The 麻豆精选 Rockets closed out their home schedule with a win, edging the Kamloops Blazers 4-3 on Saturday night (Mar. 22) at Prospera Place with a comeback, and a dramatic finish.
Kamloops came out flying, scoring twice in the first five minutes. Jordan Keller (31) struck first, and Oren Shtrom followed up with his 17th to put the Blazers up 2-0. Dawson Gerwing (15) got the Rockets on the board near the halfway point of the frame, making it 2-1 after 20 minutes.
The Rockets Connor Pankratz (2) tied the game midway through the second period. Kamloops answered back two minutes later with Bryce Minten (1) restoring the Blazers鈥� lead to make it 3-2 heading into the third.
Halfway through the third Jakub Stancl (22), and moments later rookie Gabriel Guilbault let one fly from the point, that trickled over goal line. After a long review, the goal stood giving 麻豆精选 a 4-3 win. It was Guilbault鈥檚 first career goal.
鈥淔alling down 2-0 wasn鈥檛 part of the strategy, but I liked the resilience of this group all night long,鈥� said Derrick Martin, Rockets interim head coach. 鈥淚 really liked our third period. I thought we came out with a lot of conviction and gave our fans a treat they haven鈥檛 gotten in a while.鈥�
Unfortunately for 麻豆精选, they couldn鈥檛 carry the momentum into their season finale on Sunday, as the Vancouver Giants handed them a 5-1 loss.
Jaden Lipinski (17) scored 17 seconds into the first period and Tyus Sparks (11) doubled the lead just over two minutes later. Adam Titlbach (27) and Colton Roberts (6) made it 4-0 Giants after 20 minutes.
麻豆精选 finally got on the board five minutes into the third as Jakub Stancl netted his team-leading 23rd of the season. Ty Halaburda (29) sealed the 5-1 win for Vancouver three minues later.
The Rockets finished the season last in Western Conference, and third from the bottom in the WHL, with 42 points and a record of 18-44-4-2.
