Sunday, May 10, 2009

Kelowna also book plans to Rimouski

Press Release

The Kelowna Rockets are the 2009 Western Hockey League Champions after defeating the Calgary Hitmen 3-2 in overtime in Game 6 of the best-of-seven WHL Championship series on Saturday, April 9th.

Tyson Barrie scored on a power play 8:13 into overtime to lift the Rockets to the Game 6 win, meaning the Rockets win the best-of-seven series over the Hitmen four games to two.

It’s the third WHL Championship for the Kelowna Rockets in the last seven seasons. The Rockets won the WHL Championship in 2003 and 2005, and also won the MasterCard Memorial Cup in 2004 as the host team.

Colin Long and Lucas Bloodoff also scored for the Rockets in the Game 6 win while Mikael Backlund chipped in two assists.

Joel Broda and Bostjan Golicic scored for the Hitmen, who had rallied for wins in Games 4 and 5 after losing the opening three contests of the WHL Championship series.

Rockets’ goaltender Mark Guggenberger made 24 saves to earn the win. Martin Jones made 47 saves for the Hitmen in the loss.

With the 2009 WHL Championship title and the Ed Chynoweth Cup in their hands, the Rockets will head to the 2009 MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament in Rimouski, QC, beginning next Friday.

Kelowna wins best-of-seven series 4-2.



(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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