Hitmen 4, Blazers 2

From The Daily News of Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007 . . .

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was the second intermission of Monday night’s WHL game at Interior
Savings Centre and the Calgary Hitmen were wondering what was happening.
Here they were, the No. 2-ranked team in the CHL and holders of the WHL’s
best record, and they were completely dominating the Kamloops Blazers,
whipping the home team in every aspect of the game but goaltending. The
scoreboard, however, told a different tale as it showed the hosts with a 2-1
lead.
“Kamloops has that kind of team,” offered Calgary defenceman Eric Frere,
whose early third-period goal started his side on the way to a 4-2 victory.
“You make mistakes and they’ll make you pay for them.
“We knew we had to fix our mistakes that we were making in the first and
second and come at them in the third.”
In what almost certainly was their final appearance as a ‘community-owned
team,’ the Blazers made enough mistakes to last a long, long time.
The WHL’s board of governors is to convene Wednesday in Calgary. Vancouver
businessman Tom Gaglardi of River City Hockey Inc., the group to which
Blazers shareholders have agreed to sell the franchise, will present a
business plan to the board. If Gaglardi doesn’t make as many mistakes as his
soon-to-be team did, the board will approve the sale.
“We were terrible,” Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach,
said and he may have been understating things.
The Blazers were outshot 40-13, including 11-2 in the first period and 11-4
in the third. They also gave the Hitmen, certainly the WHL’s top team right
now, eight power-play opportunities.
“We didn’t respond to anything,” Clark said, adding that his team had been
“very good” in beating the Bruins 4-2 in Chilliwack on Saturday.
“You know,” Clark continued, “we played not bad against Portland but other
than that we haven’t done anything in this building.”
He was referring to a 4-0 victory over the Winter Hawks on Sept. 30. Even
with that game, the Blazers (3-3-0-0) are a mediocre 2-3-0-0 on home ice.
The Hitmen, meanwhile, are 9-1-0-0 overall — 5-1-0-0 on the road — and have
won four straight, including a 5-3 victory over the Cougars in Prince George
on Sunday.
“In the first period,” Frere said, “we wanted to get our legs going. We had
been on the bus for a while and just wanted to get our legs moving and get
into the game.”
After a scoreless first period, the visitors got a second-period score from
centre Brett Sonne on a power play at 1:43. The Blazers showed a bit of
spunk, though, and left-winger Ivan Rohac pulled them even at 8:21.
Then, when centre C.J. Stretch floated a long shot through goaltender Dan
Spence, at 11:06, the Blazers, who were being outshot 19-8, found themselves
leading this one.
Spence, who was called on to face just 13 shots, made up for that goal with
a brilliant right pad save on left-winger Travis Dunstall at 13:30 of the
third period.
It was a period, however, that was all Calgary.
“The third period was good; it was really good,” said Frere, a Trochu,
Alta., native who turns 19 on Nov. 15. “We were all clicking by the third
period and everything was going our way.”
Frere, who was acquired Dec. 6 from the Moose Jaw Warriors for a fifth-round
draft pick, got his side rolling, scoring on a backdoor play with the teams
skating four aside at 3:01.
“It was a nice pass,” Frere said of the feed from left-winger Ian Duval. “He
just gave me a look that I should probably go down. He gave me a great pass,
right on my tape. It’s hard not to put those in.”
Just over four minutes later, Calgary right-winger T.J. Galiardi, while
skating away from the Kamloops net, flicked a backhand shot that beat Justin
Leclerc, who made 36 saves, over his right shoulder.
Centre Ryan White would add some insurance with an empty-netter at 19:38.
Frere earned an assist on Galiardi’s team-high third game-winner, giving him
five helpers and seven points in 10 games. Not bad for a guy who had zero
goals and 15 assists in 143 career games going into this season.
“It’s a lot of fun . . . it’s great,” Frere said with a huge smile.
Which is something the Blazers haven’t had much of on home ice. And
considering that they ran the stairs in full gear after two poor
performances on opening weekend, who knows what awaits them today?
On Saturday, left-winger Alex Rodgers scored two goals and set up another as
the Blazers won in Chilliwack.
The turning point may have come about one minute into the game when Kamloops
defenceman Keaton Ellerby leveled Chilliwack freshman right-winger Ryan
Howse, the second overall pick in the 2006 bantam draft, with a devastating
hit. Howse suffered a shoulder injury and could miss up to six weeks.
Defenceman Victor Bartley and centre Brock Nixon also scored for the
Blazers, while Jadon Potter replied for the Bruins.
The Bruins were without defenceman Dylan Chapman, 20, who suffered a broken
hand while blocking a shot in Friday’s 5-4 overtime victory over the host
Vancouver Giants. He, too, could miss up to six weeks.
JUST NOTES: Sonne is riding an eight-game point streak, during which he has
12 points, including six goals. . . . Sonne, who is from Maple Ridge, is the
lone B.C. forward on the Hitmen. However, six of their nine defencemen and
both goaltenders are from B.C. . . . The Blazers were 0-for-3 on the power
play, meaning Calgary has successfully killed 12 straight. . . . Attendance
was announced as 4,427.