Rockets make coaching change

Kelowna Rockets have released head coach Adam Foote and replaced him with assistant coach Kris Mallette on an interim basis.

President and GM Bruce Hamilton says the team has struggled since the Christmas break, and with 14 games remaining in the regular season, he felt a change was necessary.

“Part of success is being able to handle adversity and this group hasn’t handled adversity real well. That’s from playing scared to win, or scared not to lose. That’s probably a better line. So that’s what’s set in here, and hopefully a new voice will change that,” said Hamilton.

The Rockets, the host team for this year’s Memorial Cup, hired Foote on October 23, 2018. The team had a record of 24-23-6-2 under Foote last season, this year Kelowna is 24-26-2-2.

Mallette is currently in his fifth season as a member of the Rockets coaching staff, after the former North Okanagan Knights (KIJHL) coach was hired as an assistant coach during the summer of 2014.

His primary focus has been the team’s defensive units and penalty kill units.

The Rockets will be back in action on Friday, February 21 when they visit the Victoria Royals in back-to-back games.