Rockets 7, Blazers 4

From The Daily News of Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 . . . .

KELOWNA — C.J. Stretch reached out with a hand, touched a Kelowna
player on the head and the Kamloops Blazers fell.
That about sums up what went on Friday night at Prospera Place as the
Kelowna Rockets dumped the Blazers 7-4 in front of 6,160
well-entertained fans.
The Rockets scored the game's first three goals and the last three
goals, and none hurt the Blazers more than the home side's fifth score.
The Blazers had fallen behind 3-0 before the game was six minutes old,
got life from a fight involving newcomer Scott Wasden, and actually
tied the score 4-4 on left-winger Shayne Wiebe's goal at 17:24 of the
second period.
But Stretch, who earned an assist on Wiebe's score, picked up an
unsportsmanlike conduct penalty immediately following the goal.
"I touched one of their players with my hand," said an obviously
disconsolate Stretch, who wasn't allowed off the bench in the third
period.
Kelowna defenceman Tyson Myers scored on the ensuing power play — his
third goal of the season, all in the last three games — and the
Rockets took over from there.
"You can list a few things," Kamloops head coach Greg Hawgood said
when asked if Stretch's penalty provided the turning point. "I don't
think giving them three goals off the start is a good way. You could
almost say we weren't in the game right from the start.
"To battle back and then to take a penalty like that . . . I don't
think I can single that out but certainly it was right up there."
Myers goal stung even more because it came with 51 seconds left in the
second period.
The Rockets added insurance at 3:10 of the third period when
defenceman Luke Schenn, who is a horse back there, got his fourth of
the season and left-winger Brandon McMillan put it away with an
empty-net score at 19:50.
This one had all the signs of a rout early on as the Rockets scored
three times in the first five minutes 19 seconds. Kamloops goaltender
Justin Leclerc couldn't do much about the first two — from defenceman
Riley McIntosh and McMillan — but he should have had the third, a
clearance from the neutral zone by centre Myles McRae.
It was then, following a timeout by the Blazers, that Wasden, who is
from Westbank and had family and friends in the stands, took things
into his own hands. When play resumed, he dropped the mitts and went
with 6-foot-5, 220-pound defenceman Tyson Dowzak.
"I don't know how well I did," Wasden said, "but we needed to change
the momentum and I thought that might help."
Asked why he took on Dowzak, Wasden said: "He was the biggest guy on
the ice at the time."
"It was big time," Blazers captain Ryan Bender said of the bout. "It
changed the momentum. We all of a sudden woke up and had some life and
we kept going from there. Ivan (Rohac) scored that big goal and we
were back in it."
Centre Alex Rodgers got the Blazers' first goal and Rohac pulled the
visitors to within one at 14:15 of the opening period.
Wasden pulled the Blazers even at 3:08 of the second period, only to
have the Rockets, with Kamloops defenceman Mark Schneider off for
holding, take a 4-3 lead on a goal from defenceman Tyson Barrie.
Seven minutes later, Wiebe scored, Stretch stretched and the rest is
history.
"We battled hard when we got down," Wasden said. "We played hard most
of the game. We just came out a little bit flat and penalties really
killed us."
The Blazers weren't at all happy with the penalties — the ones they
took and some the Rockets didn't get.
"Some emabarrassing things went on that some guys on our team could
have got injured," Hawgood said. "I'll just leave it at that.
"I think there was some stuff that was pretty blatant from what I saw
that was called a little bit different. I'm not saying anything bad
about the officials."
The Blazers were especially upset over an incident at 7:01 of the
second period during which they claim that Kelowna left-winger Jamie
Benn hit right-winger Juuso Puustinen in the face two or three times
with Puustinen's helmet. Puustinen suffered an ugly gash on his upper
left.
The Blazers also didn't like that fact that Kelowna left-winger Lucas
Bloodoff didn't get an instigating penalty when he jumped centre Jimmy
Bubnick after the latter hit McMillan with a clean but devastating
neutral zone check. Referees Steve Papp and Andy Thiessen chose to
give Bloodoff a double minor for roughing, with Bubnick somehow
getting a roughing minor.
"There were some things that went on with my own players and some
other circumstances that weren't good for a hockey game," Hawgood said.
JUST NOTES: Kamloops (13-12-1-1) now has lost two in a row after a five-game winning streak and trails the Rockets (15-9-2-2), who are fourth in the Western Conference, by six points. . . . The Blazers took 10 of 17 minors and three of six majors.
. . . Kelowna was 2-for-7 on the power play. The Blazers were 0-for-3
and now are 2-for-18 with the man advantage over their last three
games. . . . The Blazers now are 10-1-0-0 when they score four or more
goals in a game. . . . Wasden had three fights last season, two of
them with RW Sasha Golin, who now is a linemate. . . . Golin drew an
assist on Wiebe's goal to end a 15-game pointless drought. . . .
Kamloops RW Kenton Dulle (lower abdomen) skated Thursday for the first
time since being injured Nov. 10. He hopes to return to action next
weekend.