Blazers lose two to knee injuries, another quits hockey

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
As the Kamloops Blazers prepare to open training camp Friday at Interior Savings Centre, the names of three veteran players are missing from the WHL team’s training camp roster.
Forwards Mark Hall, 18, and Richard Vanderhoek, 17, are nursing knee injuries and are being evaluated by medical people.
Defenceman Darcy Huisman, 19, has told the Blazers that he is quitting hockey.
Hall, who is preparing for his second full season with the Blazers, appears to have sprained a knee during a skating session on Tuesday. He was the lone Kamloops native on last season’s roster. A pest and an agitator, he had 12 points, including five goals, and 68 penalty minutes in 67 games.
“A bunch of them were out Tuesday and he tweaked his knee,” Blazers general manager Craig Bonner said, adding that the injury was diagnosed as a first-degree sprain to the MCL (medial collateral ligament).
The MCL is one of the four major ligaments in the knee; it is located on the inside of the knee.
Bonner said that means Hall is likely to be sidelined for two weeks but that he doesn’t need surgery, “just rest.”
Vanderhoek, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound forward from Langley, suffered a knee injury at home. Bonner wasn’t yet sure just how it happened.
“It’s not looking good,” Bonner said. “He’s going to get a second opinion.”
The original diagnosis was a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). Like the MCL, the ACL is one of the knee’s four major ligaments and is the one most frequently injured by athletes.
If the second diagnosis confirms the original, Matt Recchi, the Blazers’ director of player personnel, said: “He’s going to be six to eight months, best case scenario.”
Vanderhoek, whom the Blazers selected with the 122nd pick of the 2006 bantam draft, spent most of last season with the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles, for whom he had 10 points in 32 games. He was pointless in six regular-season games with the Blazers and, although he was on the roster, didn’t get into any playoff games.
Meanwhile, Huisman, 19, has decided to quit the game.
“He came in and talked to (head coach Barry Smith) a couple of days ago,” Bonner said, “and expressed that he was really struggling with if he wanted to play anymore. Barry told him to take the night to think about it. He did. He came back and said he just wasn’t enjoying the game anymore and was going to hang up the skates.
“It’s better for us to know that now than down the road. We want guys who are totally committed and if his head’s not totally here we don’t want him. But give him credit for having the guts to come in and tell us that.”
Huisman, from Smithers, was added to the Blazers’ list while with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings in 2006-07. Last season, his first in the WHL, he had 11 points and 55 penalty minutes in 63 games.
Bonner said he asked Huisman if he wanted a trade or to be released to a junior A team.
“He expressed to us that he no longer wants to play hockey,” Bonner said.
Huisman, who has returned to Smithers, couldn’t be reached for comment last night.
Bonner said he expects Slovakian newcomer Michal Siska to slide right into Huisman’s spot on the depth chart.
“Siska will replace him quite nicely,” Bonner said of the 30th selection in the CHL’s 2008 import draft.
Siska, 18, arrived last week and has been skating in preparation for camp.
“He’s a very good skater, good agility, good foot speed, ability to turn,” Smith said when asked for a snap assessment. “He plays everything with his head up. Looks like a solid puck-moving guy.”
At the same time, Smith allowed that “we haven’t done anything that really allows him to be creative . . . but I think he is pretty creative and he’s got good hands.”
The key to Siska’s adjustment, Smith suggested, may be that “he speaks pretty good English and is willing to get involved with the guys. That’ll make his transition easier, too.”
The Blazers’ other selection in the 2008 import draft, 17-year-old centre Dalibor Bortnak, was scheduled to arrive last night.
Bortnak is fresh off the under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament where he led the Slovakian team with four points in three games.
“I haven’t heard anything bad about him,” Smith said. “He might be a little tired with all that and the travel but he’ll come around.”
JUST NOTES: The Hockey News posted a ranking of WHL team logos on its website Wednesday. The Blazers’ logo ranked fourth of teams, behind the Seattle Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs and Red Deer Rebels. “It’s hard to find something classic that came from the 1980s, but the Blazers did it with their ‘B’,” THN wrote. . . . Members of the Blazers’ scouting staff are due to arrive today. They will have an evening gathering at Recchi’s home and then be at ISC on Friday at 7 a.m. . . . Friday’s camp schedule opens with practice sessions at 9:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m., and noon. Scrimmages go at 6, 7:15 and 8:30 p.m. . . . There’s more WHL news at gdrinnan.blogspot.com.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca