Bender is Blazers' new captain

From The Daily News of Wednedsay, Sept. 19, 2007 . . .

Ryan Bender, the newest captain of the Kamloops Blazers, is 20 years of age.
But he already has learned that time stops for no one.
“It’s hard to believe. It’s amazing . . . amazing that I’m here right now wearing the ‘C’,” Bender said Tuesday, three days before the start of his fifth season, after being introduced as the WHL team’s captain. “It’s been nothing but a lot of fun and I look forward to having a lot of success this season.”
Bender will get ample help from alternate captains Brock Nixon, another 20-year-old in his fifth season here, Victor Bartley, 19, and C.J. Stretch, 18.
“This is our home-grown leadership,” Dean Clark, the Blazers general manager and head coach, said, pointing out that all four players were Blazers draft picks who “have played for no one else.”
“This is the best situation you can have,” Clark added. “We feel we’ve got a real good mix of leadership . . . coming from different areas — from work ethic to presence in the dressing room to overall play.
“We expect a lot of big things from these four guys.”
So does Bender, a Regina native who has a well-deserved reputation as an intense banger on the ice.
“It’s not only a huge honour but a privilege,” he said of being named captain. “Wearing the Blazers ‘B’ for the last four years, I’ve taken a lot of pride in it. Now wearing the ‘C’ as a Kamloops Blazer is a feeling that is unexplainable.”
Bender also knows that replacing Reid Jorgensen, the captain for the last two seasons, won’t be easy.
“There are big shoes to fill there,” Bender said. “He was a very good captain and I learned a lot from him. I’m going to try to use what I learned to try and make our team successful, with the help of Brock, Victor and C.J.”
Bender has been one of this team’s leaders for the last two seasons, so he doesn’t think his appointment as captain will change his situation a great deal.
“It’s not going to change my role a lot,” he said. “I feel I work hard on and off the ice and I compete. But, at the same time, I’ve got to be smart; I can’t take too many bad penalties. I have to set an example for the other guys on the team.”
He also knows that he will have to pay a little more attention to the team’s younger players, especially off the ice.
“I have to keep a close eye and really communicate with the school guys and make sure they’re doing the proper things on and off the ice, and have a proper attitude,” Bender said.
That, Clark said, won’t be a problem.
“(Bender) brings presence and with that can command respect,” Clark stated. “When he barks, people tend to listen.”
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The Blazers won’t be switching benches this season, but they will prior to 2008-09.
The WHL has wanted the Blazers to change benches ever since a new dressing room was built at the opposite end of Interior Savings Centre from where the old one was located.
The WHL wants to avoid any opportunity for teams to come in contact with each other, especially in the hallways near the dressing rooms at Interior Savings Centre.
“(The WHL has) stated that (we should change) because of the crossing . . . how the teams cross each other during the games and the potential for stuff to happen underneath,” Clark said. “They just felt it was important that we change. There is one other team in the WHL that is going to be mandated to change, too.”
That would be the Spokane Chiefs.
Clark also said that once the 2007-08 season ends, season-ticket holders will be contacted to discuss the situation.
“We will be polling them to see what might be the best way for people if they do want to change . . . their seating areas,” he said.
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JUST NOTES: Blazers D Keaton Ellerby didn’t play for Florida in the Panthers’ 5-4 loss to the Oilers in Edmonton, nor did he play last night in a 3-2 shootout victory over the Calgary Flames in Saskatoon. Ellerby said late last night that things are going “good . . . really good.” He said he is scheduled to practise with the team this morning and then fly with the team to Chicago for a Thursday night game. . . . Jorgensen was in camp on a free-agent basis with the NHL’s Boston Bruins. He now has been invited to go to camp with their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. They open camp Saturday. Also invited were two other players with WHL experience — D Daryl Boyle and LW Jamison Orr. . . . F Tyler Halliday, who is from Kamloops, is back with the Red Deer Rebels. Halliday, 18, played two games with the Rebels last season and has rejoined them on a tryout basis. He went to camp with the Edmonton Oil Kings, who got his rights from the Chilliwack Bruins, but was released and had joined the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials.