and playing with a little extra fire. Everybody’s wanting to win more than ever.”
Looking at the standings, Prince George is topping the B.C. Division with 89 points followed by Kelowna (85), Kamloops (82) and Victoria (79).
The Royals have the most games remaining, with seven, the Rockets have six — including five at home, and three against the last-place Vancouver Giants — and both the Cougars and Blazers have five left, including another home-and-home between them to close out the regular season.
Prince George just swept Kamloops 8-4 and 6-1 in P.G. on the weekend and leads that season series (4-1-1-0).
“It was important to get the four points and get up on Kamloops,” said Nolan Foote, who scored the winning goals in both weekend games. “It was just a great team effort. We just need to keep playing how we are, keep getting pucks to the net, and just do what the Rockets do.”
Playoff positioning is far from settled and these final two weeks are going to determine the opening-round matchups.
As of today, Kelowna would host Kamloops in a rematch from last year, but the Rockets could still end up facing just about anybody — from Prince George or Victoria, to Portland or Tri-City, possibly even Everett or Seattle.
If Kelowna wins the conference title — Everett is the frontrunner, tied with Prince George at 89 points, but with three more games left — the Rockets would take on the second wild-card team, which is presently Portland (75), though the Winterhawks have a game in hand on Tri-City (79) with one more head-to-head remaining.
If Kelowna was to overtake Prince George and win the division but not the conference, the Rockets would be up against the first wild-card team — presently Victoria, which has a four-point lead on Portland.
If Kelowna was to stay put in second place, the Rockets would host B.C.’s third seed — presently Kamloops. However, if Kelowna was to fall into third place, the Rockets would start the playoffs on the road versus whoever finished second in B.C.
Lastly, if Kelowna was to hit the skids and wind up as a wild-card team, the Rockets would be travelling to take on one of the division winners.
Seattle (88) is just one point behind Everett in the U.S. but has played two more games, with their final head-to-head this Friday.
In the event of a standings tie between two teams, the tiebreakers are total wins followed by head-to-head season series and then goals for and against ratios.
If three or more teams finish tied, the order changes slightly, with total wins followed by goals for and against, then the combined head-to-head records between all tied teams.
ICE CHIPS: In a career-high 50 appearances this season, Herringer is 29-14-3-0 with a 2.85 GAA, .902 save percentage and one shutout. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound product of Comox was originally selected by the Royals in the ninth round of the 2011 bantam draft. In 110 career regular-season contests split between Victoria and Kelowna, Herringer is 67-28-5-0 with a 2.91 GAA, .903 save percentage and four shutouts.