Blazers intrasquad game . . .

From The Daily News of Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007 . . .

While a lot of fresh faces played their first game in a Kamloops Blazers
jersey on Wednesday night, centre Brady Mason took his off for the last
time.
Mason, 20, has cleared WHL waivers and the Westbank native is expected to
join the BCHL’s Westside Warriors.
Mason played 128 games with the Blazers over the last two seasons, totaling
33 points, including 13 goals, and 44 penalty minutes.
Last night, as he always did, Mason punched in, turned in a workmanlike
effort, punched out and went home, his Team White having lost 2-1 to Team
Blue in the annual intrasquad game before 969 fans at Interior Savings
Centre.
“He’s done everything we’ve asked of him,” Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general
manager and head coach, said. “We just don’t have room for him now.”
Mason was one of five 20-year-olds in camp; the team has until Oct. 11 to
declare which three it will keep. Goaltender Dustin Butler, defencemen Ryan
Bender and Ryan White and centre Brock Nixon are the others.
“It’s a little bit tough,” Mason said. “I wouldn’t mind playing here. I’ve
had two good years here and had a lot of fun. I’m going to miss it but I
will always be a Blazer.”
Mason is trying to look at the positives, though.
“I get to play at home and I’ll get a lot more playing time,” he said. “It’s
not as good a level but it’s still good hockey.”
Still, getting released at least in part because of your age is a bitter
pill to swallow.
“That’s the hardest part,” Mason said. “Two guys here had to leave and,
unfortunately, it was me.”
At the other end of the spectrum skates centre Brendan Ranford, a
15-year-old Edmontonian who was the Blazers’ first pick in the 2007 bantam
draft.
Ranford played on perhaps the game’s top line with sophomore right-winger
Tyler Shattock and freshman left-winger Shayne Wiebe.
Ranford scored the game’s first goal last night, taking a terrific Shattock
pass from along the right boards and going in alone to beat Butler.
“(Tyler Shattock) gave me a great pass,” Ranford said. “He took a hit to
make a play. I went in, faked it and slid it past (Butler).
“Hopefully, I’ll get a couple of those through the years.”
Team Blue took a 2-0 lead on another first-period goal, this one from
right-winger Kenton Dulle, who was one of the better players on the ice.
Team White’s best chance in the first period came off the stick of sophomore
Juuso Puustinen, who was robbed on a come-across move by goaltender Justin
Leclerc.
Team White got on the board at 14:05 of the second period when Puustinen
beat James Priestner, who had replaced Leclerc at 10:48 of the second
period. Team Blue wasn’t able to beat Jon Groenheyde, who took over from
Butler at the same time.
Both teams skated pretty well, but it was, as these games often are, pretty
much a no-hitter.
However, Team Blue defenceman Joel Woznikoski, who played four games with
the Blazers last season, went down with a knee injury at 2:30 of the first
period after Team White centre Mark Hall initiated a knee-on-knee hit. The
6-foot-3 Woznikoski, who played most of last season with Westside in the
BCHL, needed help getting off the ice and didn’t return.
JUST NOTES: Team White D Daniel Medland-Marchen, a 15-year-old from
Saskatoon, suffered a fractured collarbone in the first period. . . . After the game, the Blazers reassigned 12 players — D Logan Devlin, 16, Revelstoke Grizzlies (KIJHL); RW Joel Paiement, 16, UFA Bisons (Alberta midget AAA); C Ryan Hanes, 15, Thompson Blazers (B.C. major midget); LW Nathan Tomac, 16, Moose Jaw Warriors (Saskatchewan midget AAA); D Colin Fay, 16, Pembina Valley Hawks (Manitoba midget AAA); D Nick Buchanan, 16, South Island Thunderbirds (B.C. major midget); D Kyle Beaulieu, 16, B.C. major midget team to be determined; D Stefan Gonzales, 15, B.C. major midget team to be determined; RW Trevor Torbohm, 19, Chase Chiefs (KIJHL); RW Kyle Wells, 17, Winkler Flyers (MJHL); LW Andrew Wheeler, 18, Kamloops Storm (KIJHL); and, Medland-Marchen, 15, Okanagan Rockets (B.C. major midget). . . . The Blazers may have further roster moves today before setting their roster for the weekend exhibition tournament in Edmonton. . . . Bob Smillie has resigned from the Kamloops Blazers Sports Society’s board of directors for whom he was chairman of the governance committee. Upon resigning, he was hired by the society to oversee the paperwork involved in the transfer of ownership involved in the sale of the franchise.