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The Kelowna Rockets closed out what, statistically, was their worst season in the Western Hockey League.
Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Vancouver Giants closed the book on an 18-44-4-2 season.
The 18 wins and 42 points were four wins and 11 points fewer than the 2006-2007 team amassed.
They closed out the season losing 26 of their last 28 games, winning just four times since the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
In fairness, the team moved two of their top players in Andrew Cristall and Caden Price who are expected to start their professional careers next season, for younger players and draft capital needed to build a Memorial Cup contender next season.
On top of that, season-ending injuries to Tij Iginla and veterans Max Graham and Michael Cicek left the team void of both leadership and experience over the final two months of the season.
The Giants meantime finished sixth in the Western Conference and will face Cristall and the Spokane Chiefs in the opening round of the playoffs.
Vancouver jumped on the Rockets quickly Sunday when Jaden Lipinski beat Rhett Stoesser on the first shot of the game just 17 seconds after the puck was dropped.
Tyus Sparks, Adam Titlbach and Colton Roberts made it 4-0 before the first period ended.
Jakub Stancl buried his 23rd of the season to get the Rockets on the board in the third, but Ty Halaburda restored the four-goal lead three minutes later.
Stance gets us on the board with his team leading 23rd goal! @TheWHL | @StLouisBlues | #STLBlues pic.twitter.com/rrBCMQI0xg
— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) March 24, 2025
Stoesser faced 34 shots in the defeat.
The Rockets, who finished just ahead of both Regina and Moose Jaw in the overall league standings, will now await the draft lottery to determine the value of their first round draft choice which will surely be used as trade bait to help acquire talent for next season along with several other draft picks.
The Rockets will also get a top 10-ten pick in this summer’s Import Draft.
With the close of the regular season, the league announced Andrew Cristall as winner of the Bob Clark trophy as the league's scoring leader.
Cristall amassed 48 goals and 84 assists for 132 points, three better than Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Cristall had 60 points in 28 games with the Rockets and another 72 in 29 games with Spokane.
