Blazers, fans to see lots of former coaches

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers and their fans are going to have ample opportunity to
get reacquainted with former head coach Dean Clark this season.
That's because the Blazers will meet Clark's Prince George Cougars more than
any other team in the fast-approaching WHL regular season.
The Blazers and Cougars, who signed Clark to a five-year contract as head
coach over the summer, will meet 10 times this season - five here and five
there.
Clark was with the Blazers from May 16, 2003, until Nov. 7, 2007, when
despite having almost two years left on his contract he was fired less than
a month after Tom Gaglardi, Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Matt Recchi and
Darryl Sydor had completed the purchase of the team from its shareholders.
Clark will bring his Cougars to town for an exhibition game on Sept. 11 and
will make his first regular-season appearance here on Oct. 9.
The last time Clark was on an opposition bench here was Nov. 3, 2002. On
that occasion, his Brandon Wheat Kings and the Blazers played to a 1-1 tie
in front of 5,118 fans.
Clark goes into this season with 382 victories as a WHL head coach, the
13th-highest total in league history.
The WHL's official 2009-10 regular-season schedule, which is to be released
Monday, will have the Blazers playing each of their other B.C. Division
rivals - the Chilliwack Bruins, Kelowna Rockets and Vancouver Giants - eight
times apiece.
Kamloops will meet each of the five U.S. Division teams four times each,
will spread 12 dates among six Central Division opponents and will play one
game in each of the six East Division arenas.
Marc Habscheid, another former Blazers head coach, is preparing for his
first season as head coach of the Bruins. The Giants are coached by veteran
Don Hay, another former Kamloops coach. Former Blazers forward Ryan Huska is
head coach of the Rockets, the defending WHL champions.
The new schedule also will confirm that Fridays will be Hockey Night in
Kamloops. The Blazers' schedule, barring any changes made since the
conference scheduling meeting in Kelowna on July 29, will include 16 Friday
night home dates.
Kamloops will play seven Saturday home games, with six scheduled for
Wednesdays, three each on Sundays and Tuesdays, and one on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Blazers will make 16 Saturday night road appearances, eight
on Fridays, seven on Wednesdays, two each on Sundays and Tuesdays, and one
on Monday.
A few other scheduling notes:
* The Blazers will open the regular season by playing the Bruins in
Chilliwack on Sept. 18. Kamloops’ home-opener is the following night against
those same Bruins.
* By month, the Blazers will play five times in September, with three of
those at home, 13 in October (6-7), 11 in November (6-5), 10 in December
(5-5), 15 in January (7-8), 13 in February (5-8) and five in March (4-1).
The Blazers will play their final regular-season game on March 13 with the
playoffs to begin on March 19.
* Only twice will the Blazers play three games in as many nights. Last
season, they had three weekend tripleheaders, going 5-3-0-1 in the process.
Last season, they played those three tripleheaders over four weekends in
late December and into January. This season, one is scheduled for October
with the other in February.
* This season, the Blazers will play only one afternoon game, that at home
on Oct. 12, 2 p.m., against the Medicine Hat Tigers.
* Each of the three Sunday home games will start at 6 p.m.
* Kamloops will play 14 of its first 23 games on home ice. By the Christmas
break (Dec. 20-26), the Blazers will have played 19 games at home and 17 on
the road, including a six-game East Division swing.
* The annual Teddy Bear game is scheduled for Dec. 12 when the Vancouver
Giants are in town. Last season, the Blazers suffered the ignominy of being
shut out (2-0) by the Swift Current Currents in the Teddy Bear game.
JUST NOTES: The first on-ice session of training camp is scheduled for Aug.
21 at Interior Savings Centre. The annual Blue-White game goes Aug. 25, 7
p.m. . . . The Blazers' annual hockey school runs Monday through Aug. 14 at
Interior Savings Centre. For more information, call the team's office at
250-828-1144. . . . The Blazers' two import players - Slovakian forwards
Dalibor Bortnak and Matej Bene - are to depart for Kamloops on Aug. 17.
Bortnak, 18, is heading into his second season, while Bene, 17, was selected
29th overall in the CHL's 2009 import draft. Before heading this way, Bene
will play for Slovakia in the U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament that runs
Tuesday through Aug. 15 in Breclav, Czech Republic, and Piestany, Slovakia.
. . . The Blazers are holding their annual alumni gathering Friday and
Saturday at Sun Peaks. More than 50 former players and employees are
expected to be on hand.