Rockets roll over Royals with dominating 9-1 victory

Kelowna Rockets forward Jake Poole racked up five points on four assists and a goal in an impressive 9-1 victory over the Victoria Royals on Saturday night.

Teammate Pavel Novak also put in a strong effort for the home side, scoring twice and adding an assist to extend his team lead in points with 40 on the year.

Goaltender Tayln Boyko stopped all but one of the 23 shots he faced on the way to his 13th win.

The lone goal for Victoria (12-16-4-0) was scored by Brayden Shuurman, who ranks second on the team in total points with 31.

It was all Rockets on Saturday, who struck early and often with five goals in the first frame.

Forward Colton Dach kicked off the night for Kelowna (18-10-1-3) , scoring his 14th of the year at 2:07 to make it 1-0 for the home side.

Less than three minutes later, at 5:05, Kelowna opened up a two goal advantage when forward Rilen Kovacevic shovelled one past Victoria goaltender Tyler Palmer. The pair of early goals would prompt the Royals to replace Palmer with rookie goaltender Logan Cunningham, who had only made one appearance for the club before being thrust into action tonight.

The goalie change would not do much to alleviate Victoria’s woes, as Kelowna’s leading scorer Pavel Novak would net back-to-back goals at 10:33 and 11:14 to hand his team a commanding 4-0 lead halfway through the first. Novak now has 16 goals on the year and sits three shy of 100 career WHL points.

The Rockets would add on with less than a minute remaining in the period, scoring their fifth goal of the opening frame on forward Max Graham’s eighth of the season at 19:01.

Goaltender Tyler Palmer would reenter the game at the start of the second, but Kelowna would continue to pile on, taking a 6-0 lead on a goal by the recently acquired Adam Kydd who potted his first of two on the night at 1:02.

The Royals would finally stop the bleeding with a goal by Brayden Shuurman on the powerplay at 2:48. Shuurman continues to play well against Kelowna, recording eight of his 20 goals against Kelowna this season.

However, the Rockets would respond only a few minutes later, making it 7-1 on Kydd’s second goal of the night and sixth on the year at 5:36 of the period. The Regina, SK product now has four points in three games for Kelowna since being acquired in a deal with Calgary earlier this week.

Frustrations began to mount for the Royals in the latter half of the period, leading to a number of penalties being taken by the club as they fought to get back in the game. The Rockets would capitalize on a 5-on-3 opportunity with five seconds remaining in the frame, opening up an 8-1 lead on Marcus Pacheco’s first career Western Hockey League goal at 19:55.

It was a quiet final period for both sides, the only goal coming from the stick of Kelowna forward Jake Poole at 19:00–his fifth point of the evening–to seal a 9-1 victory for the Rockets.

Victoria goalies stopped 34 out of 43 shots against, with Tyler Palmer stopping 26 and Logan Cunningham turning away eight of his own in limited action.

They have now dropped their last three contests, all coming against the Rockets, who own an 6-1 record over the Royals this season.

Kelowna will take the next six days off before travelling south of the border for a Jan. 21 matchup against the Everett Silvertips.

Meanwhile, the Royals will head to Prince George for a midweek series against the Cougars on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading back to the Island where they will host the Vancouver Giants and the Everett Silvertips on Jan. 21 and 22.