It was a heartbreaking loss for the Kelowna Rockets as they fell 4-3 to the Everett Silvertips on Wednesday night at Prospera Place.

Everett got out to the early 1-0 lead in the first period but Rockets captain Gabriel Szturc responded with two goals in a 3:26 second span as Kelowna led going into the second frame. Marek Rocak assisted on both goals while Caden Price and Max Graham also collected a helper each.

He suits, he scores!

Gabriel Szturc, winner of the MacDermott's Menswear Player of the Month suit, nets the Rockets first goal.

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½” Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets)

Gabriel Szturc, whoop de doo make it two!

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½” Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets)

The Silvertips regained the lead in the middle frame when Tarin Smith and Hayden Smith each scored their seventh goal of the campaign.

However, less than a minute later, Price scored his seventh goal of the season on a spin-o-rama move for the Rockets to tie the game 3-3.

Caden Price hits 'em with the spin-o-rama! x

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½” Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets)

The game remained tied through the majority of the third period until Carter Bear scored for the Silvertips with just 1:31 left to go in the game, to give Everett the lead and the win.

Jake Pilon made 32 saves in the loss for the Rockets.

On Wednesday night, 16-year-old Lachlan Staniforth made his WHL debut with the Rockets. He was the teamsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½™s sixth round pick in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft.

With the loss, the Rockets have now dropped two games in a row. In both games, the teamsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½™s leading scorer Andrew Cristall has been held on the scoresheet. Additionally, the Rockets were also without forward Tij Iginla for those two games as he was attending the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game.

Kelowna is now back to even on the season with a record of 21-21-2-0, sitting sixth in the WHLsa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½™s Western Conference. Everett, with the win, took over first place in the conference.

The Rockets are back in action this weekend for a home-and-home series against their rivals, the Kamloops Blazers. The two teams will meet at Prospera Place on Friday, Jan. 26 at 7:05 p.m. and then travel up the highway to drop the puck at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops on Saturday at 6 p.m.

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