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Recap: Rory Kerins has career-best performance in Wranglers 5-2 win over Rocket
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Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Apr 4, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 4, 2026, 00:09 EDT
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The Calgary Wranglers took the ice in Laval for the first time in team history and were met with over 10,000 fans. Calgary has done very well against the North Division leaders this season and this game was no exception. The Rocket opened the scoring in the first, then the Wranglers’ production exploded in the second period for five goals. The Wranglers held onto this lead and ended up winning 5-2.

Lineup notes

Aydar Suniev didn’t join the team for this trip as he was called up by the Flames earlier in the day. The team also provided an injury update prior to the game that included Artem Grushnikov out with an upper body injury and Ivan Prosvetov out with a lower body injury. Connor Muphy backed up Sergeev for this game. Martin Frk was back in for this game and Lucas Ciona also slotted back into the lineup. Coming out was Alex Gallant. 

Wranglers lines

Dryden Hunt – Sam Morton – Martin Frk
Rory Kerins – Justin Kirkland – William Stromgren
Carter King – Clark Bishop – Carter Wilkie
Parker Bell – David Silye – Lucas Ciona
Turner Ottenbreit – Daniil Miromanov
Nick Cicek – Gavin White
Etienne Morin – Xavier Bernard
Arsenii Sergeev

Game at a glance

The starting goaltending match up for this game was Arsenii Sergeev for Calgary and Kaapo Kahkonen for Laval. A penalty was called against the home team early for tripping at 1:15. Calgary got a few looks on this opportunity, then after the man advantage came to a close, Owen Beck opened the scoring for the Rocket. At 5:32, Beck was in front of the net and on a half spin, got the puck past Sergeev. 
The Wranglers needed to activate their penalty kill a few minutes later when Carter Wilkie was called for holding. Calgary killed this off then the Rocket took a holding call of their own at 17:54. The Wranglers registered a shot before the power play came to a close and at the end of 20 minutes, the Rocket were ahead 1-0. The Wranglers out-shot their opponents 9-7 in the first period. 
The Wranglers carried the zone activity to start the second period and were awarded for it just 3:49 in when Rory Kerins scored by deflecting a shot from Lucas Ciona. 
Just over three minutes later, William Stromgren scored off a sharp angle shot at 6:55 that was assisted by Rory Kerins and Daniil Miromanov.
At 9:13, Tyler Thorpe and Lucas Ciona got caught up in a scrum in front of the Wranglers net and were called for offsetting roughing minors. At 10:46, Rory Kerins scored his second goal of the game with a stunning bar down shot. Dryden Hunt and Nick Cicek picked up the assists on this marker.
Exactly a minute later, Martin Frk scored as well off a set up from Kerins. This was Rory Kerins’ fourth point of the game and the secondary assist went to Nick Cicek. 
At 12:20, the Wranglers scored their fifth of the period with a goal from Sam Morton off a passing play between him and Martin Frk. Lucas Ciona picked up the secondary assist.
Right after this goal, Laval changed their goaltender to put Hunter Shepard in net. The Rocket took a boarding penalty at 13:48 and then another high sticking penalty right after at 15:57. Before the period came to a close, Tyler Thorpe deflected a point shot into the back of the net at 18:28. That wrapped up an action packed second period and Calgary went into the second intermission up 5-2 and out-shot Laval 16-5 in the middle frame. 
The scoring slowed in the third period and the opportunities were going back and forth for most of the frame. At 15:40, Owen Beck and Clark Bishop were called for roughing for another scrum, this time in front of Laval’s net. Shortly after, Laval pulled Shepard for the extra attacker at 16:11.
Calgary had multiple attempts at the empty net, including one off the post and out but weren’t able to score one more in this one. At 19:12, Florian Xhekaj was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and Hunter Shepard came back out in net for the rest of the game. The Wranglers ended up winning 5-2 and out-shot Laval 29-18. 
Rory Kerins had his first four point night of his professional career in this game and was awarded the first star of the night. Martin Frk was given the second star. 

Scoring stat summary

Rory Kerins – 2G, 2A
William Stromgren – 1G
Dryden Hunt – 1A
Lucas Ciona – 2A
Daniil Miromanov – 1A
Martin Frk – 1G, 1A
Nick Cicek – 2A
Sam Morton – 1G

Next up

This series has a quick turnaround with game two going at 1:00 p.m. MT on Saturday. The Wranglers look to build off this big win and sweep the weekend series.

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