Ferguson era about to begin

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Scott Ferguson era, as brief or as long as it may turn out to be, begins tonight.
Ferguson, who was named the interim head coach of the Kamloops Blazers when head coach Barry Smith was fired Monday, will run the WHL team’s bench for the first time tonight as it meets the Chilliwack Bruins at Interior Savings Centre. Game time is 7 o’clock.
“My first game last season as an assistant coach I was nervous and I’m sure it’s going to be the same (tonight),” Ferguson said. “It’s exciting. But I’ve been in pressure situations before in my life and this will be no different. There will be a few nerves. But when you have a week to prepare like we did, I think that helps . . . it’s more of a nervous excitement.”
The Blazers are 8-7-2-0 and fourth in the Western Conference, but are coming off an East Division swing on which they went 1-5, losing the last five games. According to general manager Craig Bonner, who witnessed all six games, it wasn’t so much that they lost but how they lost that cost Smith his job.
In the five losses, the Blazers were outshot, in order, 43-15, 37-14, 40-25, 57-24 and 49-25. They were outscored 24-9.
Bonner didn’t see that trend ending any time soon and also was concerned by what he saw as a lack of emotion by the players.
Those are things that Ferguson and assistant coach Geoff Smith began working to correct Tuesday.
Ferguson said that first thing he and assistant coach Geoff Smith had to do was establish “a love of the game again.”
Ferguson feels that has been accomplished, pointing out that “guys are coming in and they’re hooting and hollering, they’re talking, they’re excited. Before, there was no spark. They weren’t enjoying coming to the rink.”
Ferguson also feels that he and Smith worked the players hard this week in preparation for what will be the first game in a six-game homestand.
“They’ve practised hard the last three days,” said Ferguson, adding that the coaches took the players “back to the basic systems stuff, hard on the forecheck, stop, hard to the defensive zone, stop.
“They were working hard but they had smiles on their faces and a sparkle in their eyes.”
Smith was a proponent of playing man-to-man defence and, judging from the new regime’s first few practices, those days are over. The Blazers also are expected to exhibit more of a forechecking game than they have in recent games and also are expected to pursue the puck following turnovers with a lot more passion than they have of late and to work at providing better puck support.
“I think you’ll see a bit more of a hard-working group, a blue-collar group,” captain Tyler Shattock said. “We’ll go out there and do what we have to do to win games. No more 50 shots against . . . we’ll clean that up.”
Ferguson said he is hopeful that fans tonight will notice a difference.
“Hopefully, they see right away that our systems are in place and we’ve got guys getting to their spots early and quickly . . . that they’ve got a team that is excited,” he said.
Fans also will notice another change, as the players now will be allowed to skate past their bench and exchange high fives after goals, something that had been prohibited.
“When we score a goal we’re flying by the bench,” Ferguson said. “We’re going to try and generate that excitement that we’re happy to score a goal. We want them to be excited to score goals; we want the fans to get excited that we’ve scored.
“Hopefully the fans are going to see a team that is rejuvenated and energized and ready to play old style Blazers hockey.”
JUST NOTES: The last time the Blazers changed coaches in midstream was two years ago when Greg Hawgood replaced Dean Clark. The Blazers opened 7-1 under Hawgood before finishing up 14-31-1-1. . . . Bonner won’t be at tonight’s game as he is in Blackfalds, Alta., scouting the inaugural Western Canada U-16 Challenge Cup, a four-team tournament featuring the west’s top prospects that opened Thursday and runs through Sunday. . . . The Blazers have three prospects — their top three picks in the 2009 bantam draft — in the tournament. D Brady Gaudet of Carlyle and F Logan McVeigh of Kenaston are playing for Team Saskatchewan, while G Troy Trombley of Sherwood Park is with Team Alberta.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com