From The Daily News of Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008 . . .
The Kamloops Blazers, in the middle of perhaps the toughest portion of their WHL schedule, are likely to have their first pick in the 2007 bantam draft in their lineup Friday when the Tri-
City Americans visit Interior Savings Centre.
Centre Brendan Ranford, the 15th pick in that draft, is scheduled to arrive in the city this morning. He will practise with the Blazers today and Thursday and stay with them through the weekend as they play three games in as many nights.
After meeting the Americans, the Blazers face the Rockets in Kelowna on Saturday and the Giants in Vancouver on Sunday. It is anticipated that Ranford will play Friday and get into at least one of the other games, if not both of them.
“He’s the type of player that initially when you first see him you’re going to think, ‘How can this player be that good?’ “ Tim Fragle, Ranford’s coach with his midget AAA team, Gregg’s Distributing (Edmonton Canadian Athletic Club), said Tuesday. “Then the puck drops and he plays for real.
“He is really aggressive in terms of pursuing the puck when he doesn’t have it. And when he does have it he has a knack for making plays that are just mind-blowing in terms of how he competes, because he is under-sized.”
According to Fragle, Ranford is about 5-foot-6 and 165 pounds “if he’s lucky.” But Ranford’s size hasn’t prevented him from having a simply brilliant season. After 25 games, he has 60 points and enjoys a nine-point lead atop the Alberta Midget Hockey League scoring race. He also leads the league in assists (36). He has six game-winning goals, six power-play goals, four shorthanded goals and 40 penalty minutes. His team has a 19-2-4 record and a seven-point lead atop the 10-team Dodge Division.
“He makes smart plays in the corners and how he comes out with the puck from those one-on-one battles,” Fragle said. “He is really crafty in and around the net in terms of scoring goals or setting up goals.”
Asked if he sees Ranford as a scorer or a playmaker, Fragle replied: “He’s kind of (both) because he’ll go in a stretch where he’ll score six goals in four games and then he’ll have a stretch where he’s more of a playmaking-type guy. He’s got a great touch around the net but he also has great vision.”
Ranford and his teammates went 1-3 at the Mac’s tournament in Calgary during the Christmas break. Ranford figured in four of his club’s nine goals, scoring three times and setting up another.
Meanwhile, the Blazers came back from the Christmas break and played four games in five nights, finishing up with a 5-3 loss to the Silvertips before 6,006 fans in Everett on New Year’s Eve.
Everett right-winger Dan Gendur broke the Blazers’ hearts with a shorthanded goal at 15:59 of the third period. That goal, coming just eight seconds after defenceman Taylor Ellington went off for interference, gave the home side a 5-3 lead.
Gendur beat centre Brock Nixon, who was playing a point on the power play, at the Kamloops line and went into to blow a long shot past goaltender Justin Leclerc. It was Gendur’s third goal of the game and his 12th of the season.
"It's unbelievable," Gendur told the Everett Herald, referring to the hats that rained onto the ice after his third goal. "The crowd was unbelievable tonight."
Centre Zach Hamill and left-winger Clayton Bauer each had a goal and two assists for Everett (20-18-0-2), which moved into fifth in the Western Conference.
The Blazers (18-19-1-1), who slid into eighth in the conference, got goals from the Brandon boys – left-winger Shayne Wiebe and defenceman Mark Schneider, the latter getting his first WHL score – and centre C.J. Stretch.
The Blazers were 1-for-5 on the power play, while Everett was 3-for-8.
Everett goaltender Shayne Barrier, making a second straight start for the first time in his freshman season, stopped 22 shots. Goaltender Justin Leclerc of the Blazers stopped 31 shots.
"We took too many penalties," Kamloops right-winger Brady Calla told the Herald. "We just played too individual tonight. We need points right now – we could have been fifth in the Conference standings with a win tonight – and we set ourselves back. We're still learning, but I think we're on the right path."
JUST NOTES: Wiebe was minus-1 in Sunday’s 5-4 shootout victory over the visiting Vancouver Giants. He had been even or better through 22 straight games. He was even again Monday and leads the team at plus-7. . . . LW Matt Riley, who joined the Blazers last week, will skate with the team today and Thursday and then return to the junior B Port Moody Black Panthers. . . . LW Richard Vanderhoek, who also joined the team last week, will rejoin the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles after the Blazers play in Vancouver on Sunday. . . . G James Priestner and C Jimmy Bubnick, who are at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in the London, Ont., area, are expected to be available for the game in Vancouver. Bubnick had three assists – he has eight points in three games – as Team West (2-1) lost 7-4 to the U.S. on Monday. Team West plays Russia today in London. Priestner backed up Nathan Lieuwen, who started the season with the Kootenay Ice, on Tuesday as Team Pacific (2-1) beat Finland, 7-4. Priestner, who is 1-0 with a 2.00 GAA, is likely to start today against Quebec in St. Thomas, Ont. . . . Blazers RW Juuso Puustinen is with Finland at the World Junior Championship in Czech Republic. The Finns meet Canada today, 7 a.m., in a quarterfinal in Pardubice. Meanwhile, in Liberec, Kamloops LW Ivan Rohac and the Slovakians will meet Switzerland in a relegation-side game. In four games, Puustinen has three goals, while Rohac has scored twice in four games.
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