Hurricanes blow through Kamloops

From The Daily News of Monday, Jan. 28, 2008. . . .

No mercy was shown during Sunday’s WHL game at Interior Savings Centre.
Whoever is responsible for announcing the winning number in the 50-50 draw
refused to do it earlier than normal, which meant all those with tickets had
to stay until midway through the third period.
By then this one had been over for a long, long time.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes, 9-0 winners over the Cougars in Prince George on
Saturday night, continued their ransacking of the B.C. Division as they
embarrassed the Blazers 8-1 in front of 4,326 fans.
The loss came 24 hours after the Blazers, in front of 4,534 fans, scored the
game’s last four goals and beat the flu-riddled Chilliwack Bruins, 7-4.
Sunday’s game wasn’t 15 minutes old when the Blazers’ coaching staff, its
side already trailing 5-0, called a timeout.
Rather than wave a white flag, assistant coach Shane Zulyniak unleashed a
verbal whipping the likes of which hasn’t been witnessed in these parts for
a long time.
Less than two minutes later it was 6-0. So much for Plan B.
“No heart. No determination,” Kamloops head coach Greg Hawgood said when
this one, including the predictable late third-period line brawl, had ended.
“All the systematic things we had done so well for so long just went right
out the door. It was just really wrong.
“Once we got into a bit of a panic situation, all the talking on the bench
and trying to settle everybody down, nobody went out and took the bull by
the horns and tried to change the course of the game.
“It just got worse and worse.”
The Blazers were in this game for 15 seconds, which is how long it took
defenceman Spencer Fraipont to take the game’s first penalty. That led to
Lethbridge’s first goal — the Hurricanes would go 4-for-6 on the power play
— and it was all downhill from there for the locals.
Bill O’Donovan, the public address voice, received the first cheer of his
career when he announced there was less than one minute left in the first
period. At period’s end, the Blazers were booed off the ice.
Zach Boychuk, with two, Luca Sbisa, Carter Bancks, Craig Orfino, with his
first WHL goal, Dwight King, Cam Braes and Mitch Fadden scored for the
Hurricanes. They got 17 saves from goaltender Mike Maniago, who began his
WHL career with the Blazers.
“It’s great when you have such good teammates . . . such a good team,” said
Maniago, whose club is 7-0-1-2 in its last 10 outings. “They come out every
night and play for a full 60 minutes.
“It was great tonight. It was my first time back in Kamloops and it’s always
fun when you get back for your first time.”
The Hurricanes definitely had fun in this one, although head coach Mike Dyck
admitted they didn’t anticipate an easy time of it.
“We didn’t expect that, neither last night nor tonight,” Dyck said. “We
recognized this was their third game in three nights and we wanted to get a
jump on them early and hopefully establish some momentum.”
Which is exactly what they did.
The Blazers opened with James Priestner in goal after Justin Leclerc had
made seven straight starts. Priestner’s teammates played as though he owes
them all money — they were outshot 15-3 in the first period and he was gone
at 15:58, having been beaten six times on 14 shots.
Jordan Rowley scored Kamloops’ lone goal, cutting the deficit to 6-1 at 7:01
of the second period.
On Saturday, the Bruins erased a 3-1 deficit with three quick goals early in
the third period but the lead wasn’t kind to them.
Kamloops winger Kenton Dulle tied it on a power play at 6:53 and, seven
minutes later, defenceman Nick Ross went coast-to-coast to beat goaltender
Mark Friesen for the eventual winner.
Ivan Rohac, who had two assists, Scott Wasden, Alex Rodgers, Jimmy Bubnick
and Juuso Puustinen also scored for the home side.
Brandon Campos, with two, Evan Pighin and Nick Holden replied for
Chilliwack.
The Blazers again got a tremendous effort from Leclerc, who turned aside 30
shots and seemed to absolutely own Swedish sniper Oscar Moller, starting
with stoning him on a breakaway at 12:08 of the first period.
In those seven starts, Leclerc went 5-1-0-1 with a 2.14 GAA and a .929 save
percentage.
JUST NOTES: Maniago, who said he is having a “career” season, has won 21
games. . . . Kamloops D Mark Schneider left Sunday’s game at 13:46 of the
third period after taking a puck to the left side of his face. He ended up
face down in a pool of blood. After the game he had an icepack on his face.
A prognosis won’t be known until today. . . . With the AHL on its all-star
break, former Blazers D Ray Macias, now with the Cleveland-based Lake Erie
Monsters, took in the game.