Winterhawks work OT for victory

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers completed a stretch of four games in five nights on Sunday by picking up yet another point.
In fact, the Blazers (5-1-2-0) came out of the four games with six points and find themselves tied with the Vancouver Giants (5-1-0-2) for first place in the Western Conference.
Somehow, though, it didn’t feel at all like the weekend had been that successful.
Perhaps that’s because it ended with two overtime losses, the Blazers beaten 4-3 Sunday by the Portland Winterhawks, before 3,963 fans at Interior Savings Centre, one night after they lost 5-4 to the Giants in Vancouver.
Perhaps it was because the Blazers lost both games after coughing up two-goal leads in the third period.
Perhaps it was because this was the fourth game in a row in which the Blazers were badly outshot. Portland had a 59-31 edge after the Giants outgunned them 53-27 on Saturday. Over the four games, Kamloops was outshot, 200-112.
Perhaps it was because this was the third game in a row in which the Blazers didn’t get even one shot in overtime. They were outshot 9-0 by the Giants here Friday and 6-0 on Saturday.
Last night, Portland had a 5-0 edge in OT, with that fifth shot, by veteran forward Chris Francis, the heartbreaker.
The Blazers were shorthanded and had possession of the puck in their zone, but it rolled crazily on defenceman Bronson Maschmeyer. Portland forward Luke Walker promptly lifted Maschmeyer’s stick, stole the puck and fed it to Francis.
“It was a great pass from Luke Walker,” said Francis, a 20-year-old from Las Vegas who also had two assists. “I’m not gong to lie, though. I was thinking pass all the way . . . to give it back to him for an open net.
“But the d-man played it really well. I took the shot, put it upstairs because the goalie was down, and it went in.”
As for Walker’s stick check, Francis said: “Everyone thought it was going to be a penalty, but it was all stick. It was a good effort by him and a good pass over to me.”
It wouldn’t have been a shock had it been a penalty; after all, referees Ryan Benbow and Dan Cowley handed out 27 minor penalties, 14 of them to the visitors.
“Our game is a no-penalty game,” offered general manager and head coach Mike Johnston, whose Winterhawks are 5-1-0-0 and leading the U.S. Division. “If we play with minimal penalties, we can use four lines. That was our game plan coming in.”
The Winterhawks were 1-for-9 on the power play; the Blazers 1-for-10.
If the Blazers are to blame the outcome on anything, it might be the power play. They fired a lot of blanks, especially in the second period, when Portland took four minors in a span of 5:13.
All Kamloops got out of it was a goal by left-winger Shayne Wiebe that, combined with JC Lipon’s first WHL goal in the first period, gave it a 2-0 lead. Wiebe left the game midway through the third period with what head coach Barry Smith said was an ankle or knee problem.
The Winterhawks, who arrived here Saturday afternoon, knew they were facing a tired team. So they regrouped in the second intermission and took it to the Blazers.
“Give those guys a lot of credit,” Johnston said. “They had a tough, tough weekend. Our game came together in the third but, again, their game dropped off due to fatigue.”
Spencer Bennett, at 3:49, was the first to solve a stellar Jon Groenheyde in the Kamloops goal and Ryan Johansen, at 8:50, pulled Portland even. Defenceman Travis Bobbee backhanded his own rebound home to give the visitors their first lead at 10:34.
To their credit, the Blazers fought back and forced extra time when Lipon, who was screening goaltender Kurtis Mucha, deflected C.J. Stretch’s shot into the net at 17:17.
That, however, was to be the home team’s last gasp. At least for this weekend.
On Saturday night, defenceman David Musil scored his first three WHL goals for the Giants and forward Craig Cunningham scored at 4:31 of overtime.
Cunningham’s second OT score of the season came with Maschmeyer serving a hooking penalty. Neil Manning had Vancouver’s other goal.
Jake Trask, with two, Brandon Underwood and Zak Stebner scored for the Blazers.
JUST NOTES: The Blazers scratched D Giffen Nyren, D Linden Saip (flu), F Ryan Hanes, F Dalibor Bortnak (spleen) and F Colin Smith (broken arm) from both weekend games. . . . Barry Smith said Nyren, 20, was a healthy scratch Saturday, but would have been in the lineup last night had he not come down with the flu. . . . The Blazers are at home to the Prince George Cougars on Friday. Game time is 7 p.m.

gdrinnan.blogspot.com.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca