The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Victoria Royals 8-4 on Saturday night at Prospera Place.
In what seemed like a playoff game between the Kelowna Rockets and the Victoria Royals, the fans at Prospera Place sure got their money's worth in the game that featured 15-year-old Cole Tisdale getting his first start in the WHL.
Cole Tisdale sets new @Kelowna_Rockets franchise record for youngest goalie to record a win in first WHL start. The 15 year-old makes 23 saves in a 8-4 win over Royals. Now lead Royals by three points for first in BC Division.
— Regan Bartel (@Reganrant) January 21, 2018
The Rockets 8-4 win was a closer game than the final score shows. The intensity was very high throughout the game, with both teams playing like they were in game seven of the playoffs.
Scoring for the Rockets in the first period was Kole Lind with his 22nd, Cal Foote got his ninth and Dillon Dube put in his 21st of the season. Tyler Soy of the Royals notched his 22nd and Kelowna led 3-1 after 20 minutes.
In the second period, Kyle Topping scored his 17th and Leif Mattson added one more to bring his season total to 15. Matthew Phillips responded in the second with his 32nd and Dante Hannoun made it 5-3 with his 20th.
In the third period, Victoria's Igor Martynovz(15) scored the only Royals goal after an awarded penalty shot. Kelowna got two from Jack Cowell, one 16 seconds into the third and his 10th of the season into an empty net. Carsen Twarynski scored his team-leading 30th of the season.
Video courtesy SendtoNews
The Rockets enjoyed multi-point evenings from Kole Lind(1G, 3A), Jack Cowell(2G), Cal Foote(1G, 1A), Dillon Dube(1G, 1A), Leif Mattson(1G, 1A), Nolan Foote(2A), James Hilsendager(2A), and Conner Bruggen-Cate(2A).
Cole Tisdale made his WHL debut and stopped 23 of 27 shots in the win, his record is now 1-0-0-0.
Kelowna's record improves to 29-14-2-1.
The Rockets now head on a three-game road trip through Alberta starting on Jan. 24, in Lethbridge where they will face the Hurricanes for the last time this regular season, puck drop is at 6 p.m. They then head Medicine Hat on Friday, January 26th for a meeting with the Tigers with puck drop going at 6:30 p.m., before stopping in Red Deer the next night for a match-up with the Rebels with puck drop going at 6 p.m.
Kelowna is back at home again on Jan. 30 when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers in a rematch this coming Friday.
Tickets are available for Rockets home games through selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at (250) 762-5050.
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