For the first time in the franchise鈥檚 history, the 91大黄鸭 Rockets will play a tiebreaker game to decide if they will advance to the 2019 WHL playoffs.
In Tuesday night鈥檚 match against the Kamloops Blazers, only the winning team of the tiebreaker will advance to the playoffs. The two teams tied for the third and final playoff spot in the B.C. divisional standings after both teams earned a win in their last game of the regular season March 16.
READ MORE: Rockets to face Blazers in tiebreaker game for playoff berth
Rockets鈥� coach Adam Foote said he鈥檚 told the team how to approach the do-or-die game.
鈥淓ach guy just has to worry about what they do well,鈥� said Foote. 鈥淓very guy has one or two things that they do well that we鈥檝e talked about all year. If their nerves come into play, to just skate. The good thing to remember is to skate faster and move the puck harder.鈥�
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This will be only the seventh time in the WHL鈥檚 history that there has been a tiebreaker game to decide which of two teams will advance to the playoffs. The first time was in the 1980-81 season, and the last time was in the 2015-16 season.
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After a challenging start to the season, and a coaching change with the addition of Foote, it鈥檚 all to fitting for the Rockets鈥� season to come down to a final match-up with their biggest rivals.
Defenceman Dalton Gally, who鈥檚 played dozens of games against the Blazers, said that they have to treat the game like any other.
鈥淲e know what鈥檚 on the line,鈥� said Gally. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the first true playoff game that a lot of our team will experience, and I guess for myself as well when it comes to a tiebreaker game. It鈥檚 elimination, you either move on or go home. We have to go into this game (and) wipe our mind clean.鈥�
The Rockets look to blast their way into the postseason tonight! Remember you can watch the game on Live for FREE using promo code WHLTiebreak19.
鈥� 91大黄鸭 Rockets (@91大黄鸭_Rockets)
馃搷 Sandman Centre
馃啔 Kamloops Blazers
馃摑
馃摵 (use promo code WHLTiebreak19)
Rockets fans can watch Tuesday night鈥檚 game for free.
The winner of the tiebreaker game will advance to a first-round series against the Victoria Royals scheduled to start sometime this upcoming weekend.
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