Player murals around Prospera Place
One thing Prospera Place is famous for is the murals of Kelowna Rockets players who have made their careers in the NHL and other leagues around the world. The Rockets have produced some of the highest calibre players in todays game. These life size murals are found over by the Rockets dressing room, decorating the upper parts of the walls with a plague to mark each player and their achievements.
Currently there are 14 amazing murals of players like Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber who recorded a total of 190 games played in his Kelowna Rockets career.
Buffalo Sabres defence men Tyler Myers, who was a Rocket for four season from 2005-2009.
Dallas Stars Captain Jamie Benn who made the jump from BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies to Kelowna in 2007, playing over 100 games in his two seasons as a Rocket.
Philadelphia Flyer Luke Schenn who put up 68 points in 189 games for the Rockets.
Steady d-man Duncan Keith who split his 2002-2003 season between Michigan State University and the Rockets who has gone on to win the Norris trophy for best defence men over ex Rocket team mate Shea Weber in the NHL in 2014, the same year he captured the gold medal for Canada at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia along side Rockets Alumni Weber and Benn.
Josh Gorges who is currently a Buffalo Sabre, who played his previous eight seasons for the Montreal Canadians, Georges played four seasons for the Rockets from 2000-2004 adding a total of 245 games.
Kelly Guard who maned between the posts from 2001-2004 is currently an assistant coach for the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL.
Ryan Cuthbert notched a total of 319 games in a Rockets uniform, before standing behind the bench for a total of five seasons.
Gavin McLeod played 321 games for the Rockets recordings a 538 penalty minutes, before playing five years for the University of Alberta.
Scott Hannan hit a milestone in the NHL this season for his 1000th career game. Hannan played his first two games with Tacoma before the club relocated to Kelowna where he spent the 1995-1998 seasons, notching 233 games played with 137 points in that time.
Scott Parkers mural is very fitting with his mitts and lid on the ice and fists up as he had his fair share of time in the sin bin, recording 732 penalty minutes in his three seasons from 1995-1997 for the Rockets.
Jason Deleurme played his first two Rockets season in Tacoma, and his last three here in Kelowna before playing for the University of British Columbia and multiple teams around the world, like Malmo, Sweden, the Witchita Thunder and finishing his hockey career in Bloomington with the Prairie Thunder in 2011.
Last but certainly not least is Vaclav Varada’s mural, the only Czech player to have one in Prospera Place. He played a season each in Tacoma and Kelowna, before a long stint in the NHL with both the Buffalo Sabres and the Ottawa Senators, then two seasons in Switzerland before returning home to the Czech where he is currently playing for HC Vitkovice.
Kelowna intends on keeping the tradition strong and adding more murals as time goes on. It gives the current players good incentives to continue on a strong and proud hockey career after they some day move on from the Kelowna Rockets.
