Blazers can only grin and bear it

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Management of the WHL's Kamloops Blazers is well aware that this is an historic day in British Columbia.
But it's Friday, which also means it's Game Night in the WHL.
There are 10 games scheduled for WHL arenas tonight, all of which are, of course, in Canadian and Pacific Northwest facilities. And every one of them will be up against the 2010 Olympic Winter Games' opening ceremony in Vancouver.
That WHL schedule includes Interior Savings Centre, where the Blazers will entertain the Kelowna Rockets. Game time is 7 p.m.
The opening ceremony is to begin at 5:45 p.m. CTV will start its pre-ceremony show at 4 p.m.
The Blazers will make the show available on the scoreclock screens and all in-house TV sets until the game begins.
“Other than that,” Blazers general manager Craig Bonner said, “there isn't much we can do.
“I was looking at the other teams. Everyone is playing. It's so hard to get your games in anyway . . . you can't give up a Friday night.
“It's unfortunate it's the same night but we can't really do too much about it.”
Each WHL team plays a 72-game regular season and over the course of a season almost always runs into scheduling conflicts of one kind or another.
“This season,” Bonner continued, “we've had a couple of challenges, and this is one. We were up against the world junior game, but . . .”
On Jan. 5, with Canada and the United States meeting in Saskatoon in the World Junior Championship's sudden-death final, the Blazers played host to the Everett Silvertips. Attendance at the ISC that Tuesday night was 3,589, the smallest crowd this season and the seventh-smallest since the arena opened for the 1992-93 season.
“I'm sure it's going to hurt us,” Bonner said of tonight's Olympic happening. “It's unfortunate.”
Including tonight, the Blazers will play four home games during the Olympic Winter Games, which conclude Feb. 28.
The Spokane Chiefs will visit on Feb. 17, when the Olympic evening schedule includes short track speed skating, snowboarding, luge, women's curling (Canada doesn't play), Slovakia vs. Switzerland in women's hockey and Czech Republic vs. Slovakia in men's hockey.
The Seattle Thunderbirds are here on Feb. 19, with the evening's TV fare including Canada vs. Denmark in women's curling and a men's hockey game between Finland and Germany.
The next night, with the Calgary Hitmen here, Canada is playing Britain in curling, a women's hockey classification hockey game is on tap, and Germany meets Belarus in men's hockey.
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Kamloops C C.J. Stretch won't be suspended after referee Pat Smith hit him with a slashing major and game misconduct following the end of the Blazers' 4-2 loss to the Cougars in Prince George on Wednesday night.
Stretch apparently hacked at Cougars D Garrett Thiessen, a former Blazers teammate, at the final buzzer. Smith gave Stretch the major and game misconduct; Thiessen received a slashing minor and a misconduct.
The WHL's decision not to suspend Stretch, who served a four-game sentence earlier in the season for an unpenalized check from behind, would seem to indicate that the league office feels the referee operated with a heavy hand, at least in this instance.



SCOUTINGREPORT
KELOWNA ROCKETS at KAMLOOPS BLAZERS
Today, 7 p.m., Interior Savings Centre (Radio NL 610)

KELOWNA (28-26-2-2) - The Rockets had a nine-game winning streak snapped Wednesday when they lost 4-0 to the Silvertips in Everett. . . . That was Kelowna's longest winning streak in five years. . . . But of those nine Kelowna victories, only one was against a team in the WHL's top 15. . . . G Adam Brown and the Rockets beat the Bruins 1-0 in a shootout in Chilliwack on Saturday. . . . The Rockets' injury list, at one time eight deep, includes two players now. The result is that the Rockets have used 33 different players this season. . . . D Dallas Jackson has missed three games with a leg injury. . . . Freshman C Shane McColgan, who turned 17 on Jan. 1, leads the Rockets in goals (23) and is tied for the lead in points (60) with D Tyson Barrie. . . . Barrie has a team-high 46 assists. . . . Barrie is a team-high plus-10; McColgan is a team-worst minus-18. . . . Injuries: D Dallas Jackson (ankle, out); F Evan Bloodoff (knee, out).
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KAMLOOPS (26-26-2-4) - The Blazers, who lost 4-2 to the Cougars in Prince George on Wednesday, are seventh in the 10-team Western Conference, two points behind the Rockets and four ahead of the Chilliwack Bruins. . . . The Blazers play in Kelowna on Saturday and meet the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash., on Sunday. . . . After losing 13 games to the Rockets last season, the Blazers are 5-1-0-0 against Kelowna this season. That includes three straight victories on home ice. . . . G Kurtis Mucha will start for the 21st time in 32 games since he was acquired from the Portland Winterhawks on Nov. 22. . . . C C.J. Stretch leads the Blazers in assists (41) and points (64) and is tied with LW Brendan Ranford for the team lead in goals (23). . . . F Jake Trask scored his 13th goal Wednesday, ending an 11-game drought. . . . If the Blazers go 7-7-0-0 to finish, they will finish 33-33-2-4, which would be identical to last season's final record. . . . After tonight, the Blazers' next home game is Wednesday against the Spokane Chiefs. . . . Injuries: None.
- GREGG DRINNAN