Welcome to Hashtag Rockets

I've never written a blog before.  This is a brand new adventure for me, and I am hoping you will take the time to read my blog, and take my opinions as just that, opinions.  I have been a season ticket holder of the Kelowna Rockets for over a decade now, and even to this day, every game day, I still get that giddy excitement that I did as a child.  There are some amazing organizations in the Western Hockey League, but the Kelowna Rockets are bar none, near the top in regards to class and product.

My love for the game of hockey and the Kelowna Rockets began in 1997, when the Kelowna Rockets were still fairly new to the Kelowna sporting scene.  Having moved from Tacoma in 1995, the Rockets played in a very small arena that sat just over 2600 people.  My first Kelowna Rockets game was when I was 11 years old, the Kelowna Rockets were playing the Kamloops Blazers in the final game of the season, and I remember this game vividly.  The puck dropped to start the game and within the first minute, Rory McDade, a product of New Westminster, was carrying the puck across the center red line with his head down and Kamloops Micki DuPont sent McDade flying head over heels nearly 4 feet off the ice surface and I turn to my father and say to him, "He went flying!  That must be why they are called the Rockets!" I said emphatically.  The Kelowna Rockets went on to lose that game against the Blazers, and I knew instantly that I loved this game, because I was practically in tears because they lost.  Kelowna that year would go on to play the Spokane Chiefs in the first round, which I convinced my father to take me to game 6 of.  The Rockets were shut out that game, and again, I left the arena devistated.

It was another 5 years of going to random games here and there until I made a deal with my parents in high school.  I was never really all that great at mathematics in school, so my parents gave me an incentive to study hard and do well.  If I improved my math grades, I would get Season Tickets for the next Kelowna Rockets season.  I went from a C student in math to an A that year.

My first Kelowna Rockets game in Skyreach Place (Now Prospera Place) was exhilerating.  The Kelowna Rockets vs Prince George Cougars.  This game had everything, from goals, to scraps, and OVERTIME!  My first game as a season ticket holder and I get to see my first live OVERTIME?!  Man am I ever going to enjoy this season!  The Rockets ended up winning the game 4-3 on a Joe Suderman goal with assists to Seth Leonard and Tyler Mosienko.  

The magic of my first season as a Seasons Ticket Holder didn't stop there.  I watched so many fantastic players come through Skyreach Place, such as Jay Bouwmeester with Medicine Hat, Brent Seabrook with Lethbridge, Dion Phaneuf with Red Deer and Ryan Getzlaf of Calgary, to name just a few of the talented individuals in the WHL that year.  

The best part of this season though, was the fact that in my first year of holding season tickets, was the first year that the Kelowna Rockets, in the history of the club, made it past the first round of the playoffs, sweeping the Kamloops Blazers in the first round and dispatching the Spokane Chiefs in 6 games, to meet the Kootenay Ice in round three.  It was the most amazing experience of my life to see how electric the arena was in a 3rd round matchup, however, the Kootenay Ice were simply far too superior, and squandered the Rockets chances at going any further in 5 games.  Thus began my addiction to the Kelowna Rockets and the WHL.