Ranford ends drought as Blazers win

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was a tale of three Kamloops Blazers’ draft picks at Interior Savings
Centre on Wednesday night.
Forward Brendan Ranford, the 15th overall pick in the WHL’s 2007 bantam
draft, broke a 2-2 at 2:13 of the third period to give the Blazers a 3-2
victory in front of an announced crowd of 4,317 fans.
It was Ranford’s 11th goal this season and ended an eight-game drought.
“He’s been in the doghouse a little bit,” Kamloops head coach Barry Smith
said of Ranford. “He worked hard tonight. I saw a lot more life from him. He
was mentally prepared and ready to go.
“Scoring that goal really gets him boosted up. He feels that ‘now I’m good
again’ and I’m sure that’s a real load off his shoulders.”
Ranford, a first-year player from Edmonton, was all smiles.
“It was a good thing to get that goal,” he said. “But I have to keep going.
I was in a little slump there but what can you do? You’ve just got to come
out and play strong.”
Despite his having scored but once since the Christmas break, Ranford was on
the ice during what was an early third-period power play, something of which
he was most appreciative.
“It’s good to see (Smith) has confidence in me and put me on the power play
there,” said Ranford, who beat goaltender Calvin Pickard off a
harmless-looking shot from the left wing for the third PP goal of his
season.
“I somehow got a shot through off the wing and it snuck in,” Ranford said.
“Maybe the goalie wasn’t expecting it . . . I was surprised that it went
in.”
No more surprised than Seattle head coach Rob Sumner, who had watched
seconds earlier as Kamloops goaltender Justin Leclerc thwarted centre Jim
O’Brien on a shorthanded breakaway.
“We come down shorthanded. O’Brien has two already,” Sumner said. “It looks
like he is trying to lift the puck and their goalie manages to get (a piece)
of it . . . they come down and with a relatively harmless-looking shot from
the outside . . .”
O’Brien, an eighth-round selection by the Blazers in the 2004 bantam draft,
scored both Seattle goals, giving him 17 this season. The Maplewood, Minn.,
native has signed with the Ottawa Senators, who selected him in the first
round of the NHL’s 2007 draft.
Which brings us to draft pick No. 3. That would be centre Colin Smith, whom
the Blazers grabbed with the seventh pick in the 2008 bantam draft.
This was his home-ice debut and he saw a fair amount of ice time, which
means the head coach liked what he saw.
“Colin Smith is going to be a really good player in this league,” Smith, the
head coach, said. “He’s smart. He’s competitive.”
In fact, Smith, a 15-year-old from Edmonton, was largely responsible for his
club’s second goal, one that gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead at 15:01 of the
second period. Listed at 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds, he bumped Seattle
defenceman Brenden Dillon, all 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds of him, off the puck
behind the Thunderbirds’ net, a move that allowed Seth Compton to circle the
goal and stuff a playgrounder past Pickard.
“It’s the little things he does,” the head coach continued. “He was in on
the forecheck. He’s not a big kid but he got in and got the body going.”
Defenceman Linden Saip had the Blazers’ other goal, floating a wrist shot
from the point through traffic and past Pickard just 1:46 into the game.
“We did what we wanted to in the third period,” said Smith, the coach. “We
said we want to control the game, we want to push, grind them down, and we
did. We got the goal and, really, we didn’t give up any chances. I thought
we managed it really well.”
Well, they did give up the one chance to O’Brien but Leclerc, as he was all
night, other than on Seattle’s second goal, which came on a shot off the
left wing, was there. He finished with 28 saves as he won for the 20th time
this season.
JUST NOTES: Referees Trevor Hanson and Colby Smith gave Seattle 10 of 18
minors and one of two majors. . . . Kamloops C Dalibor Bortnak, who is from
Presov, Slovakia, was playing in front of his parents, who are visiting
Kamloops. He didn’t score to end what now is an 11-game drought, but he did
ring a shot off the post in the second period. . . . Watch for KIBIHT to
announce that it has landed the WHL as one of its major corporate sponsors.
Among other things, the WHL will sponsor a breakfast, including supplying a
guest speaker.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.caBy GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was a tale of three Kamloops Blazers’ draft picks at Interior Savings
Centre on Wednesday night.
Forward Brendan Ranford, the 15th overall pick in the WHL’s 2007 bantam
draft, broke a 2-2 at 2:13 of the third period to give the Blazers a 3-2
victory in front of an announced crowd of 4,317 fans.
It was Ranford’s 11th goal this season and ended an eight-game drought.
“He’s been in the doghouse a little bit,” Kamloops head coach Barry Smith
said of Ranford. “He worked hard tonight. I saw a lot more life from him. He
was mentally prepared and ready to go.
“Scoring that goal really gets him boosted up. He feels that ‘now I’m good
again’ and I’m sure that’s a real load off his shoulders.”
Ranford, a first-year player from Edmonton, was all smiles.
“It was a good thing to get that goal,” he said. “But I have to keep going.
I was in a little slump there but what can you do? You’ve just got to come
out and play strong.”
Despite his having scored but once since the Christmas break, Ranford was on
the ice during what was an early third-period power play, something of which
he was most appreciative.
“It’s good to see (Smith) has confidence in me and put me on the power play
there,” said Ranford, who beat goaltender Calvin Pickard off a
harmless-looking shot from the left wing for the third PP goal of his
season.
“I somehow got a shot through off the wing and it snuck in,” Ranford said.
“Maybe the goalie wasn’t expecting it . . . I was surprised that it went
in.”
No more surprised than Seattle head coach Rob Sumner, who had watched
seconds earlier as Kamloops goaltender Justin Leclerc thwarted centre Jim
O’Brien on a shorthanded breakaway.
“We come down shorthanded. O’Brien has two already,” Sumner said. “It looks
like he is trying to lift the puck and their goalie manages to get (a piece)
of it . . . they come down and with a relatively harmless-looking shot from
the outside . . .”
O’Brien, an eighth-round selection by the Blazers in the 2004 bantam draft,
scored both Seattle goals, giving him 17 this season. The Maplewood, Minn.,
native has signed with the Ottawa Senators, who selected him in the first
round of the NHL’s 2007 draft.
Which brings us to draft pick No. 3. That would be centre Colin Smith, whom
the Blazers grabbed with the seventh pick in the 2008 bantam draft.
This was his home-ice debut and he saw a fair amount of ice time, which
means the head coach liked what he saw.
“Colin Smith is going to be a really good player in this league,” Smith, the
head coach, said. “He’s smart. He’s competitive.”
In fact, Smith, a 15-year-old from Edmonton, was largely responsible for his
club’s second goal, one that gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead at 15:01 of the
second period. Listed at 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds, he bumped Seattle
defenceman Brenden Dillon, all 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds of him, off the puck
behind the Thunderbirds’ net, a move that allowed Seth Compton to circle the
goal and stuff a playgrounder past Pickard.
“It’s the little things he does,” the head coach continued. “He was in on
the forecheck. He’s not a big kid but he got in and got the body going.”
Defenceman Linden Saip had the Blazers’ other goal, floating a wrist shot
from the point through traffic and past Pickard just 1:46 into the game.
“We did what we wanted to in the third period,” said Smith, the coach. “We
said we want to control the game, we want to push, grind them down, and we
did. We got the goal and, really, we didn’t give up any chances. I thought
we managed it really well.”
Well, they did give up the one chance to O’Brien but Leclerc, as he was all
night, other than on Seattle’s second goal, which came on a shot off the
left wing, was there. He finished with 28 saves as he won for the 20th time
this season.
JUST NOTES: Referees Trevor Hanson and Colby Smith gave Seattle 10 of 18
minors and one of two majors. . . . Kamloops C Dalibor Bortnak, who is from
Presov, Slovakia, was playing in front of his parents, who are visiting
Kamloops. He didn’t score to end what now is an 11-game drought, but he did
ring a shot off the post in the second period. . . . Watch for KIBIHT to
announce that it has landed the WHL as one of its major corporate sponsors.
Among other things, the WHL will sponsor a breakfast, including supplying a
guest speaker.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca