Blazers scouting report

SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS at KAMLOOPS BLAZERS
Today, 7 p.m., Interior Savings Centre (Radio NL 610)
(Statistics don’t include Tuesday night’s games)

SEATTLE (21-24-1-3): The Thunderbirds were at home to the Medicine Hat Tigers last night. . . . Seattle, which now plays out of Kent, Wash., beat the visiting Portland Winter Hawks 3-1 on Saturday. . . . The Thunderbirds are seventh in the Western Conference, three points behind the sixth-place Everett Silvertips. . . . This is the Thunderbirds’ last road game in Canada this season. After tonight, Seattle will play 15 of its last 21 games at home. . . . D Thomas Hickey, taken fourth overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the NHL’s 2008 draft, has 27 points, including 18 assists, in 34 games. Hickey, who played for Canada’s national junior team, is plus-16 on a team that has allowed 26 more goals than it has scored. . . . C Jim O’Brien, who was picked by the Blazers in the 2004 bantam draft, has 38 points, 15 of them goals, in 40 games. The Ottawa Senators selected him 29th overall in the NHL’s 2007 draft. He played for the U.S. at the World Junior Championship. . . . F Charles Wells (suspension) won’t play. He drew a three-game suspension for checking from behind. . . . Injuries: F David Richard (hand, out), F Lindsay Nielsen (ankle, out).
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KAMLOOPS (23-24-1-4): The Blazers lost 5-2 to the visiting Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night. . . . That was the Blazers’ second straight home loss. They are 3-4-1-0 in their last eight at home and 6-2-0-0 in their last eight on the road. . . . Kamloops is 2-1-0-0 versus Seattle this season, including a 5-2 victory here on Oct. 22. . . . F Colin Smith, taken by the Blazers with the seventh pick in the 2008 bantam draft, will be in the lineup. . . . D Linden Saip has had a fight in each of his last three games; he also has 10 points, nine of them assists, in his last 14 games. . . . C C.J. Stretch is riding a 13-game point streak. He has 22 points, including 12 goals, over that time. Stretch also has picked up eight minor penalties over his last three outings. . . . RW Kenton Dulle has one point, an assist, over his last six games. . . . F Brendan Ranford is pointless in his last eight games. . . . Attendance on Saturday was 4,673, the third-largest crowd this season. . . . Injuries: C Mark Hall (knee, out), D Brandon Underwood (hand, out), D Michal Siska (ankle, out).
— GREGG DRINNAN