Rockets zoom past Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Barry Smith, the head coach of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, made a mistake
Friday night and he knew it.
It was midway in the third period and just five minutes after the Blazers
had gotten back to within two goals of the Kelowna Rockets when Smith ran
afoul of referee Nathan Wieler.
Smith, who had been in Wieler’s kitchen off and on, didn’t agree with a
cross-checking call on defenceman Kurt Torbohm and the coach’s reaction
earned him a minor penalty.
That presented the Rockets with a two-man advantage on which they scored to
go up 5-2 en route to what would be a 6-2 victory in front of 4,394 fans at
Interior Savings Centre.
“The refereeing was outstanding again tonight in the league,” Smith said. “I
didn’t say anything. I didn’t know that if I went like this (a shrug of the
shoulders with arms raised) that that’s a two-minute minor. But I guess it
is.”
Before Smith, who is in his first season with the Blazers after a five-year
run as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, cut too deeply
into his next paycheque, however, he performed a quick mea culpa.
“My fault,” he said. “That’s a bad penalty on my part. It doesn’t set a good
example.
“You know what? Coaches make mistakes, too. That was a mistake on my part.”
The Blazers, now 2-1-0-1 and still atop the Western Conference, actually got
off to a good start in this one. They got the game’s first goal, when
defenceman Nick Ross got a shot through traffic and past goaltender Kris
Lazaruk just 3:13 into the proceedings.
But the Rockets tied it at 13:44 when centre Colin Long, in his first game
since a stint with Ross with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, scored the first of
Kelowna’s four power-play goals.
For the better part of the next 40 minutes, the Rockets dominated.
“We took a little breath of air” after starting solidly, Smith said, “and we
quit moving our feet. They battled hard and kept their feet moving. That was
the difference.
“That was a hungry team. They were coming off two losses and weren’t going
to let us back in like other teams have.”
The Rockets had opened with two road losses in the U.S. Division. But those
losses came without the services of Long and centre Cody Almond, who keyed
last night’s victory.
“It was a little struggle off the start,” said Almond, who had been with the
NHL’s Minnesota Wild, “but we’ve got some of the older guys back in the
lineup now. We’ve got to kind of show the young guys — we’ve got a few young
guys on the team — what it’s all about.
“I thought we did some really good things. I thought our penalty kill was
good and our power play was pretty good.”
The Kelowna power play won the game, that’s all, is it struck four times on
11 opportunities.
“Having Cody Almond and Colin Long . . . back in our lineup really helped
us,” Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska said. “They move pucks around very well
and they make us tougher to play against than we were last weekend.”
Defenceman Collin Bowman, Almond, right-winger Stepan Novotny, right-winger
Kyle St. Denis and left-winger Brandon McMillan each scored his first goal
of the season for the Rockets.
Left-winger Shayne Wiebe, with his fifth goal in four games, also scored for
Kamloops.
The Blazers got a solid game out of goaltender Justin Leclerc, who finished
with 34 saves. He was especially strong early when the game was still on the
line.
At the same time, the Rockets got a solid effort from Lazaruk, the
goaltender they acquired a week ago from the Kootenay Ice. He made 25 saves,
11 of them in the third period.
“As much as you don’t want to see your team loosen up in the third period,
it was really nice to see Kris come to play and make some big saves for us,”
Huska said.
Blazers captain Scott Wasden felt this game was the reverse of earlier games
in which his team has started slowly.
“The first couple of games . . . we got better as the game went on,” he
said. “This time, we had a good start and took the last two periods off. We
were headed in the right direction in the third and got into penalty
trouble.”
The teams meet again tonight in Kelowna as the Rockets stage their
season-opener.
“We just have to get back at it tomorrow,” Smith said. “I told the team,
‘It’s how you come back tomorrow. . . . The best thing is you play again
tomorrow night against the same team and that’ll show you where your at and
what your character is.’
“I think we’ll be all right tomorrow.”
The Rockets are certain to be greeted by a full house at Prospera Centre and
they will be excited.
“Yeah, it’s still a little nerve-wracking,” said Almond, a 19-year-old from
Calgary. “It’s a lot of fun, though . . . a really exciting time.
“We’ll have Jamie Benn back in the lineup, too.
Yes, Benn, a 33-goal man last season, should be back from the NHL’s Dallas
Stars in time to play.
JUST NOTES: Wieler, who flew solo in this one, gave the Blazers 12 of 20
minors, two of four majors and a misconduct. The latter went to C C.J.
Stretch late in the second period. . . . The Rockets were without Benn and
two of their other top players. Defenceman Luke Schenn was playing, and
scoring a goal, in a 5-4 loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. D Tyler
Myers still is with the Buffalo Sabres. . . . Kelowna LW Lucas Bloodoff
played with a cast to protect a broken hand suffered when he blocked a shot
in a game last weekend. He picked up two assists and played an effective
game.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca