Blazers prepare for Oil Kings

From The Daily News of Friday, Feb. 15, 2008 . . .

You can bet that the Kamloops Blazers have enjoyed this week.
Coming off a stretch in which they had played 23 WHL games in 46 days, the
Blazers didn’t exactly visit Cancun, but they have had some down time since
they last played Sunday.
With the Edmonton Oil Kings at Interior Savings Centre tonight — game time
is 7 o'clock — interim head coach Greg Hawgood is hopeful that rest has
allowed the team to put behind it the various illnesses that have been
lingering for the past few weeks, something that all teams seem to struggle
with as January turns into February.
Hawgood said Thursday that his 11 a.m. report from trainer Colin Robinson
indicated that everyone, with the exception of right-winger Tyler Shattock,
was healthy and expected to practice.
“My report so far today,” Hawgood said, “is that everybody should be OK.
That could change . . . knock on wood.”
A check late in the day provied that yes, indeed, every player but Shattock
took part in practice. Shattock, who has missed 17 games with a broken leg,
should resume skating next week.
The Blazers, who last played Sunday when they fell 2-1 in overtime to the
visiting Everett Silvertips, skated Monday but not Tuesday, when they had an
off-ice workout and a video session.
There was a treat for them Wednesday and Thursday in the person of Ivan
Christensen, the father of former Blazers star Erik Christensen, who now
plays for the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Ivan, who played on the 1971-72 Kamloops Rockets of the B.C. junior league,
specializes in teaching puck-handling skills. He worked with the Blazers
doing what Hawgood said were “shooting drills to help precision and accuracy
and help them understand the whys and why nots of shooting and passing and
stickhandling.”
All of which helps set the stage for the club’s last two home games before
it heads out on a six-game Prairie road swing. The Vancouver Giants are here
Saturday night, 7 p.m.
“I don’t know if one game has more importance than another,” said Hawgood,
whose club is 26-28-2-2 and is headed for a seventh- or eighth-place finish
in the Western Conference, with the top eight teams qualifying for the
playoffs. “We just have to continue to improve and get better every day and
put ourselves in a position where we feel we’re in a great spot for the
beginning of playoffs.”
“Obviously, we want to have some good games before we head out on a long
road trip.”
After playing the Giants, the Blazers will have only four regular-season
home games remaining, starting with a March 7 date with the Prince George
Cougars.
The Blazers open their East Division tour on Feb. 22 with a game in Brandon
against the Wheat Kings.
The Oil Kings, meanwhile, are making their first visit to Kamloops since
1975-76 when the Kamloops franchise was known as the Chiefs. The Oil Kings
moved to Portland over the summer of 1976 and became the Winter Hawks.
A second incarnation of the Oil Kings arrived in 1978-79 when the Flin Flon
Bombers landed in Edmonton. But after one season and a 17-43-12 record, the
franchise moved to Great Falls, Montana. The Americans started the 1979-80
season at 2-25-1 and folded.
This edition of the Oil Kings is owned by the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers and is
in its first season.
The Edmonton roster includes two former Blazers.
Goaltender Dalyn Flette, who turned 18 a week ago, is 4-9-0-2 with a 3.44
GAA and a .892 save percentage. Centre Brenden Dowd, 19, has 29 points in 55
games.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca