Will Blazers seize the opportunity?

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
If the Kamloops Blazers are to make a move up the WHL’s Western Conference standings, the time would appear to be now.
But the Blazers are going to have to find a way to play with the big dogs if they are to make any noise.
The Blazers came out of the Christmas break in eighth place, at 14-17-2-3. Two games later, they are 15-18-2-3 and still in eighth, having beaten the visiting Prince George Cougars 6-1 on Sunday before falling 6-3 to the Giants in Vancouver on Monday.
The Giants (24-12-1-2), who are second in the conference behind the Tri-City Americans, are 16 points ahead of the Blazers, but Kamloops is just two points behind the Kelowna Rockets and three in arrears of the Chilliwack Bruins. Of course, the Seattle Thunderbirds are only three points behind the Blazers.
Kamloops now travels to Kelowna for a Wednesday night date with the injury-riddled Rockets before heading for Prince George and two more games with the Cougars, who have the WHL’s poorest record (7-27-1-1).
The Rockets, who lost four players to injury in Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the visiting Giants, have seven skaters on the injury list, all of them gone for at least two weeks.
Forwards Codey Ito (shoulder) and Geordie Wudrick (separated shoulder) and defencemen Collin Bowman (knee) Mitchell Chapman (fractured ribs) went down Sunday. They joined forwards Lucas Bloodoff (knee), Evan Bloodoff (knee) and Kyle St. Denis (concussion) on the injury list. As well, forward Brandon McMillan is with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and general manager, told Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “And these aren’t just nicks and bruises we’re dealing with.”
The Rockets likely will have a pair of 2009 bantam draft picks, defenceman Colton Heffley of Swift Current and F Tyrell Goulbourne of Edmonton, in their lineup Wednesday. Heffley was the 39th overall pick, while Goulbourne was taken with the 105th selection.
The Blazers likely will be without forward Brendan Ranford in Kelowna, as he was ejected in the third period last night after running Vancouver defenceman Nolan Toigo into goaltender Jamie Tucker. Ranford was given a charging major and a game misconduct and almost certainly will be suspended for at least two games.
Kamloops fell behind 5-0 last night before making a bit of a run in the third period.
“The positive thing is that I saw some people who care tonight,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said on Radio NL’s post-game show. “We wanted to see tonight who really cared to play for the Blazers. We saw some indication tonight.
“From that perspective there was some positive that came out of it.”
The Giants opened up a 3-0 first-period lead, getting power-play goals from forwards Craig Cunningham and Mike Piluso, and an even-strength score from J.T. Barnett. Second-period goals by Barnett and Garry Nunn upped the lead to 5-0, before the Blazers got third-period goals by Jimmy Bubnick, Linden Saip and Bronson Maschmeyer. The Giants’ final goal came from Sebastian Svendsen with five seconds left to play.
Bubnick also added an assist as he ran his point streak to seven games. He has 12 points, including six goals, over that span.
The Blazers’ cause wasn’t helped by the fact that they took 54 of the game’s 83 minutes in penalties.
After getting the game’s first power play, just 59 seconds into the game, the Blazers gave the next seven to the Giants. Vancouver ended up going 2-for-11 with the man advantage, while the Blazers were 0-for-5.
Charron pointed out that the Blazers’ early penalties weren’t “from physical play or getting involved or saving an opportunity.” Rather, he said, “they’re penalties for clutching and grabbing . . . these are lazy penalties. And against a team like the Giants, you can’t afford to do that.”
Vancouver will play three more home games through Sunday and then, thanks to the Olympic Winter Games, will vacate Pacific Coliseum until March 12. Of the following 27 games, 21 will be played on the road, with six ‘home’ games scheduled for the 5,200-seat Langley Events Centre.
On Sunday, the Blazers, who were 4-for-9 on the power play, got two goals from right-winger Tyler Shattock, who had gone eight games without a goal, and a goal and two assists from Bubnick.
Forward Jake Trask added his 10th goal of the season, but his first since Oct. 24, with Dalibor Bortnak and Ranford also scoring.
Four of the Blazers’ last seven games have been against the Cougars, and it would seem these teams are starting to grate on each other. The game Sunday featured five fights, with Kamloops defenceman Josh Caron twice going with Cougars captain Art Bidlevskii and Ryan Funk, another Blazers defenceman, twice being challenged after delivering legal checks.
The teams will play again in Prince George on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
JUST NOTES: Blazers G Kurtis Mucha made 14 saves Sunday, including just one in the third period. . . . In Vancouver, G Jon Groenheyde stopped 34 shots. . . . Kamloops next is at home Jan. 5 against the Everett Silvertips. . . . The Cougars had F Clarke Breitkreuz, 18, in their lineup Sunday. He joined them from the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers. . . . The Blazers had the same two scratches for both games. F JC Lipon (Team Western) and F Colin Smith (Team Pacific) are the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in the Timmins, Ont., area.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com