Blazers hope to apply some heat at home

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Austin Madaisky wants to see a repeat performance tonight.
Madaisky, a defenceman with the Kamloops Blazers, wants his teammates to recapture the form they showed in the first period of Game 1 of their WHL first-round playoff series with the Vancouver Giants.
The best-of-seven series resumes tonight at Interior Savings Centre with the home boys trailing 2-0. Game time is 7 o’clock.
“We maintained our composure,” Madaisky said, looking back to Friday night at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum. “We got pucks in deep. We were cycling on their defence. We were getting shots to the net. We had nine shots . . . and we scored three goals.”
The Blazers scored three times to take a 3-1 lead before Game 1 was 10 minutes old. But their offence dried up shortly thereafter and they didn’t score again, eventually losing 4-3 in overtime. In fact, they only mounted five shots on goal over that game’s last 40 minutes 33 seconds.
“We need to create more offence,” added head coach Guy Charron, whose charges held 1-0 and 2-1 leads in Game 2 on Saturday night before falling 6-3. “After watching the games, the chances for and against . . . they’ve dominated that area and we have to find a way to create more offence.
“It’s being consistent on getting the puck in and having a better puck pursuit and better forechecking.”
In other words, if the Blazers are to have success in this series they are going to have to get up close and personal with Vancouver’s defencemen, especially Kevin Connauton and his partner, David Musil, and Neil Manning.
“If we pressure them and eliminate them, it gives us a better chance,” Charron said. “I don’t think any skilled defenceman likes to play in their end too long. That’s what we have to establish.”
Madaisky, who reached the WHL’s championship final last season with the Calgary Hitmen, was in full agreement.
“We need to direct more shots to their net,” Madaisky said, as he looked ahead to tonight. “And we have to be hard on their defencemen. Guys like Connauton and Musil, it seems like they’re on the ice the whole game.”
The Giants, a team with far more playoff experience than the Blazers, have kept sustained pressure on the Kamloops defencemen. Madaisky really would like to see his mates turn the tables.
“They come hard,” Madaisky said of the Vancouver forwards. “We expect that. They bring that every game. They’ve got guys like (Brendan) Gallagher and (Lance) Bouma, who aren’t afraid to get in the corner and get in your face.
“We’d like to (play more in their zone) . . . definitely.”
Charron said that one of the problems in the first two games was that not all of the Blazers were on the same page. That resulted in confusion on some dump-in attempts.
“If I’m your linemate, I have to know that you’re going to dump it in,” Charron explained. “If I don’t, I’m not going to skate.”
Guess what the Blazers worked on during Monday’s practice session?
“A lot of get the puck in deep and go,” Charron said.
You can bet, too, that the Blazers realized if they don’t win tonight and/or Wednesday, yesterday’s session will have been this team’s last full practice together.
“It is (motivation), I’d say,” said Madaisky, a Surrey native who turned 18 on Jan. 30.
“Game 3 is huge.”
JUST NOTES: The starting goaltenders aren’t expected to change tonight, so it’ll be Kurtis Mucha of the Blazers against the Giants’ Mark Segal. . . . The Blazers are expected to dress sophomore F Jake Trask tonight — he has one goal in his last 25 games and has been a healthy scratch for three straight games — while sitting out F Rhyse Dieno, F JC Lipon and D Max Mowat. . . . Shaw TV is carrying the Vancouver-Kamloops series in its entirety, the play-by-play crew comprising Dan Russell, Bill Wilms and Stu Walters. . . .
Vancouver F Craig Cunningham is the Boston Pizza player of the week. Cunningham, a 19-year-old from Trail, had seven points, including four goals, and was plus-5 in the first two games of the series. . . . In the SJHL, G Josh Thorimbert, whose WHL rights belong to the Blazers, and his Kindersley Klippers are tied 1-1 with the Yorkton Terriers in their division final. Game 3 is tonight in Yorkton. In the playoffs, Thorimbert, 17, is 5-1 with a 2.80 GAA and a .912 save percentage. Earlier, the was named the SJHL’s rookie of the year. . . . In the MJHL, former Blazers G Justin Leclerc and his Winnipeg Saints are into the league final, where they will meet the high-powered Dauphin Kings, who are the host team for this season’s Royal Bank Cup. In the playoffs, Leclerc is 8-0, 1.86, .937. The final opens Saturday at the St. James Civic Centre in Winnipeg.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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