Rockets hit road for two

Photo: Marissa Baecker

The Kelowna Rockets will be without forward Dillon Dube and goaltender Roman Basran for a pair of key road games this weekend.

Dube remains in Calgary as he recovers from the flu while Basran suffered what appeared to be a left leg injury early in Wednesday's 7-4 win over the Spokane Chiefs.

His status is not known.

Goaltender Brodan Salmond did make the trip south to Seattle.

Salmond has appeared in just one game since mid-October. He has been recovering from a knee injury.

The Rockets have a date with the tough Seattle Thunderbirds tonight in the Washington city before a first place showdown with the suddenly red-hot Vancouver Giants.

The T-Birds tripped up Kelowna 6-4 last Friday night in the only other meeting this season between the two clubs.

"Seattle plays a very hard game, especially at home. Their defence is strong and they forecheck hard. They compete significantly harder than most teams for loose pucks and they dominate in faceoffs," said assistant coach Travis Crickard.

"We need our players to appear in the game ready to battle."

The Rockets enter the weekend with 26 wins and 55 points, one better than the Giants, who are idle Friday, and five up on third place Victoria.

They owns multiple games in hand on both teams.

The Rockets are back home Wednesday against Lethbridge.