Kelowna Rockets close out Royals, face off at home against Seattle Friday

The Kelowna Rockets defeated the Victoria Royals 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday night at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena in Victoria, coming from behind to win the team's Round 2 WHL Playoffs series in seven games.

The Rockets trailed 2-0 in the third period before Justin Kirkland scored twice, including a dramatic game-tying-goal with just 0.2 seconds remaining in the third.

Then 5:56 into the overtime period, Calvin Thurkauf scored the series winner, spinning around in the slot and wristing home the winning goal, giving the Rockets the series victory.

Victoria outshot Kelowna 30-25 in the game but Kelowna started to come on in the third period, outshooting the Royals 8-4 in the third and 6-3 in overtime.

Kelowna now advances to the Western Conference Championship where they will take on the Seattle Thunderbirds. Games one and two are in Kelowna this Friday and Saturday nights at Prospera Place in Kelowna.

Tickets are available for the games immediately through www.selectyourtickets.com, and at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at 250-762-5050 as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Here is the full series schedule:

1) Seattle @ Kelowna                     Friday, April 22                  7:05 pm
2) Seattle @ Kelowna                     Saturday, April 23             7:05 pm
3) Kelowna @ Seattle                     Tuesday, April 26              7:05 pm
4) Kelowna @ Seattle                     Wednesday, April 27        7:05 pm
5) Seattle @ Kelowna                     Friday, April 29                  7:05 pm
6) Kelowna @ Seattle                     Sunday, May 1                   5:05 pm
7) Seattle @ Kelowna                     Tuesday, May 3                 7:05 pm