Blazers send Wiebe home to Brandon

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The winds of change continue to blow through the Kamloops Blazers’ dressing
room.
Two more veterans left town over the weekend, meaning general manager Craig Bonner has removed six experienced WHL players from his club’s dressing room since Nov. 17.
Left-winger Shayne Wiebe, who had requested a trade in early November, was dealt Sunday to his hometown Brandon Wheat Kings. In exchange for Wiebe, 19, the Blazers acquired centre Jordan DePape, a 17-year-old from Winnipeg.
DePape, Brandon’s third-round selection in the 2007 bantam draft, was the MJHL’s rookie of the year last season with the Winnipeg Saints. He led all MJHL freshmen in goals (34) and points (85). He also played for Team Western at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in Port Alberni.
This season, DePape has eight points, including four goals, and 16 penalty minutes in 22 games with Brandon. He missed part of the season with a broken foot, but now is healthy. He is the younger brother of Ryan DePape, who split four seasons (2004-08) with the Prince Albert Raiders and Regina Pats.
“I like the way he plays,” Bonner said of the younger DePape. “I saw him once last season. This season, our scouting staff has seen him three or four times. We’ve watched him a lot. I’ve watched him a lot on (video).
“The biggest thing is he’s a competitive guy.”
DePape played the first nine games of this season with a broken bone in one foot after X-rays came up negative. Later X-rays showed the break and he sat out a month. He has four points in his last four games.
“I’m pretty happy with this one,” Bonner said. “(DePape) is going to get plenty of opportunity here.”
Wiebe, an eighth-round pick in the 2005 draft, has 25 points, including 14 goals, and 45 penalty minutes in 32 games this season. In 171 regular-season games, Wiebe put up 107 points and 196 penalty minutes.
“He expressed that he wasn’t happy here,” Bonner said. “We had some coaching changes and I thought that might change his (mind). He kept following up on it and that was the message he wanted to send. When Jordan DePape came available, he was the best player and best fit for our group, so. . . .”
DePape is expected to play Friday and Saturday when the Blazers meet the Cougars in Prince George.
On Saturday, the Blazers dealt defenceman Curtis Kulchar, 19, to the Everett
Silvertips for a fifth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft.
Kulchar, from Martensville, Sask., had four assists in 26 games but had been a healthy scratch in three of six games under head coach Guy Charron. The Blazers acquired Kulchar, third- and fourth-round 2009 draft picks and a 2010 second-round pick from the Vancouver Giants in January for defenceman Nick Ross and left-winger Alex Rodgers.
“We respected what (Kulchar) brought but we did have eight defencemen,” Charron said. “We had to make tough decisions every game.”
Meanwhile, on the ice, the Blazers erased a 3-1 deficit Saturday night, only to lose 5-4 in a shootout to the Giants before 4,755 well-entertained fans at Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers, who blew a 3-0 lead and lost 5-3 in Vancouver on Friday, may well have deserved a better fate in the rematch. But they were done in by two soft goals, although goaltender Kurtis Mucha later redeemed himself with some quality saves, and that old bugaboo — penalty killing.
The Giants, with the WHL’s No. 4-ranked power play, were 3-for-5 with the man advantage — they scored six times on the PP in the two games — as the Blazers continue to struggle to kill penalties.
“It was a good effort. We deserved a better fate. We out-chanced them,” Charron said. “Their power play kept them in the game.
“I was really pleased with the team’s effort. It was a good effort against a good team.”
Jimmy Bubnick, with two goals, the first the Teddy Bear score, Linden Saip and winger Matej Bene also scored for Kamloops, while the Giants got singles from Brendan Gallagher, Craig Cunningham, David Musil and Lance Bouma.
In the shootout, C.J. Stretch, Bubnick and Wiebe came up empty for Kamloops, while James Henry and Cunningham failed to score for Vancouver. The sixth shooter was Kevin Connauton, who leads WHL defencemen with 15 goals, and he beat Mucha with a quick shot to win it.
After weekend play, the Blazers (13-16-2-3) remain eighth in the Western Conference, two points behind the Chilliwack Bruins and three ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds. The Blazers will break for Christmas after the two games in Prince George and will face the Cougars at the ISC on Dec. 27.
JUST NOTES: Referees Derek Herman and Sean Raphael gave the Giants 12 of 21 minors and two of four majors. . . . No, that wasn’t Nick Swaine of Kamloops working with Raphael. Herman worked the game using equipment belonging to Swaine. Herman’s gear went missing, courtesy of Air Canada. . . . Stretch, playing in his 303rd regular-season game, had two assists, the second the 200th point of his career. . . . Musil’s goal was his fourth of the season and his first since he scored three times in Vancouver’s 5-4 overtime victory over the visiting Blazers on Oct. 3. . . . The Blazers now are carrying 22 players, including seven defencemen and 13 forwards. . . . Bruno Campese, the Prince Albert Raiders’ GM/head coach, took in Saturday’s game. But if he and Bonner are to deal now, it will be have to be today. The WHL’s Christmas trade moratorium runs from Tuesday through Dec. 27.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com