The Kelowna Rockets’ quest for the Ed Chynoweth Cup begins on Friday night, as they play game one of their first-round WHL playoff series against the Wenatchee Wild.
It’s a battle of the fourth and fifth seeds in the Western Conference as Wenatchee finished the regular season with a record of 34-30-4-0 while the Rockets finished just one point behind at 33-30-4-1. That one point is the difference between home-ice advantage as games one and two will take place in Wenatchee on Friday, Mar. 29 and Saturday, Mar. 30. The series will shift to Prospera Place for games three and four on Tuesday, Apr. 2, and Wednesday, Apr. 3.
During the regular season, the Wild took the series against the Rockets, going 2-1-1 in four contests. The two teams haven’t seen each other since Jan. 6.
This marks Wenatchee’s first appearance in the WHL playoffs. Formerly the Kootenay Ice, this is the first time since 2005 that the franchises are meeting in the postseason.
Rockets forward Andrew Cristall is the leading scorer going into the series as he finished the season with 111 points (40 goals, 71 assists). Meanwhile, Wenatchee’s leading scorer is Kenta Isogai, who had an 88-point season (31 goals, 57 assists).
Kelowna finished the regular season ninth in power play percentage (23.4 per cent), but 19th on the penalty kill (72.5 per cent). Wenatchee’s power play finished 16th in the league (20.7 per cent) while their penalty kill was tied for 15th (74.3 per cent).
Kelowna is back in the playoffs and looking to make a deeper run this year, as they were bounced in the first round a season ago.
Wenatchee 🔜 pic.twitter.com/7T6eAn0Hth
— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) March 28, 2024
Puck drop on Friday night at the Town Toyota Center is at 7 p.m.
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