Blazers, Rockets renew Interior rivalry on Saturday in first of 10 meetings

“There’s always a rivalry, so there’s always a bit extra emotion, intensity,” said Blazers head coach Shaun Clouston, who’s been involved in the rivalry for three years. “Geographically and historically, it’s a big rival.”

Connor Levis added, “We definitely have a big rivalry with the Kelowna Rockets. We’ve played them lots in the past couple years. We haven’t had the chance to play them yet this year — the first time coming up this weekend, so I think we’re all looking forward to it.”

“It’s always physical,” noted forward Fraser Minten. “Last year was my real first taste of some of the rivalry that we have with them. It’s always physical, always hard-checking games.”

The Rockets had the Blazers number last season — at least until the new year, winning the first seven meetings. Kamloops then won the next six before Kelowna won the series finale.

Based on how the schedule played out, the teams had home-and-home series in three straight weekends.

“That was a very important stretch. They were right behind us, had a couple games in hand, and that six-game series was really important,” said Clouston. “We were able to dig in and find a way and take five of those six. It was a really important stretch of the season.”

Clouston thinks that stretch of games won the Blazers the division title. With a B.C. and U.S. Division schedule, the teams met 14 times last season. This year, they’ll play each other the usual 10 times.

“They’re really important. A divisional game for one. We play some divisional teams eight times. We’ve got them 10. They try to match up your big rivals, so it’s a 10-game series and both teams have to come out on top. You have to win an extra game or two or three to factor into the divisional standings, so they become very big games.”

The Rockets visit Kamloops for the first time next Saturday, Nov. 12.

by Chad Klassen

Blazers, Rockets renew Interior rivalry on Saturday in first of 10 meetings

Our Community