From The Daily News of Monday, Nov. 26, 2007. . . .
Like Robin Williams in his prime, the Kootenay Ice handed the Kamloops Blazers a line Saturday night at Interior Savings.
However, neither the Blazers nor most of the 4,771 fans in attendance were laughing.
With centre Steve Da Silva and wingers Michael Stickland and Andrew Bailey leading the way, the Ice scored a 3-2 victory, freezing the Blazers’ express in its tracks.
Kamloops went into the game having won five in a row and seven of its last eight games. The Blazers now get a few days to think about this one before meeting the Rockets in Kelowna on Friday.
Da Silva, a 20-year-old from Saskatoon, had two goals and an assist, with Bailey, a 19-year-old from Hazlet, Sask., chipping in three assists and Stickland, an 18-year-old sophomore from Red Deer, adding a goal and an assist.
It was an especially big game by Stickland, who moved up to the Ice’s top unit after left-winger Kevin King went down with a knee injury during a 7-6 overtime loss to the Rockets in Kelowna on Friday.
“He brings some speed to our line and that helps out,” Da Silva, who now has 17 goals and is among the league leaders with 35 points, said of Stickland. “He’s a good player. He got an opportunity to play with us and took advantage of it.”
The Blazers, who opened with a physical game for the second straight night, actually got on the board first, with centre Brock Nixon beating Ice goaltender Kris Lazoruk with a power-play rebound at 2:31 of the first period.
But the Ice countered with the next three goals, two of them coming before the first period ended. Da Silva scored from the back door at 8:02 and, at 19:52, Stickland fired a shot from the left wing that beat goaltender James Priestner – whoops! – low to the stick (long) side.
The Ice stretched its lead midway through the second period when Da Silva took advantage of some Kamloops confusion to bang home a rebound while on the power play.
The Blazers got to within one just over five minutes later, Shayne Wiebe blasting down the left wing and beating Lazaruk.
Then, in the third period, the Blazers had ample opportunity to pull even and perhaps win this one, what with the Ice being hit with four straight minor penalties. But the home side’s power play, which was 4-for-7 in a 6-4 victory over the visiting Everett Silvertips on Tuesday, has lost its sizzle. That power play was 1-for-7, and now is 2-for-15 in its last two outings, including a 4-1 victory over the visiting Prince George Cougars on Friday.
“I don’t think we’re getting pucks to the net as often as we can and we don’t have guys standing close enough to the goalie,” Kamloops head coach Greg Hawgood said. “You get a little success and they forget how we were banging pucks in from the goal crease.
“Sometimes we have three guys standing on the boards and I don’ t think we have anybody who is that good a shooter that is going to score from there.”
At the same time, the Ice – now on an 8-0-1-0 roll -- came into this one determined to improve its defensive play.
“That one was a lot of fun,” said a smiling Da Silva, referring to Friday’s goal-fest in Kelowna. “But we came in here and we wanted to be more defensive, kind of tighten up our own end. (Friday) night was kind of a run-and-gun game that we’re not used to.
“(Saturday), we just wanted to be real solid defensively and get our game back on track.”
Which is just what Kootenay did. The defencemen consistently plugged shooting and passing lanes and got ample help from the forwards. And, in the third period, Lazaruk was the Ice’s best penalty killer.
“We came expecting a real tough game and we got that,” Da Silva said. “They’re a real fast club and they move the puck real well. With our defensive play, we kind of shut them down a little bit but they still got a lot of opportunities and give credit to our goalie.”
Lazaruk, who was lifted in Friday’s first period after being beaten three times on 10 shots, finished up with 32 saves against the Blazers.
Still, the Blazers went away from this one thinking they could have won it.
“We go into the third period with a chance to win a hockey game that I didn’t think we played particularly well in,” Hawgood said. “I don’t think that’s been the case before I came.
“I’ve got a lot of guys in the dressing room who are pretty disappointed with themselves. You can’t win every game but I just don’t think anyone in that room is happy with the way we lost tonight.”
The Blazers were given Sunday off and will return to the rink today to begin preparations for Friday’s game in Kelowna.
Hawgood said his team will spend part of the next four days doing video work and “walking through situations.”
“We want to make sure,” he said, “that everyone knows what to do in every situation.”
JUST NOTES: Referee Pat Smith, showing why the one-man system is far superior to its alternative, was terrific in allowing some hard hits and battles for the puck all over the ice. . . . Kootenay took seven of 11 minors.
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