Americans eliminate Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
A WHL season that began with such promise for the Kamloops Blazers came to
an end with barely a whimper Wednesday night at Interior Savings Centre.
The Tri-City Americans, the No. 1 seed going into these playoffs, skated to
a 6-2 victory over the Blazers who, had the teams been stacked according to
regular-season points, would have been the No. 16 seed.
The victory gave the Americans, who have won their last nine games, a sweep
of the best-of-seven first-round series. It also marks the first time the
Americans have advanced past the first round since the spring of 2004 and
was the first time in five postseason meetings that they have ousted the
Blazers.
Tri-City, which outscored the Blazers 20-7 in the four games, is likely to
meet either the Seattle Thunderbirds or Kelowna Rockets in the second round.
That series is 2-2 going into Game 5 in Seattle tonight.
The Blazers, who won 40 games during the 2006-07 regular season, were
expected to be one of the Western Conference’s top teams this time around.
But it turned out to be a season of turmoil and change, which was quite
evident on the ice.
This was the Blazers’ 18th loss in their last 19 games; they won only once
after beating the visiting Rockets 2-1 in a Feb. 8 shootout.
The series loss also continues an ugly postseason trend. Kamloops now has
lost in the first round in its last eight playoff appearances. Since
reaching the WHL’s 1999 championship final, where it fell in five games to
the Calgary Hitmen, Kamloops is 5-32 in playoff games.
The Americans jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by foot
soldiers Brett Plouffe and Drew Hoff. Not even two glorious saves by
Kamloops goaltender Justin Leclerc on Tri-City winger Shaun Vey at 12:13 of
the period could provide the home boys with a spark.
They finally found some life when right-winger Juuso Puustinen scored at
6:50 of the second period, and wingers Shayne Wiebe and Tyler Shattock followed
that up with a bruising shift.
However, Kamloops wasn’t able to score again until midway in the third
period, by which time the visitors had put three more pucks past goaltender
Justin Leclerc.
Radek Meidl, with two, Blair Macaulay and Lane Werbowski had third-periods
goals for the Americans, with Ivan Rohac counting the Blazers’ last goal.
“They’re a good hockey club,” Kamloops winger Brady Calla said, clutching a
right elbow that may need surgery. “It’s what we expected from them.”
However, the Blazers showed enough at times in this series to leave them
wondering.
“At the end of the day,” Calla said, “the way we looked at it we never
played a full 60 minutes.”
In Game 1, he said, “we had a great first and the second and third were bad.
In the second game, the first and second were good. Same thing here (in Game
3). A great first and second . . .
“It comes down to learning for our organization, our coaches, our players.
We can only get better from the mistakes we made. We’ve got a long offseason
to think about it but, in the end, I think it makes us all stronger people.”
The Americans headed for home after the game. They will rest and heal the
bumps and bruises as they prepare for the next series.
“They worked hard,” Tri-City right-winger Taylor Procyshen said of the
Blazers. “It wasn’t easy by any means. They gave their best out there. They
worked hard and our goalie came up big for us.”
Tri-City goaltender Chet Pickard picked up the victory, with some late
relief from Kyle Birch. Pickard won all four games in the series and was 7-0
against the Blazers this season.
Leclerc stopped 35 shots as his mates were outshot, 41-18.
“I’m sad and disappointed,” Puustinen said. “We battled hard, probably the
hardest of all season. If we would have played like this the whole season it
would have made us better. It was too little, too late.
“It’s done now. We can’t do anything about it.”
JUST NOTES: Referees Tyler Johnson and Ryan Thompson gave the Blazers nine
of 17 minors. . . . The Blazers were 2-for-5 on the power play; the
Americans were 0-for-6. . . . In the four games, the Blazers were 4-for-20,
with the Americans 4-for-30. . . . Attendance was announced at 2,570, the
smallest playoff crowd in the facility’s history. . . . Tri-City C Jason
Reese took a puck in the mouth in the second period and needed three
stitches after a tooth punctured a lip. . . . Tri-City D Mitch McColm, 18,
sat out with a one-game suspension after he incurred a double spearing minor
at the end of Tuesday’s game. McColm speared Kamloops D Nick Ross, whom the
Americans maintain slashed Pickard during their postgame celebration. . . .
Terry Bangen, the Americans’ director of player personnel, was in the house.
He spent a few seasons on the Blazers’ coaching staff — under Ken Hitchcock,
Tom Renney and Don Hay — and was part of three Memorial Cup winners.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca