Optimism reigns as Blazers look ahead

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
There weren’t many teary eyes Thursday when the Kamloops Blazers cleaned out their Interior Savings Centre dressing room.
Instead, most of those eyes were looking ahead, focused on a future that appears bright for the WHL franchise.
The Blazers held meetings on Thursday, a day after the Vancouver Giants swept them out of a best-of-seven first-round playoff series. The Giants finished the series with a 5-4 victory at ISC on Wednesday.
The disappointment that normally lingers following a lost season made way for optimism for the future Wednesday. Everyone agreed that things are looking up for the Blazers, with a solid core of young talent and a quality head coach in Guy Charron.
“Next year and the next couple of years, we definitely have the opportunity to be a very strong team,” said defenceman Austin Madaisky, an 18-year-old defenceman around whom the Blazers can build. “We feel pretty good about that.”
The Blazers finished the regular season 32-33-2-5, and were the seventh seed in the Western Conference. Kamloops lost to the No. 2-seeded Giants (41-25-3-3) in a series that featured three one-goal games, two of them in overtime.
It was during these playoffs that Madaisky, who had three goals and three assists in the four games, and 16-year-old forward Colin Smith, who ended with two goals and two assists, showed just how high their ceilings may be.
Madaisky, a second-year player, was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen in a Jan. 10 deal, while Smith just completed his first season with the Blazers after being their first pick in the 2008 bantam draft.
“It’s quite encouraging to know that Colin is only 16 years old,” said Charron, who coached the Blazers to a 21-20-0-4 record after taking over on Nov. 23. “To think . . . where could it all lead?
“It’s the same thing with Madaisky — when he first came here, he hadn’t found his identity . . . but his growth came every day and he showed a lot of leadership.”
The Blazers were a much different team at the end of the season than at the start. Through trades and releases during the season, general manager Craig Bonner moved out 11 players and brought in seven.
Most of these moves were geared at making the Blazers younger, which succeeded considering the Blazers were the second-youngest team in the WHL, behind the Seattle Thunderbirds, at season’s end.
Bonner’s biggest trade was the Madaisky deal, in which Kamloops acquired the defenceman and forward Chase Schaber from the Hitmen for forwards Jimmy Bubnick and Tyler Shattock, who was the Blazers captain at the time, and defenceman Zak Stebner.
Schaber, who turned 19 on Jan. 3, was solid during his time here, picking up 22 points, 10 of them goals, in 28 games. Madaisky, who is likely to hear his name called at the NHL draft in June, played 26 regular-season games for the Blazers, picking up two goals and seven assists.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity,” said Madaisky of the trade. “The coaching staff is great, they’ve helped me a lot. I love it here.”
Goaltender Kurtis Mucha, defenceman Ryan Funk and forward C.J. Stretch all completed their 20-year-old seasons Wednesday, so won’t be able to witness the Blazers’ future firsthand. But that doesn’t mean they’re not excited for what good times may lay ahead for the franchise.
“I look at the team — they’re going to have a solid team,” said Mucha, who was acquired from the Portland Winterhawks for a fourth-round draft pick on Nov. 22. “Having Guy around from the start of the season . . . so he can get everyone on the same page right from the start, that’s going to help out a lot.”
Stretch perhaps deserved a better playoff fate after spending five years in a Blazers uniform and playing more regular-season games (341) than any other Kamloops junior. The Irvine, Calif., native, who turns 21 in August, ended his junior career with 248 points, 85 of them goals, and 342 penalty minutes.
But he only played 16 playoff games — all of them losses. He did managed to score 19 points in those games, and was the team’s leading scorer in a 2007 sweep by the Prince George Cougars (eight points) and this year’s postseason (seven points).
“I always stayed loyal to the team, even when the ship was going down,” said Stretch, who plans to hang around until Sunday, then head south to start practising with the ECHL’s Ontario, Calif., Reign. “Some people wanted out . . . but I had a fun time.
“We had some pretty good years here, just not the success we wanted in the playoffs.”
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca