These two Kelowna Rockets will be foes … for one game

Every year, the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game is a chance for 40 draft eligible players from the Canadian Hockey League to compete against one another ahead of the 2023 NHL Draft.

Players are divided into Team Red and White. This year, 19 players invited are from the Western Hockey League. Among them, is Kelowna Rockets forward Andrew Cristall and defenceman Caden Price.

But there’s a catch.

For one night, they will be on opposite teams.

Cristall will be on Team Red, and will play with projected number one pick Connor Bedard, along with another top WHL forward in Zach Benson.

“It’s going to be super fun to play against all the top prospects in the CHL,” Cristall told RocketFAN’s Regan Bartel. “It’s a pretty cool experience that we get to have. So, it’s going to be fun to get there.”

“It's pretty cool to be able to go back and play with [Connor]. We haven't played with each other for a while and it's going to be good to get reconnected and hopefully we have some success out there.”

Team White will have the presence of Price on the back end, with other WHL standout defencemen Lukas Dragicevic. Price will join his old minor hockey teammate, Brayden Yager, too.

“There’s some added pressure, but I’ve played hockey all my life so that’s all I know,” Price said. “I think I just need to play to my strength and do what I do best.”

Price relishes the chance to go up against Bedard of the Regina Pats, again, and even his own teammate.

“To get another opportunity to play against [Connor] is going to be a surreal experience. Hopefully I get to play a lot against him and ‘AC’ [Cristall] a lot and try and shut them down.”

The 2023 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game airs live from the Langley Events Centre on TSN, TSN.ca, the TSN App, and RDS on Wed., Jan. 25, at 7 p.m. PT.