Blazers 4, Winter Hawks 0

From The Daily News of Monday, Oct. 1, 2007 . . .

Over the summer, James Priestner’s father, Mike, tried unsuccessfully to
purchase the Kamloops Blazers.
On Sunday night, James and the Blazers owned the Portland Winter Hawks.
The Blazers handed the Winter Hawks their fourth straight loss, this one 4-0
in front of an Interior Savings Centre crowd announced at 4,377.
This one, the Blazers’ second straight victory after an opening-night loss,
featured five fights, 102 penalty minutes and a rookie goaltender’s first
shutout.
Priestner, a 16-year-old from Edmonton, was making his first start of the
season and second of his WHL career. He was called on to make eight saves in
the first period, but just three in the second and two in the third.
That was somewhat different from his first start, a 6-5 overtime loss to the
visiting Chilliwack Bruins on Feb. 23 in which he stopped 25 shots and his
mates abandoned him while blowing a 4-0 first-period lead.
“I’m going to put that one behind me and say this was the first one,” a
laughing Priestner said.
But seriously . . .
“It was pretty good. I’m happy,” he said. “First game . . . I couldn’t ask
for much better.”
While he wasn’t particularly busy in the game’s latter half, Priestner had
to be sharp early. He made a terrific first-period glove save on
right-winger Luke Walker and later stood his ground as centre Colton
Sceviour got in alone after forcing a turnover at the Kamloops line.
Priestner also got some help from his best friends, like at 13:00 of the
second period when a Sceviour shot rang off the cross-bar.
“It was a 2-on-1 and it actually hit off my glove and then hit the cross-bar
and went out,” Priestner said. “It wasn’t straight on bar. So I actually
gloved it out. . . .I don’t think anyone saw it but I felt it.”
The deterioration of play — 23 of the night’s 34 penalties came in the last
half — and a lack of work meant Priestner had to concentrate to stay in the
game.
“Composure is one thing I’ve worked on for the last couple of years,” said
Priestner, a second-round selection by the Blazers in the 2006 bantam draft.
“It’s something I used to struggle with. As a first-year bantam I wasn’t
great at that. I’ve worked a lot at home with my goalie coach . . . (you
want to) make sure you’re ready at all times.”
One player who especially enjoyed Priestner’s first shutout was defenceman
Ryan White, 20, who also is from Edmonton.
“I’m pretty happy for Priestner. We go way back,” White said. “I’m very
happy for him. He played with my little brother in minor hockey. I’ve known
him for a long, long time.”
White more than did his part, as the Blazers defenders — veterans Victor
Bartley, Ryan Bender and Keaton Ellerby enjoyed their best games of the
young season — didn’t give the visitors a whole lot.
“All that we needed was a strong defensive role,” White said. “We were
trying to help out Priestner all game. We thought he deserved the shutout .
. . and wanted to play a smart defensive game.”
Kamloops was playing just its third game of the season and, in fact, hadn’t
played in eight days, something that showed in the early going.
But by the second period, in which the Blazers held an 11-3 edge in shots,
the rust was gone. Portland goaltender Kurtis Mucha, who had gone the
distance in a 3-1 loss to the visiting Tri-City Americans on Saturday,
finished with 19 saves and was forced to watch the Blazers play tic-tac-toe
on numerous occcasions.
Centre Brock Nixon and left-winger Travis Dunstall got their second goals of
the season in the first period, with left-winger Alex Rodgers and centre
C.J. Stretch scoring their first goals, both on the power play, in the
second period.
“We actually scored five goals,” Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager
and head coach, said. “But I like the fact we didn’t give them anything. We
had about six minutes in penalties to kill at the end, too.
“Early, we looked like we hadn’t played a game in a while. Then the second
period was our best period.”
“It was,” White said, “a long week of practise. We kind of missed the game
atmosphere and it took us about the first period to get into it. After that
I thought we were going pretty good.”
And now the Blazers will be off until Friday when the Swift Current Broncos
come calling. Kamloops then will meet the Bruins in Chilliwack on Saturday
before coming home to face the Calgary Hitmen on Monday.
White, for one, is excited about trading in practice time for games.
“It’s pretty frustrating to have all this time off,” he said. “You get
started and they give you all this time off; you’re winning and you just
want to keep going.”
As for playing three games in four nights over the Thanksgiving weekend,
White added: “I can’t wait. . . . I can’t wait.”
JUST NOTES: Referee Pat Smith gave Portland 12 of 21 minors, five of 10
majors and one of three misconducts. . . . Portland was 0-for-6 on the power
play; the Blazers were 2-for-five. . . . Ellerby played in his 200th
regular-season game. . . . Kamloops D Mark Schneider, who suffered a
dislocated wrist prior to training camp, has had the cast removed and is
back skating. He should be cleared to play in two weeks. . . . Walker, a
17-year-old rookie from Castlegar, is the son of former Winter Hawks/Blazers
sniper Gord Walker. Luke wears No. 14, as did his father when he was with
Portland (1982-84) and here. Gord totaled 134 points, including 67 goals,
with the Blazers in 1984-85.