A-Rod, Cougars bat Blazers around

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
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In a move akin to a bird migration, a gaggle of NHL scouts headed south from Prince George in midweek and landed in Kamloops on Friday.
The migration continued overnight and today with Kelowna being the latest destination as the Cougars, who won't make the WHL playoffs, conclude their season tonight against the Rockets.
The object of the bird dogs' affections is right-winger Brett Connolly, who scored two first-period goals and set up another to get the Cougars started to what was a 5-1 victory over the Blazers in front of 4,633 fans at Interiors Savings Centre.
The Cougars (12-56-1-2) won for only the fourth time on the road this season. Their roster is littered with former Blazers so the whooping and hollering emanating from the visitors' dressing room lasted longer than normal after this one.
The Cougars knew full well that their victory may have sentenced the Blazers (32-33-2-4) to eighth place in the Western Conference, meaning a first-round meeting with the No. 1 seed, likely the Tri-City Americans. The Blazers are 0-4-0-0 against the Americans and have been outscored 24-6.
Before Friday's games, the Blazers had a chance to finish sixth. As they travel to Vancouver to wrap up their regular season tonight against the Giants, they are eighth, a point behind the Chilliwack Bruins.
In order to finish seventh, and draw the Giants, against whom they are 2-2-1-2, the Blazers need to at least finish tied with the Bruins, who meet the Silvertips in Everett tonight.
The Kelowna Rockets wrapped up sixth place with a 4-3 victory in Vancouver last night.
The Cougars, meanwhile, have lost more games than any of their Prince George predecessors. But you wouldn't have known it by last night's game.
Connolly, the reigning CHL rookie of the year and a certain early first-round pick in the 2010 NHL draft, was playing in his third game since Dec. 5 when he re-aggravated a hip problem. He played Tuesday and Wednesday as the Cougars dropped two 7-4 decisions to the visiting Bruins in front of many of those same scouts.
“And that,” said one NHL scout after the first period, “is why Connolly will play for Canada” at the 2011 World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y.
As well as Connolly played early, however, this game belonged to centre Alex Rodgers and defenceman Garrett Thiessen, a pair of 20-year-olds who began their careers with the Blazers.
Rodgers set up the Cougars' first four goals, giving him 100 career assists.
It also was the first four-assist game and second four-point night of his career. The first? He had a goal and three assists on Feb. 10 as the Cougars beat the visiting Blazers, 4-3.
“It's really nice playing with Connolly,” Rodgers said. “You just have to get him the puck and he goes to the net.”
Rodgers, who may be ticketed for the U of Calgary, finished with 17 points, including 12 assists, in 10 games against the Blazers this season.
Rodgers is from Salmon Arm and knew this would be his last WHL game here.
“I had both my parents here and some friends and family,” he said. “It was the last one and I wanted to give it all I've got.”
Thiessen, meanwhile, scored the game's last goal, a power-play marker at 15:28 of the second period. It was the second goal of his career - this was game No. 248 - and ended a 219-game drought.
“Oh, yeah, it definitely is (sweet), scoring against the old team,” said Thiessen, who is from Prince George and is the team captain. “It's exciting.”
Then, with a chuckle, Thiessen added: “I've been bugging the coaches, 'Put me on the power play, put me on the power play.' They finally threw me out there, I got an opportunity and I scored.”
Forwards James Dobrowolski, who is from Vernon, and Spencer Asuchak of Kamloops also scored for the Cougars, who struck three times on the power play and once while shorthanded.
Left-winger Brendan Ranford had the Blazers' lone goal, scoring five minutes into the second period with his club down 4-0.
“It wasn't what you might have expected,” said Kamloops head coach Guy Charron. “The first 13 minutes we pressured but didn't capitalize. Then . . . our specialty teams were just awful.”
The Blazers were especially soft on the penalty kill, giving Rodgers and Connolly lots of room to manoeuvre in the first period.
“There was no pressure whatsoever and it's not supposed to be like that at all,” Charron said.
The Cougars also got a big game from goaltender Alex Wright, who finished with 40 saves in his first start since suffering a broken collarbone on Jan. 8 against the host Americans.
Cougars head coach Dean Clark gave Wright credit for keeping his guys in it early, as the Blazers built up an 8-0 edge in shots. After that, Clark said, “We were as solid as we've been all season.”
Kamloops goaltender Kurtis Mucha stopped seven of 10 shots, with Jon Groenheyde coming on to start the second period. He stopped 21 of 23 shots.
JUST NOTES: Hockey Canada head scout Al Murray was here, hoping to touch base with Dr. Todd Ring, who works with the Blazers and will be traveling to Belarus with the Canadian U-18 team that will play in the 2010 IIHF world championship in Minsk and Bobruisk, April 13-23. . . . The Blazers handed out their individual awards prior to the game. They also honoured the accomplishments of Mucha and C C.J. Stretch, presenting each with an iPod touch. . . . Former Blazers captain Reid Jorgensen, who finished his third season with the U of Calgary Dinos, was given the UBC Hockey Alumni Trophy when Canada West's award winners were announced. It goes to the player who best combines sportsmanship with athletic ability. Jorgensen, 24, also was named a second team all-star.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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