Rocket fans eager to be back

• Fans are excited
• Night ends in big win for home team

For over 500 days, the seats at Prospera Place have sat empty.

But that all changed Friday night, Oct. 15 when the Kelowna Rocket’s launched onto the ice for the home opener against the Kamloops Blazers to 3,400 screaming fans.

“I’m so excited,” Macie Reid told Kelowna 10 on her way to sit down inside the arena. “To be back against Kamloops is super awesome.”

The line-up at the doors for the game started at 6:00 p.m. and continued to grow as masked-up and double vaccinated fans waited patiently to be welcomed inside.

One excited young fan, Zander, was very eager to get back into the arena and watch one; pucks on net.

“The goals, the goal scoring,” he said.

The building also featured fans from the rival Blazers, who came into the game undefeated.

Jason Fehr, who sported his Blazers jersey proudly in a crowd of Rockets faithful, didn’t let that stop him from enjoying the experience.

“Ten out of ten excited to be back, I’ve been waiting for this for a year and a half,” Fehr said. “I can’t wait to be back, can’t wait to be watching the WHL again.”

The night didn’t fall in the favour of the Kamloops fans in attendance, as the Rockets came away with a 4-2 victory.

Head Coach Kris Mallette, who has been with the team since 2014, said the fans gave his players an extra boost for the game.

“I know our guys were excited, he said. “I’ve been with this organization for quite some time and to not have these people backing us in the bubble last year, it’s great to have them back.”

Colton Dach scored twice including the game winning goal got his first taste of the fanbase here in the Okanagan after being acquired by the team in September.

“The guys told me we have a great fanbase here and I was excited to see how they were, and it was awesome,” Dach said. “We can’t thank them enough, they obviously weren’t there last year and now they get to come this year, we’re pretty hyped up they get to come.”