Cowen returns to lead Rebels past Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Josh Cowen returned to his old stomping grounds Tuesday night and helped the Red Deer Rebels walk all over the Kamloops Blazers.
Cowen, who lived in Clearwater and Salmon Arm and finished his minor hockey career with the major midget Thompson Blazers, scored twice as the Rebels buried the Blazers 7-4 in a WHL game played before 4,173 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers (10-10-2-0) had won their previous two games after a seven-game losing streak; the Rebels (10-10-0-0) have won two straight, both on the road.
The Blazers got off to a terrific start in this one — they were outshooting the visitors 7-0 and leading 1-0 halfway through the first period on right-winger Tyler Shattocks’s first of two goals.
Which is when the period was interrupted by the usual 90-second timeout.
Cowen said it was a matter of Red Deer head coach Jesse Wallin delivering a message during the stoppage.
“He told us to start moving our feet,” Cowen, a 6-foot-2, 175-pound sophmore, stated.
From then through the end of the first period, the Rebels held a 14-1 edge in shots and outscored their hosts, 3-0, with defenceman Cullen Morin, centre Brett Ferguson and Cowen beating goaltender Justin Leclerc, who finished with 31 saves.
“Too many shots, too easy in front of our net, not getting pucks in deep,” bemoaned Kamloops interim head coach Scott Ferguson. “It’s the same old thing. It’s time to put up or shut up. We told these guys what they need to do and now it’s time to do it.”
When Red Deer winger Andrej Kudrna scored his first of three goals, giving his side a 4-1 lead at 5:25 of the second period, this one might have been over.
But the Blazers got the next two, from defenceman Giffen Nyren and forward Dylan Willick, to at least get the fans back into it.
Kudrna upped Red Deer’s lead again, at 4:41 of the third, only to have Shattock bring his guys to within a goal two minutes later.
However, Cowen ended the threat with his seventh goal of the season at 17:03 and Kudrna added an empty netter.
“It was awesome,” said Cowen, adding that he had “a lot” of friends and family in the building.
“I even had the same stall,” he said, pointing to the visitors’ dressing room, which is used by the midget Blazers when they play in the ISC.
Of course, it helps that Cowen is playing on a line with centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the first overall pick in the 2008 bantam draft who won the major midget league scoring title last season, and winger Landon Ferraro, who scored 37 goals last season.
On this night, though, Cowen was that line’s big gun.
The Rebels also got a huge game out of defenceman Alex Petrovic, a 17-year-old from Edmonton who goes 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds.
Petrovic was playing the fifth game of his season — the third since he returned from an ankle injury suffered in a late September practice — and he didn’t disappoint. He drew an assist on each of the visitors’ first four goals and was physical when necessary. In short, he was a commanding presence out there.
The Blazers conclude this six-game homestand against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday, 7 p.m. Kamloops will board its bus immediately after that game and head for Spokane and a Saturday night date with the Chiefs.
JUST NOTES: Referee Sean Raphael gave the Blazers eight of 14 minors and three of six majors. Red Deer took the lone misconduct. . . . Kamloops LW Brendan Ranford injured his left shoulder when the tangled with Petrovic along the boards in the Red Deer zone early in the third period. He finished the game but will be re-evaluated today. . . . Kamloops F Ryan Hanes played for the first time since suffering a concussion on Oct. 12. . . . There were three fights in a five-minute span of the second period. No fans were seen leaving the building. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Petrovic — best player on the ice; 2. Cowen — big body was in a lot of the right places; 3. Shattock — two more goals.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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