Blazers make move

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
One in and one out.
The turnstile in the Kamloops Blazers’ dressing room was clicking Wednesday.
The WHL team continued its preparations for the regular-season opening weekend by welcoming back third-year forward Jimmy Bubnick and reassigning forward Richard Vanderhoek.
Bubnick, 18, was to return last night from a stint with the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers. He started in Traverse City, Mich., as a member of the Thrashers’ entry in an eight-team prospects tournament and continued on to Atlanta where he played in two games against a team of Nashville Predators’ prospects.
Bubnick, a sixth-round pick by the Thrashers in the NHL’s 2009 draft, drew two assists in a 6-3 Atlanta victory Monday but was held off the scoresheet in a 3-0 loss on Tuesday. He is expected to return to practice today and will play Friday when the Blazers open the season in Chilliwack against the Bruins.
The Blazers will stage their home-opener Saturday against those same Bruins. Game time at Interior Savings Centre is 7 p.m.
Vanderhoek, 18, was a sixth-round selection in the 2006 bantam draft. He was working for a spot on the Blazers’ roster after suffering an offseason knee injury last summer and playing only eight late-season games with the junior B Aldergrove Kodiaks. After scoring one goal in six exhibition games with Kamloops, he now will join the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles.
The Blazers’ roster is at 25, including forwards Tyler Shattock, who remains in camp with the St. Louis Blues, and Dalibor Bortnak (spleen) and Colin Smith (broken arm), neither of whom is expected to play much before Nov. 1.
Of those 25 players, six are rookies — forwards Matej Bene, Ryan Hanes, J.C. Lipon, Smith and Dylan Willick, and defenceman Tyler Hansen. The WHL’s rookie cutoff is 20 games, meaning that defenceman Josh Caron, who played in 21 games last season, is considered a veteran.
Head coach Barry Smith said after Wednesday’s practice that what you see right now is what you’ll get for the immediate future. There are eight defencemen and 15 forwards and, with Bortnak and Smith out long-term, Smith is fine with that.
“We’ll start with eight defencemen and let that play itself out,” he said, adding that he likes having that many forwards because it “adds depth and creates competition.”
Smith also said he has settled on a starting goaltender for Friday but won’t announce it until sometime today. He will choose between Justin Leclerc, a 20-year-old who is going into his fifth WHL season, and sophomore Jon Groenheyde, 18.
Smith was adamant in stating that he won’t be rotating goaltenders; in other words, if Friday’s starter plays well, he will be back in goal Saturday.
JUST NOTES: A number of Blazers, adorned in their new jerseys, will be hanging out at Tim Hortons outlets this morning between 8:30 and 9:30. No, they won’t be downing double-doubles. Rather, they will be handing out free tickets to Saturday’s home-opener. . . . The WHL and Shaw Communications released the season’s 30-game television schedule. The Blazers will appear three times — Nov. 27 against the visiting Kootenay Ice, Dec. 11 in Vancouver and Jan. 13 against the visiting Portland Winterhawks.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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