Blazers lose Bortnak with spleen injury

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Dalibor Bortnak’s season has been put on hold, perhaps for two months.
Bortnak, an 18-year-old Slovakian sophomore, remains in Royal Inland Hospital today, after suffering an injury to his spleen during the Kamloops Blazers’ intrasquad game Tuesday night at Interior Savings Centre.
According to a Blazers’ release, Bortnak “suffered a tear in his spleen.”
Barry Smith, the Blazers’ head coach, said Wednesday that Bortnak will be out for four to eight weeks.
“Hopefully, he gets through these next few days and they don’t have to do any operating,” Smith said, “and it heals up by itself.”
Smith said Bortnak will remain in hospital and under observation for “four or five days.”
Bortnak didn’t appear to be in any difficulty when he left the ice following a couple of innocent-looking bumps. However, Dr. Todd Ring and trainer Colin Robinson checked him out and chose to send him to Royal Inland Hospital where the injury was detected.
“He got off and I guess it’s instant that the blood comes up and it pools in your stomach,” Smith said. “You could look at a million different things . . . he could hit that way 100 more times and nothing might happen.”
Bortnak, who had 28 points in 68 games last season, wasn’t selected in the NHL’s 2009 draft but was to have attended the Edmonton Oilers’ rookie camp next month.
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Sophomore C Jake Trask (groin) sat out the intrasquad game but he skated yeserday and is expected to play this weekend when the Blazers open exhibition play.
Freshman F Matej Bene, another Slovakian, left the intrasquad game with sore groins and is day to day.
Kamloops is scheduled to meet the Vancouver Giants in Ladner on Friday. The two teams are to complete the home-and-home series at Interior Savings Centre on Saturday, 7 p.m.
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The Blazers got one piece of business out of the way yesterday when they announced that fourth-year F Tyler Shattock will be the team captain this season.
Shattock, 19, is from Salmon Arm. He succeeds F Scott Wasden, who completed his WHL eligibility last season and is headed to UBC where he will play for the Thunderbirds.
Shattock had 69 points in 68 games last season, and has 109 points in his 176-game career. He was a fourth-round selection by the St. Louis Blues in the NHL’s 2009 draft.
D Zak Stebner, F C.J. Stretch and F Shayne Wiebe will serve as the Blazers’ alternate captains.
Stebner, who was acquired early last season from the Prince Albert Raiders, is from Saskatoon. The 19-year-old is about to start his third WHL season.
Stretch, 20, and Wiebe, 19, have been Blazers for their entire careers. Stretch, from Irvine, Calif., is beginning his fifth season here, while Wiebe, from Brandon, is starting season No. 3.
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The Blazers trimmed five players from their roster after Tuesday night’s Blue/White game.
F Travis Blanleil, a seventh-round bantam draft pick this year; F Kyle Buffardi, a fourth-round selection in 2008; F Lyndon Martell, 16, who is from Prince George; F Brandon Morley, a third-round pick in 2009; and F Chase Souto, a fifth-round pick in the 2009 draft, all headed for home.
Blanleil is from Kelowna, Buffardi from Westminster, Calif., Morley from Burnaby, and Souto from Yorba Linda, Calif.
There now are 35 players on the roster, including the injured Bortnak.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca