Scouting Report

From The Daily News of Friday, March 7, 2008 . . .

PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS at KAMLOOPS BLAZERS
Today, 7 p.m., Interior Savings Centre (Radio NL 610)
PRINCE GEORGE (18-45-1-3): The Cougars were at home Tuesday and Wednesday,
losing 5-1 and 5-2, to the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Prince George will
finish ninth in the Western Conference and won’t be in the playoffs. . . .
The Cougars are 16 points behind the eighth-place Blazers. . . . G Real Cyr,
C Greg Gardner and D Kalvin Sagert are Prince George’s 20-year-olds, meaning
their WHL careers are winding down. This is their second-last visit to
Kamloops; they will conclude their WHL careers here on March 16. . . .
Sagert began his career with the Blazers after being selected 15th overall
in the 2002 bantam draft. He will join the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder when the
WHL season ends. . . . Gardner should play in his 338th game for the Cougars
on March 16, which would be a franchise record for games played. . . . Cyr
holds the Cougars’ franchise record with 14 career shutouts, five of them
against the Blazers. He also is remembered for his dazzling peformance in a
first-round four-game sweep of the Blazers last spring. . . . In his
most-recent shutout, Cyr stopped 47 shots in blanking the visiting Vancouver
Giants 2-0 on Saturday. . . . Injuries: G Ian Curtis (shoulder, out); D
Trevor Bauer (wrist, out); LW Jan Kupec (shoulder, out); LW Brad Riege (concussion, out); D Garrett Thiessen (charleyhorse, doubtful).
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KAMLOOPS (26-36-2-2): The Blazers haven’t played at home since losing 3-2 to
the Vancouver Giants on Feb. 16. . . . Since then, Kamloops has lost six
straight road games, running its losing streak to nine (0-8-1-0). . . .
Kamloops is 2-13-1-0 in its last 16 games. . . . The Blazers are 4-3-0-0
against Prince George with three games left in the season series. The
Cougars hold a 25-23 edge in goals scored. . . . RW Juuso Puustinen has five
goals in his last five games, while C Alex Rodgers has five assists over
that same stretch. . . . C Scott Wasden had two goals and three assists
during the six-game East Division trip. . . . LW Ivan Rohac has four points
over his last 10 games and was a healthy scratch for a 4-2 loss to the
Raiders in Prince Albert on Feb. 29. . . . C C.J. Stretch has one point — a
goal — over his last 13 games. . . . In their last six games, the Blazers
went 6-for-22 on the power play, while the opposition was 10-for-55. . . .
RW Tyler Shattock, who missed 23 games after suffering a broken leg in
Kelowna on Dec. 28, has played the last two games. . . . Kamloops was
6-9-1-1 when GM/head coach Dean Clark was fired Nov. 7. It went 7-1-0-0 in
the first eight games with Greg Hawgood as interim head coach. Since then,
the Blazers are 13-26-1-1. . . . Injuries: D Mark Schneider (knee, out).
— GREGG DRINNAN