Ellerby in the NHL

From The Daily News of Monday, Sept. 17 . . .

While Victor Bartley was making his way back to the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, Keaton Ellerby was making his NHL debut.
“It was awesome,” Ellerby said shortly after taking a regular shift with the Florida Panthers in their 3-0 exhibition victory over the host Calgary Flames.
“I had lots of family and friends at the game, and I played a regular shift and killed penalties,” added Ellerby, a Calgarian whom the Panthers took with the 10th overall pick in the NHL’s 2007 draft.
Ellerby, who has yet to sign a contract with Florida, was paired with Mike Van Ryn, a veteran of 306 regular-season NHL games.
“I thought I played really well,” said Ellerby, who picked up neither a point nor a penalty. “I just tried to keep it simple and stay out of trouble.
“The pace was a lot quicker than junior . . . it was a lot different.”
Immediately after the game, Ellerby, who has played the last three seasons with the Blazers, left with the Panthers for Edmonton where they will play the Oilers tonight.
“I have no idea,” Ellerby said when asked if he would play tonight.
Bartley, who was in the Detroit Red Wings’ camp on a free-agent tryout, was released Sunday. He is expected to arrive back in Kamloops today and practice with the Blazers on Tuesday.
The Blazers returned from their weekend retreat in the Shuswap yesterday and begin preparations today for their first two regular-season games. The Chilliwack Bruins are at Interior Savings Centre on Friday, with the Seattle Thunderbirds in the house Saturday.
“Increased intensity” is what Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, said he expects to see at this week’s practice sessions.
He also said the coaching staff will spend quite a bit of time working on the power play.
“It’s been good,” Clark said, “but (Bartley) will make it better.”
In their seven preseason games, the Blazers, whose power play ran at 18.3 per cent last season, were 10-for-40 (25 per cent) with the man advantage. The WHL’s top PP unit last season was at 21.7.
In the preseason, the Blazers were 39-for-44 (88.6 per cent) on the penalty kill. Last season, they were 80.2, with the league’s best at 90.4.
Clark pointed out that during the exhibition season, he pretty much ran out whatever line was up next during power-play opportunities.
“We’ll have set units ready for Friday,” he said.
The Bruins will have their two big guns — right-winger Oscar Moller and centre Mark Santorelli — ready for Friday night. Moller was in camp with the Los Angeles Kings, while Santorelli was with the Nashville Predators.
Seattle, meanwhile, has yet to hear whether defenceman Scott Jackson, 20, who is from Salmon Arm, will be reassigned by Detroit.
JUST NOTES: The Blazers finished the exhibition season with a 6-1 record, one of two teams with six victories. The Spokane Chiefs, who open the season with a weekend doubleheader in Prince George, went 6-0. . . . In the spring of 2006, the WHL held a free-agent camp in Anaheim and then drafted a handful of American players. The Blazers selected D Dennis Brown, who came to training camp a year ago and then returned to Los Angeles where he played for the Jr. Kings. Brown, 18, now is with the USHL’s Lincoln Stars, after being the 38th player selected in that league’s summer draft. . . . Shaw Cable has released its schedule of WHL telecasts, and the Blazers will be featured three times — Nov. 30, in Kelowna; Feb. 8, at home to Kelowna; and, March 7, at home to Prince George. You have to wonder why there aren’t any Kamloops-Vancouver games on the schedule, especially after last season’s intense rivarly and the fact those are likely to be two of the Western Conference’s top teams this season. . . . Vancouver and the Medicine Hat Tigers will be seen six times, with the Red Deer Rebels, Saskatoon Blades and — ahem! — expansion Edmonton Oil Kings on five times apiece. . . . The complete Shaw schedule is in Scoreboard. . . . The first telecast is Thursday when the WHL kicks off its regular season with the Kootenay Ice visiting the Oil Kings.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca