Local Sports posted Mar 13, 2022 @ 11:00am by John Luke Kieper

Kamloops Blazers knock off Kelowna Rockets after 12-round shootout

The Kelowna Rockets and Kamloops Blazers were in action on Saturday night, this time in a wild match at Prospera Place.

Kamloops would go on to win the game 4-3 in the shootout. Kelowna's Talyn Boyko stopped 30 of the 33 shots he faced while Kamloops' Dylan Garand put aside 35 of 38.

<who> Photo Credit: Paige Bednorz

In the first frame, the Blazers came out flying thanks to Daylan Kuefler's 30th and 31st goals of the season. Kamloops outshot the Rockets 17 to 10 after the first 20.

The next two periods were dominated by Kelowna. Andrew Cristall scored in the second to cut it to one as Kelowna outshot the Blazers 14 to 5.

Shortly after Kuefler secured his hat-trick to start the third, Colton Dach and Adam Kydd answered to send the game into overtime.

Both teams fought hard in the OT, though nothing was solved. This meant the game needed a shootout.

In the shootout, the two teams each scored twice in 11 attempts. When Drew Englot stepped up as Kamloops 12th shooter, he was able to sneak it by Boyko to steal the win.

These two teams are back in action next Friday for what should be even more wild games. Puck drop at Prospera Place is at 7:05 pm.

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