For the first time in seven years, the Âé¶čAV Rockers are through to the second round of the WHL playoffs.
The Rockets beat the Wenatchee Wild 4-2 at Prospera Place on Sunday, April 7 to win the first-round series 4-2.
âWe didnât want to go back to Wenatchee,â said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette. âIâm really happy with the resiliency within our group and really proud, itâs something that that the Rockets organization hasnât been able to do in quite some time.â
Âé¶čAVâs Andrew Cristall (2) opened the scoring at 8:54 of the first period with the assist from Kayden Sadhra-Kang.
Tij Iginla put the Rockets up 2-0 at 9:30 of the second period with his eighth goal of the playoffs on a pass from Michael Cicek. The Wild cut the lead to 2-1 before the end of the period on a goal by Maddix McCagherty (1).
Just over five minutes into the third, Cristall (3) netted his second goal of the night, assisted by Iginla, that turned out to be the game-winner.
Max Graham (3) scored into the empty net at 16:04 making it 4-1 before Evan Friesen (3) added a late Wild goal.
Rocketsâ goaltender Jari Kykkanen posted a 2.88 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in the series and was named first star of the night in two of the games.
âJari for the last month and a half has been the reason why weâve gotten into these types of situations,â said Mallette. âObviously in playoffs, he has risen to the challenges and weâre benefitting from him and the way heâs playing.â
The series win marks the first time Âé¶čAV has moved past the first round since 2017 when they made it to the Western Conference Final.
The Rockets will take on the Western Conference and BC Division champion Prince George Cougars in the second round.
The series starts Friday, Apr 12 at the CN Centre in Prince George with game two on Saturday, Apr 13 also in Prince George.
Games three and four are at Prospera Place on Tuesday, Apr 16, and Wednesday, Apr 17.
Single-game tickets for the Âé¶čAV Rocketsâ first two home games are on sale at or the Prospera Place box office.
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