Leclerc gets the call

From The Daily News of Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 . . .

The Kamloops Blazers’ coaching staff gets its last preseason look at its team tonight.
It also will be its first long look at goaltender Justin Leclerc as he is scheduled to play the entire game as the Blazers meet the Kelowna Rockets, 7 p.m., at Interior Savings Centre.
Leclerc, 18, was acquired prior to training camp from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a 2008 second-round bantam draft pick. Leclerc, from Saskatoon, had a terrific 16-year-old season, but his play tailed off last season and then he was taken out by mononucleosis.
Healthy now, his presence in Kamloops provided the Blazers with more options, especially in terms of 20-year-old players.
The Blazers’ roster features four 20-year-olds — goaltender Dustin Butler, who put up 33 victories after being acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks early last season, defencemen Ryan Bender and Ryan White, and centre Brock Nixon. The Blazers would love to keep all four, but WHL rules dictate that they must declare three by Oct. 11.
Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, would prefer to get that out of the way long before then, however.
“I haven’t played a goalie a full game so I should probably start,” Clark said Thursday. “I have to sort out the 20-year-old situation. I know what (Butler) can do and I want to see what (Leclerc) can do in a full game.”
To date, with each of the four having played 90 minutes, the two 16-year-olds — Jon Groenheyde, who was assigned Wednesday to the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials, and James Priestner — have been the better goaltenders. Priestner has been beaten once in 30 shots, while Groenheyde gave up two goals on 22 shots.
Leclerc, having given up four goals on 31 shots, has a 2.67 GAA and a .871 save percentage; the numbers for Butler, who allowed five goals on 32 shots, are 3.33 and .844.
Meanwhile, with a shortage of defencemen — Victor Bartley (Detroit Red Wings) and Keaton Ellerby (Florida Panthers) are in NHL camps and Mark Schneider (wrist) is injured — the Blazers will use Sasha Golin on the back end tonight.
Normally a right winger, Golin played some defence, including manning a point on the power play, while with Portland. The Blazers acquired him from Portland last season. Clark used him on the power play a bit last winter and has done the same this exhibition season. Golin also dropped back to the blue line after Bender was ejected during Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the visiting Prince George Cougars.
And left-winger Matt Wray, who was cut by Prince George and walked on with the Blazers, will continue to get a look from Clark.
“He’s been OK,” Clark said of the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Qualicum Beach native. “He’s a raw kid — I’d like to see his skating improve — but he’s made some good decisions.”
Clark wouldn’t guarantee that Wray will be in the starting lineup when the regular season opens Sept. 21, but did say there’s a “good chance” that Wray, who doesn’t turn 18 until Nov. 22, will be here.
JUST NOTES: RW Juuso Puustinen, who has returned from the camp of the NHL’s Calgary Flames, will play tonight. . . . Before sweeping Prince George — 6-3 and 4-3 — in a home-and-home series last weekend, the Blazers had been 0-9 against the Cougars over the previous five exhibition seasons. . . . The Blazers are 6-3 in exhibition games with Kelowna since 2000.