Rebels find a victory

From The Daily News of Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007 . . .

Landon Ferraro hadn’t had much luck in Kamloops prior to Tuesday night.
He had made two trips to River City to play in KIBIHT with the Burnaby
Winter Club Bruins and both times had ended up at Royal Inland Hospital.
Last night, however, Ferraro left the Kamloops Blazers hurting, setting up
Red Deer’s only regulation-time goal and scoring the shootout winner as the
Rebels dumped the home side 2-1 in a WHL game played before 4,290 fans at
Interior Savings Centre.
“The first year, I spent overnight in hospital and the next year I spent
five hours in hospital,” Ferraro, the 16-year-old son of former WHL star Ray
Ferraro, said. “The first year, I broke three ribs after I went into the
boards head first. The second year I bruised a hand.
“I almost started knowing people’s names (in the X-ray department).”
Now you know why he was thrilled to end this most-recent trip to Kamloops in
one piece. Not only that, but his game-ending goal halted a 10-game losing
streak, which is why the Rebels celebrated as though they had just won a
playoff series.
“I don’t believe it still,” Ferraro said. “It’s just a good time right now
because it’s been a long month. We haven’t won a game. It’s a great
feeling.”
The Rebels hadn’t won since getting past the Raiders 2-1 in Prince Albert on
Oct. 14. Since then, they had gone 0-7-3-0, dropping eight one-goal
decisions, three of them in overtime, in the process.
“It was that much more frustrating,” Ferraro said of the one-goal losses.
“We were in every game and just couldn’t finish. So to finally do it tonight
is pretty good.”
Ferraro, the shootout’s second shooter, attempted to deke James Priestner
only to have the puck get caught up in the goaltender’s parapharnelia.
Priestner’s momentum took him into the net and the puck rolled off his body
and over the line.
“I had it,” said Priestner, who stopped 15 shots in the fifth start of his
freshman season. “I think I played him fairly well. I made the first save
and . . . I will have to look at the video. I don’t know if I hit it in or .
. . I know I made the first save . . . I don’t know if I punched it in or
the momentum of the puck took it in or what.”
The Blazers’ first two shooters, snipers Juuso Puustinen and Brock Nixon,
both hit a goal post. And when Ivan Rohac failed to put the puck through
goaltender James Reimer’s legs, this one was over and the Blazers’ losing
streak had reached four.
“We held them to 11 shots on goal through two periods,” Dean Clark, the
Blazers’ general manager and head coach, said. “Guys are doing a better job
in the neutral zone and in the (defensive) zone.
“For 60 minutes we played a pretty solid defensive game and had more than
enough chances to win.”
“All we can do,” Priestner added, “is keep working hard. We played better
and there were times when we looked good. In the first and third periods we
played really well.
“All we can do is work hard. It seems like we’re not getting the bounces
right now. We have to find a way to keep postiive and eventually the bounces
should come to us.”
After a first period in which the Blazers hit two posts, Puustinen gave the
home boys a 1-0 lead at 1:17 of the second, putting a power-play rebound
behind Reimer.
That lead held for just over 17 minutes until Scott Doucet, Red Deer’s
leading point producer, was credited with a goal after Priestner made a save
and lost the puck in his crease.
“No, I didn’t actually (put it in),” Priestner said. “I don’t know exactly
what happened. He got a shot off from the slot and I made the save. It was
floating there and I don’t know if one of our guys or one of their guys put
it in.”
There was something of a subplot to this game, too, as fans arrived to find
that Clark had made defenceman Keaton Ellerby a healthy scratch.
“We have to find a way to motivate our players and get them to play better,”
Clark said. “Admittedly, he hadn’t played up to par and he is one of our
go-to guys. He has to bring it every night.
“We want to send a message, and not just to him, that if you’re not going to
play hard, you’re not going to get in the game.”
Clark denied that he is working to trade Ellerby, saying: “We’re not trying
to move him. We’re trying to get him to play. We need him to play hard for
us in order for us to be the team we need to be.”
It was the second time that Ellerby, taken 10th overall by the Florida
Panthers in the 2007 NHL draft, has been a healthy scratch. On March 2,
Clark sat him for a game against the visiting Calgary Hitmen. The Blazers
won that one, 3-2.
The Blazers, with defenceman Victor Bartley (knee) in the stands with
Ellerby, lost sophomore blue-liner Jordan Rowley with a shoulder injury
eight minutes into the first period.
While Bartley is expected to return for three weekend games, it’s doubtful
that Rowley will play.
JUST NOTES: Referee Steve Papp, who it is hoped has had better nights, gave
Red Deer nine of 16 minors and one of two majors. The Blazers took the lone
game misconduct. . . . The announced attendance was the smallest since Dec.
8 when 4,178 fans watched the Blazers beat the Chilliwack Bruins, 5-0. . . .
The Rebels, who lost 3-2 in OT to the Cougars in Red Deer on Sunday, finish
up their B.C. Division swing with games in Kelowna (tonight), Chilliwack
(Friday) and Vancouver (Saturday).