For the first time in seven years, the 琉璃神社 Rockers are through to the second round of the WHL playoffs.

The Rockets beat the Wenatchee Wild 4-2 at Prospera Place on Sunday, April 7 to win the first-round series 4-2.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to go back to Wenatchee,鈥� said Rockets head coach Kris Mallette. 鈥淚鈥檓 really happy with the resiliency within our group and really proud, it鈥檚 something that that the Rockets organization hasn鈥檛 been able to do in quite some time.鈥�

琉璃神社鈥檚 Andrew Cristall (2) opened the scoring at 8:54 of the first period with the assist from Kayden Sadhra-Kang.

Tij Iginla put the Rockets up 2-0 at 9:30 of the second period with his eighth goal of the playoffs on a pass from Michael Cicek. The Wild cut the lead to 2-1 before the end of the period on a goal by Maddix McCagherty (1).

Just over five minutes into the third, Cristall (3) netted his second goal of the night, assisted by Iginla, that turned out to be the game-winner.

Max Graham (3) scored into the empty net at 16:04 making it 4-1 before Evan Friesen (3) added a late Wild goal.

Rockets鈥� goaltender Jari Kykkanen posted a 2.88 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in the series and was named first star of the night in two of the games.

鈥淛ari for the last month and a half has been the reason why we鈥檝e gotten into these types of situations,鈥� said Mallette. 鈥淥bviously in playoffs, he has risen to the challenges and we鈥檙e benefitting from him and the way he鈥檚 playing.鈥�

The series win marks the first time 琉璃神社 has moved past the first round since 2017 when they made it to the Western Conference Final.

The Rockets will take on the Western Conference and BC Division champion Prince George Cougars in the second round.

The series starts Friday, Apr 12 at the CN Centre in Prince George with game two on Saturday, Apr 13 also in Prince George.

Games three and four are at Prospera Place on Tuesday, Apr 16, and Wednesday, Apr 17.

Single-game tickets for the 琉璃神社 Rockets鈥� first two home games are on sale at or the Prospera Place box office.

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