Thunderbirds all over Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
First, the crowd booed the Kamloops Blazers’ power-play unit.
Then it hooted at the winner of the Dance for Your Dinner promotion.
For a while, it was like being in Philadelphia, where the citizens have been known to boo Santa Claus.
The winning 50-50 number was announced with 16:39 left in the third period and many of the 4,259 fans in attendance said “thank you” and headed for the exits.
Such was life Friday night at Interior Savings Centre, where the Blazers dropped a 7-2 decision to the Seattle Thunderbirds, a team that had come to town having won just five of 21 games and now is 6-12-1-3.
It wasn’t as though this was a meeting of two WHL monoliths — these two teams had combined for four victories in their last 20 outings — but the Blazers (10-11-2-0) didn’t show up for this one.
This was the end of a six-game homestand that began Oct. 30, four days after the firing of head coach Barry Smith. The Blazers went 2-4-0-0 and were outscored 37-21 in the six games. This was the third time in the six games that they gave up seven goals; once they were torched for eight.
“It’s embarrassing,” Blazers captain Tyler Shattock said. “At some point we have to find it within ourselves to hate losing. At some point we have to have a sense of pride where we can’t let this happen anymore.”
This one started to get ugly for the home boys in the second period and then it turned ape ugly in the third.
The visitors came out of the first period with a 1-0 lead on a goal by winger Prab Rai, who was easily the best player on the ice.
If there was TSN Turning Point, it may have come early in the second period.
Seattle goaltender Calvin Pickard made a brilliant left pad save on Kamloops winger Shayne Wiebe. Great save at one end. Goal at the other end. Right?
Seattle winger Charles Wells went down the left wing and around defenceman Zak Stebner, and stuffed the puck through goaltender Jon Groenheyde at 2:41.
“He’s been huge for us,” Seattle winger Jonathan Parker said of Pickard, who finished with 22 saves.
The Blazers got that one back 20 seconds later, with Dylan Willick scoring, but it began to unravel at 8:43 when defenceman Jeremy Schappert beat Groenheyde, who stopped 21 shots, after Seattle had won a faceoff in the Blazers’ zone.
Parker got the first of his three goals at 14:37 of the second period and this one was done like a Christmas turkey. Parker added two third-period goals and Rai got one, with Colin Smith scoring for the Blazers.
“It’s always fun when you win like that,” offered Parker, an 18-year-old from Solana Beach, Calif., who now has 10 goals.
This was Parker’s first WHL hat trick and, he pointed out, he scored his first WHL goal here last season.
“I’m a fan of this facility,” he said with a smile.
Noting that his Thunderbirds have five points in their last three games, Parker added: “We’re starting to roll.”
The Blazers are, too, but they’re rolling backwards. They are 3-10-0-0 since starting the season 7-1-2-0.
“I have no idea,” Shattock said when asked where this slide began. “I can’t put my finger on it. I don’t know what to say.”
Does it have anything to do with preparation?
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know what goes through guys’ heads. We’re teenagers and I don’t know what else we want to be doing. Playing hockey is as good as it’s going to get.
“At some point you have to look at yourself in the mirror and give yourself a gut check.”
JUST NOTES: Seattle C Luke Lockhart, who came in with three points in 15 games, drew three assists. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Rai — Vancouver Canucks prospect skates like the wind; 2. Lockhart — owned the faceoff circles; 3. Wells — work ethic and energy. . . . Immediately after the game, both teams hit the road. The Blazers meet the Chiefs in Spokane tonight, while the Thunderbirds will play the Silvertips in Everett. . . . G Josh Thorimbert, a Kamloops prospect, was named the SJHL’s rookie of the month for October. He was 7-2 with a 2.45 GAA and a .926 save percentage for the Kindersley Klippers. Thorimbert, 17, went into this weekend at 10-4, 2.86, .916.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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