Beau Courtney celebrates his goal against the Kelowna Rockets on March 15, 2025. (Image Credit: Kamloops Blazers)

By Victor Kaisar

Fighting Trout 4 Rockets 1

Fighting Trout swim past Kelowna Rockets to remain in WHL playoff hunt

Mar 16, 2025 | 9:39 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Thompson River Fighting Trout emerged victorious in their battle against the Ogopogo Saturday (March 15) night at Sandman Centre.

The Fighting Trout, who are otherwise called the Kamloops Blazers, scored three unanswered second period goals to reel in the 4-1 win over the Kelowna Rockets.

The win kept their slim playoff hopes alive heading into the final week of the WHL regular season, as both the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Wenatchee Wild were vanquished in their respective games.

In a somewhat fitting turn of events, it was the guy called Fins who opened the scoring. Emmitt Finnie struck at 5:14 to send the 4,620 avid fishing enthusiasts – or fans – in attendance into a frenzy.

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Kayden Longley silenced the home crowd when he made it a 1-1 game, which is how things stood after one period. The Rockets, however, failed to play spoilsport as they’ve now lost nine in a row and 24 of their last 25 games.

That’s because the Fighting Trout fought back and forced the Ogopogo to descend back to the depths of Okanagan Lake as Nathan Behm, Beau Courtney, and John Szabo all beat Jake Pilon, to make it 4-1 after two periods.

Courtney, who scored his fifth goal after he was cast away by the WHL-leading Everett Silvertips, busted out a fishing themed celebration as he made the two points oh-fish-al.

“A couple of guys were talking about it in the locker room and we had two goals already and nobody had done it, so when I put one in the back of the net, I was like ‘ah, might as well go for it,'” Courtney said.

Veteran netminder Dylan Ernst let one slip away as he finished with 22 saves on 23 shots. At the other end, Pilon’s net was full of rubber as he stopped 42 of 46 shots in a losing effort.

Kamloops is back in action on Tuesday (March 17) when they host the Victoria Royals at Sandman Centre. They’ll need a favour or two if they are to catch Seattle for the eighth and final playoff spot as the Thunderbirds are four points ahead with a game in hand.

Seattle plays the Tri-City Americans on the road Sunday night before they close out the season against Spokane and Portland next weekend. They also have a game against Tri-City that still needs to be rescheduled after it was postponed.

Kamloops will close out the regular season with games at home to Vancouver Friday (March 21) and on the road in Kelowna Saturday.

As for the limited-edition Fighting Trout jerseys that they wore Saturday, they’ll be auctioned off until 9:00 p.m. Sunday, with proceeds going to support the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC.