Blazers grind it out in practice

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Scott Ferguson has been the interim head coach of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers for five games, all of them played in the friendly confines of Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers have gone 2-3-0-0 and been outscored 30-19 in those games.
But it wasn’t until after the fifth of those games that Ferguson showed signs of being exasperated with his charges.
After his first game as head coach, a 7-1 loss to the Chilliwack Bruins, Ferguson emerged from the Blazers’ dressing room, spotted the awaiting media and was heard to mutter: “Ohhh! What a start!”
In his second game, the Blazers were whipped 8-3 by the Tri-City Americans. “If you look at the scoreboard,” Ferguson said after that one, “I want to hang myself with my tie.”
Ferguson, whose squad meets the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds tonight, 7 o’clock, at the ISC, somehow avoided doing just that and the Blazers won their next two games, beating the Edmonton Oil Kings 6-5 in overtime and taking a 5-3 decision from the Kelowna Rockets.
But then came Tuesday and a horrid 7-4 setback at the hands of the Red Deer Rebels, after which Ferguson wasn’t nearly as self-deprecating. Rather, he went so far as to call his team “soft.”
“Soft is a very good word,” said Ferguson, who was a WHL and NHL defenceman. “We’re not knocking guys down. We’re not screening guys out from the front of the net. We’re not battling in front of our net.
“When you do that against a team that’s determined, that’s what’s going to
happen.”
What happened is that Red Deer scored virtually all of its goals from in tight. And that came after the Blazers absolutely dominated the first 10 minutes, outshooting the visitors 7-0 and outscoring them 1-0.
Ferguson pointed to Red Deer’s first goal as typical of his club’s errors.
“Guys are coming down to the front (of the Blazers’ net) but then it’s like
they lose the reason why they’re there,” Ferguson explained. “You’re down
there to help but when the puck goes to the point you have to realize your
responsibility is that (defenceman).
“Their first goal . . . we have one guy coming down, the puck goes to the
point and no one goes out and (Cullen Morin) had all time to tee it up and find a
hole.”
One of the results of this kind of defensive play is that the Blazers are allowing 4.50 goals per game, a number exceeded by only the Prince George Cougars (4.95) and a number that is more than two goals a game worse than the Saskatoon Blades (2.36), who boast the WHL‘s best defensive record.
Concerned that the Blazers have too often chosen to take the easy way out, Ferguson and assistant coach Geoff Smith went back to basics -- starting with battle drills -- in practice.
“(There were) lots of battle drills,” Ferguson said. “We brought the guys in (Wednesday) and had a tough day for them. We brought them in again (Thursday) . . .
“We have to get these guys to hate to lose, that’s the biggest thing for us.”
Ferguson also felt that his side, despite that fact it was only two games removed from a seven-game losing streak, already was trying to rest on the laurels of a two-game winning streak.
“We had two good games but you can’t rest on that,” he stated. “I think we got that first goal and guys thought it was going to be an easy night.
“But we were playing a Red Deer team that was very resilient. They were able to turn it around on us and start doing the things we wanted to do, which is get pucks in deep and get in on the forecheck.”
After yesterday’s practice, Ferguson admitted that, yes, he had been a big exasperated after Tuesday’s game.
“We were hoping to kind of turn that corner,” he said. “The biggest thing was we came out hard and started doing the things we wanted to do. But that’s what we were telling the guys in the days leading up to that game, that the biggest problem with success is complacency and especially with our group of guys.
“We have to realize that success comes from hard work and hard work every day.”
JUST NOTES: G Jon Groenheyde, who has played only 20 minutes since a 5-2 loss to the Broncos in Swift Current on Oct. 21, will start for Kamloops. . . . Kamloops D Zak Stebner suffered an undisclosed injury in practice Wednesday and is day-to-day. . . . While Blazers LW Matej Bene has recovered from the flu, D Tyler Hansen now is under the weather. . . . The Blazers’ third goal in Tuesday’s 7-4 loss to the visiting Red Deer Rebels. Originally credited to F Dylan Willick, from D Linden Saip and Stebner, it now belongs to Saip, with assists to Stebner and Willick.

SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS at KAMLOOPS BLAZERS
Today, 7 p.m., Interior Savings Centre (Radio NL 610)

SEATTLE (5-12-1-3): The Thunderbirds, who are in their first full season playing out of Kent, Wash., last played Sunday when they dumped the Bruins 4-1 in Chilliwack. . . . The Thunderbirds are ninth in the 10-team Western Conference, six points out of the last playoff spot. . . . The Thunderbirds are 2-7-1-2 on the road and 2-5-1-2 in their last 10, but have points in each of their last two (1-0-0-1). . . . Sophomore G Calvin Pickard, 17, has been their best player. Despite being just 4-8-1-3, he has a 2.93 GAA and a .920 save percentage. The Thunderbirds are in the rare position of having a 19-year-old goaltender, Kyle Jahraus, backing up a 17-year-old. Jahraus has gotten into only three games. . . . RW Jonathan Parker leads the Thunderbirds in assists (10) and points (17), while he and LW Prab Rai are tied for the team lead in goals, with seven. . . . Injuries: C Brenden Silvester (back, out).
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KAMLOOPS (10-10-2-0): The Blazers last played Tuesday when they dropped a 7-4 decision to the visiting Red Deer Rebels. . . . This is the last game of a six-game homestand during which the Blazers have gone 2-3-0-0 while being outscored 30-19. . . . Kamloops boards its bus immediately after this one and heads for Spokane and a Saturday night game with the Chiefs. . . . The Blazers will meet the Silvertips in Everett on Wednesday and the Thunderbirds in Kent on Nov. 20. . . . Kamloops is on pace to allow 324 goals this season, which would be the most since 1983-84. . . . The Blazers are 8-4-1-0 at home but are 4-4-1-0 at home since winning their first four. . . . Kamloops has been outshot 17 times in 22 games. . . . G Jon Groenheyde gets the start after recovering from a sore wrist. . . . RW Tyler Shattock has nine points, including six goals, in his last four games. . . . D Giffen Nyren, who had a Gordie Howe hat trick Tuesday, had four points over his last two games. . . . F Dylan Willick has goals in back-to-back games and six points in his last five games. . . . C Dalibor Bortnak (spleen), who has yet to play this season, is scheduled for tests on Nov. 23 and, if all is well, could play shortly thereafter. . . . Injuries: C Dalibor Bortnak (spleen, out), D Zak Stebner (undisclosed injury, possible), LW Brendan Ranford (shoulder, probable), D Tyler Hansen (flu, questionable).

-- GREGG DRINNAN