Aces come up kings in ECHL

F Ty Morris (Swift Current, Vancouver, Red Deer, 2003-05) has signed a one-year extension with Landshut (Germany, DEL2). Last season, he had 46 points, including 15 goals, in 47 games.
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So I am embarking on a voyage of discovery to find out.
I'll be back in a couple of weeks. Until then . . .

1. Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada has an interesting note in his weekly 30 Thoughts: “Another AHL coach to watch: Norfolk's Trent Yawney. Hearing Anaheim wants him on the bench next to Bruce Boudreau.” . . . There’s an opening in Anaheim because Bob Woods, whose contract with the Ducks was up and hadn’t yet been renewed, left to join the Saskatoon Blades as GM/head coach. . . . Yawney, from Hudson Bay, Sask., spent three seasons (1981-84) on the Blades’ blue line. . . . Friedman’s latest column is right here.

2. Baseball has Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. . . . Hockey has Billy Mosienko’s three goals in 21 seconds. . . . Brian Costello of The Hockey News revisits Mosienko’s amazing feat right here.

3. In Cincinnati, G Gerald Coleman stopped 23 shots as the Alaska Aces beat the Cyclones 4-0 and won the ECHL’s Kelly Cup final, 4-2. . . . The Aces won the last two games, both in Cincinnati, to win their third Kelly Cup, tying the South Carolina Stingrays for the most in ECHL history. . . . Former WHL F Turner Elson (Red Deer, 2009-13) had one of Alaska’s goals. . . . Former WHL D James Martin (Swift Current, Kootenay, 2008-11) was among Alaska’s scratches in Game 6. . . . According to an Aces news release, “Assistant coach Louis Mass joined Scott Burt, Jared Bednar and Patrick Wellar as the only individuals to have their names on the Kelly Cup three times.” . . . Burt (Seattle, Swift Current, Edmonton Red Deer, 1994-98) just completed his first season as an assistant coach with the Spokane Chiefs. Prior to that he played three seasons (2008-11) with the Aces and was an assistant coach for two more (2011-13). . . . Bednar, now an assistant coach with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons, played three seasons in the WHL (Saskatoon, Spokane, Medicine Hat, Prince Albert, 1990-93). . . . Wellar, who played this season with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, spent four seasons in the WHL (Portland, Calgary, 2000-04).

4. G Michael Hutchinson stopped 49 shots to lead the visiting St. John’s IceCaps to a 2-1 victory over the Texas Stars in Game 2 of the AHL final on Monday night in Cedar Park, Texas. . . . The series is tied, with the next three games in St. John’s, starting on Wednesday. . . . Hutchinson was especially busy in the third period when he made 20 saves. . . . F Blair Riley, a native of Chase, B.C., scored the GWG. He got his second goal of this postseason early in the second period, just 44 seconds after the Stars had tied the game. . . . F Brendan Ranford, who spent the previous five seasons with the Kamloops Blazers, had the lone Texas goal, his eighth of the playoffs.
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TWEET OF THE DAY:

Hearing #WHLGiants coaching search may be down to 2 guys - former #Canucks forward Tim Hunter and EDM Oil Kings assistant Steve Hamilton.
— News1130 Sports (@News1130Sports) June 9, 2014

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Bibeau sharp as Foreurs open with victory; Royals goaltender signs pro deal

G Patrik Polivka (Victoria, 2012-14) has signed a two-year contract with Plzen (Czech Republic, Extraliga). This season with the Royals, he was 2.56 and .915 in 43 games. . . . Polivka, who turned 20 on March 4, is eligible to return to Victoria for one more season, but would have been a two-spotter -- a 20-year-old and an import. . . .


G Leland Irving (Everett, 2003-08) has signed a one-year contract with Avangard Omsk (Russia, KHL). This season with Jokerit Helsinki (Finland, Liiga), he was 2.14 and .922 in 55 games.
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1. Dan Kinvig of the Abbotsford News reports right here that the CHL had some people conducting a survey in a local shopping centre on Wednesday. However, Jeff Hubert, the WHL’s director of communications, told Kinvig that the purpose of the survey wasn’t to test Abbotsford’s receptiveness to a WHL team. . . . I wonder how many Chilliwack residents happened to be in that particular shopping centre on Wednesday?

2. The news in The MacBeth Report that G Patrik Polivka has signed to play
professionally with his hometown team (he’s from Plzen, Czech Republic) puts G Coleman Vollrath, 19, atop the Victoria Royals’ depth chart. . . . Vollrath had a terrific season (20-8-2, 2.39, .928), really stepping up his game when Polivka missed time in early January and again in early February with a concussion. . . . Michael Herringer, an 18-year-old from Comox, B.C., who was a ninth-round draft pick in 2011, likely is in the Royals’ No. 2 slot, at least at this moment.

3. Wondering what’s in store for the Canadian Hockey League in terms of TV exposure through Rogers Communications over the next few years? Chris Zelkovich of the Eh Game over at Yahoo! Sports has some answers right here.

4. The championship game for the 2014 Memorial Cup is eight days away, but I have no idea what time the puck will drop. On what I believe is the tournament’s official website, there is one place where it has game time as noon Eastern. But I received an email today that contained the entire schedule, with starting times for every game but the final, which is listed as “TBD.” . . . So let’s go with TBD until TV decides when the game will begin.

5. When this season began, F Brendan Ranford was struggling to find playing time with the AHL’s Texas Stars. Things have since changed and Ranford, in his first pro season, is tied for the AHL playoff lead in goals. . . . Alyssa Dombrowski has more right here on Ranford, who played the previous five seasons with the Kamloops Blazers. . . . Ranford got his seventh goal last night as the visiting Stars beat the defending-champion Grand Rapids Griffins 3-2 to take a 3-2 lead in that series. Game 6 is Sunday in Texas.

6. The Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers open the third round of Stanley Cup play today and the puck drops at 10 a.m. Pacific. Thank you, Gary Bettman, and tell me again how TV doesn’t rule your world. . . . Come on! The Canadiens and Rangers in a Stanley Cup game has to be on CBC-TV on Saturday night.

7. The Drummond men now are involved in the ownership of two hockey teams, father Gary with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes and son Jason with the Regina Pats. Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post has Jason’s story right here.
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The Vancouver Giants have signed G Cody Porter, a North Vancouver native who turns 17 on Sept. 23. . . . Porter played this season with the midget AAA Vancouver-North West Giants (1.75, .942 in five games) and the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors (3.55, .875 in 16 games).
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THE COACHING GAME:
Craig Mohr is the new head coach of the junior B Fernie Ghostriders of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. Mohr is quite familiar with the KIJHL, having coached the Ghostriders in their first two seasons (2004-06) in the KIJHL and also worked with the Golden and Beaver Valley franchises. He also has worked with the midget AAA Calgary North Stars. This season, he was the assistant GM and assistant coach with the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks. . . . He also played 17 games with the Flin Flon Bombers in what was then the WCHL in 1971-72. . . . Mohr takes over in Fernie from Dale Hladun, who now is head coach of the KIJHL’s 100 Mile House Wranglers.
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The B.C. Major Midget Hockey League has revealed its list of head coaches for 2004-15. If you are interested, that list is right here.
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MEMORIAL CUP
(at London, Ont., all times Eastern)
(all games televised by Sportsnet)
Friday: Val-d’Or 1 vs. London 0 (8,863)
Saturday: Guelph vs. Edmonton, 4 p.m.
Sunday: London vs. Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Monday: Guelph vs. Val-d’Or, 7 p.m.
Tuesday: Edmonton vs. Val-d’Or, 7 p.m.
Wednesday: London vs. Guelph, 7 p.m.
Thursday: Tiebreaker, if necessary, 7 p.m.
Friday: Semifinal, 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 24: No game scheduled.
Sunday, May 25: Final, TBD.
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FRIDAY’S GAME:
The Val-d’Or Foreurs’ two stars came through in a 1-0 tournament-opening victory over the London Knights. . . . G Antoine Bibeau, whose NHL rights belong to the Toronto Maple Leafs, stopped 51 shots and F Anthony Mantha scored his 87th goal this season at 16:20 of the first period. . . . Mantha has 82 goals in 82 games for the Foreurs this season. . . . London G Anthony Stolarz, playing his first game in seven weeks after also serving an OHL suspension, stopped 27 shots. . . . The Knights were playing their first game after a 34-day layoff. They were eliminated by the eventual-champion Guelph Storm in the second round of the playoffs. . . . Bibeau stopped London F Bo Horvat on a third-period penalty shot. . . . In Saturday’s lone game, the WHL-champion Edmonton Oil Kings will meet the OHL-champion Guelph Storm.

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The truth is . . . Winterhawks up 2-0!

A story on Game 2 of the Western Conference final, with thanks from Portland freelancer Scott Sepich and Paul Buker of The Oregonian . . .

PORTLAND — The Kamloops Blazers scored one goal in the first two games of the WHL’s Western Conference final.
It should come as no surprise, then, that they are trailing the Portland Winterhawks 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, with Games 3 and 4 scheduled for Kamloops on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
“We need to score,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said after Portland’s 4-0 victory on Saturday night. “We need to generate some offence so we can take the lead and reverse the roles as far as playing catch-up hockey.
“We did that in the first game, taking the one-goal lead. But we know with their offence it's not going to be easy to sustain just a one-goal lead to win a hockey game.”
Goaltender Mac Carruth stopped 27 shots and forward Ty Rattie had a goal and two assists in Portland’s Game 2 victory.
Rattie also had a goal and two assists in Friday’s 4-1 victory and now leads the WHL’s playoff scoring race with 25 points, four more than Blazers forward JC Lipon, who is pointless through two games.
The Blazers scored on their first shot in Game 1 — forward Joe Kornelsen getting his first goal in these playoffs — but now have gone 117:50 without beating Carruth, who has stopped 60 shots over two games.
Charron admitted that Carruth’s value to the Winterhawks comes from more than just stopping pucks.
“Carruth is becoming too effective for them,” Charron explained. “Part of the game plan is to make their defencemen work, and forecheck and finish our checks. But our dump-ins are always handled by Carruth and he has that ability to handle the puck and use his body as a screen. We really can't forecheck aggressively against that.”
Kamloops forward Brendan Ranford lit up the Kelowna Rockets for nine points in a four-game second-round sweep, but has yet to get even a point against Portland. He credits Carruth for at least some of that lack of success.
“Mac's been playing really well,” Ranford said. “He's battling hard. We have gotten our chances, and I feel he's been a little bit lucky. He's made some saves that not too many goalies can make. He's working hard and playing well and we have to get to him and get in the crease to score tough goals.”
“Whatever we're doing now isn't working in our favour,” Charron added, “and we have to make some changes and get some confidence. Our frustration is coming from not scoring.”
Each member of Portland’s top line — Rattie, Brendan Leipsic and Nic Petan — had a goal, as did defenceman Seth Jones, who is likely to be the No. 1 selection in June’s NHL draft.
“Mac’s been a rock for us,’’ Leipsic said. “They’ve got a lot of good offensive guys, and we’ve kind of kept them quiet for the first two games. We’re looking forward to doing that up in Kamloops.’’
Charron pointed out that “we have players who aren’t playing to their potential, and to beat a team like the Winterhawks, everyone has to be pulling the load.“
Having said that, he knows that Kamloops’ top-end players have to be better.
“With all the experience I've had in hockey,” he said, “when you look at the success of teams you have to look at your best players. Their best players are on the scoresheet every night. For us, our big guns haven't showed up on the scoresheet yet and it's going to be difficult until they get going.”
Jones opened the scoring, carrying the puck into the Kamloops zone and putting a wrap-around in behind goaltender Cole Cheveldave.
“His goal was big-time,’’ Travis Green, Portland’s interim general manager and head coach, said. “I say it a lot, but when you get this far in the playoffs you need your best players to be your best players.’’
The Blazers also aren’t getting any help from a power play that has dried up.
“We're 0-for-10 on the power play,” said Charron, whose club was 0-for-5 in each game. “We have to find a way to generate more and get some momentum from the power play.”
On Saturday, the Winterhawks were 2-for-8 on the power play, and are 3-for-11 in the two games.
“I thought our discipline tonight needed to be better,” Charron stated. “They have a good power play; they scored two goals tonight. (Friday) night, they had a goal. All their power-play goals have been important for the success of their team.
“We didn't generate anything from our power play. It's a good hockey team we're playing and they work very hard. I could sense there was some frustration from our team as the game went on. But we have to realize that it's going to come from hard work and from hopefully scoring some goals.”
The Blazers no doubt will gain some comfort from the fact they are returning home to the ISC, where they were 27-7-2 in the regular season and are 4-1 in the playoffs.
“There should be comfort of playing in our building,” Charron said, “but we have to find a way to sustain pressure. It's way too easy for them in transition. We haven't been able to neutralize that at all. We're not supporting the puck as well as we should. We're playing too much on the perimeter.”
Ranford said he and his teammates are excited about going back home.
“Our fans are the best in the league for us and they support us all the time,” he said. “They've been with us through thick and thin through years where we didn't make the playoffs. I think it's been 14 years since making the conference finals the last time and they're going to be buzzing. We have to live off the energy like Portland did here.
“We're going back home and we're going to win those games if we work hard. We have to stop getting outworked, and that's been what's happening.”
Like Game 1, the second game featured some late-game silliness, something Ranford said comes with the territory.
“It's a playoff series,” he said. “Both teams are competing hard for the conference title. Emotions get high and things happen, but we can't get undisciplined like we have been. The stuff at the end of the game, we're not trying to intimidate or anything, we just don't want to quit.”
The Winterhawks say they don’t mind if the Blazers want to try and stir things up.
“They’ve got a few guys that are kind of running around a little bit trying to get you into penalties,’’ Leipsic said. “I like the way our guys kept their composure at the end. We kind of let them take the dumb penalties.’’
Green doesn’t know what will happen in Kamloops; he just expects to see more from the Blazers.
“I don’t know if they’ll play a lot better or be any different, obviously that’s up to them,’’ he said. “But with them being down two, we’ll probably see their best game.’’
JUST NOTES: Kamloops G Cole Cheveldave stopped 30 shots. . . . A year ago, when the Winterhawks ousted the Blazers from a second-round series in seven games, Portland won the first two at home, 5-3 and 4-1. . . . For Game 2, the Blazers inserted D Jordan Thomson and F Devin Oakes into their lineup, while taking out D Ryan Rehill and F Josh Connolly. . . . The Winterhawks added F Joe Mahon and F Dominic Turgeon, while taking out F Paul Bittner and F Keegan Iverson. . . . In something of a twist, three Portland players — Jones, D Derrick Pouliot and F Adam De Champlain — were seen signing autographs while serving penalties during Game 2.

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Rest won't hurt Kamloops

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
To the victors go the spoils.
In this case, the victors are the Kamloops Blazers and the spoils are eight days off before they resume their WHL playoff schedule.
The Blazers, who completed a four-game sweep of the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday night, will begin the Western Conference final against the Winterhawks in Portland on April 19 and 20.
Games 3 and 4 are to be played at Interior Savings Centre on April 23 and 24.
After Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime victory over the visiting Rockets, Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said his players would be given “a couple of days to themselves.”
He added that the players would “be back on Saturday,” although he said he didn’t think they would skate.
“We have plenty of time,” Charron said. “We want to make sure they’re rested and ready.”
The time off also will be good for the walking wounded.
Centre Colin Smith suffered a suspected concussion early in the second period of the first game against Kelowna on Saturday and missed the last three games. He skated on Wednesday morning but there never was a chance that he would play in Game 4.
However, Smith, who led the Blazers with 106 points in the regular season, should play in Game 1 in Portland.
Bozon, however, is a different story.
The Swiss sophomore is sporting a cast after suffering a fracture in his right hand during a game-ending melee against the host Victoria Royals on March 26. The recovery time for such injuries normally is in the area of four weeks. If all goes well, that could put Bozon on track for a return late in the series against Portland.
Smith, who also had a team-high 41 goals, finished behind only Portland linemates Brendan Leipsic and Nic Petan (each 120 points) and Ty Rattie (110) in the regular-season scoring race. Bozon was tied for eighth, with 91 points, including 36 goals.
As well, centre Dylan Willick, the Blazers’ captain, went down awkwardly late in Wednesday’s game and left the ice in some discomfort. The rest can only help him.
“It’ll be all good,” Charron said of Willick.
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The Rockets, playing their sixth game in nine nights, could have rolled over on Wednesday and no one would have raised an eyebrow.
They didn’t, though, as they erased a 3-1 third-period deficit before eventually losing to an overtime goal by Kamloops right-winger Kale Kessy.
“We had it all season,” Ryan Huska, the Rockets’ head coach, said. “We were a resilient team all season. We weren’t surprised that we didn’t roll over. We fought through a fair amount of things. We expect (our players) to push.”
The Rockets started this season 2-7 and found themselves well behind the Blazers, who went on an early-season 14-game winning streak. However, Kelowna recovered and finished 52-16-4, good enough to place them atop the B.C. Division. But, in the opening round, the Rockets ran into a determined bunch of Seattle Thunderbirds, who had finished 50 points behind them. The Rockets lost the first three games to Seattle, then won the last four to take the series, 4-3. Five of the games, including the last two, went into overtime. And the last two were played on back-to-back nights in different cities.
There’s not much doubt that the Rockets, who at times had seven players scratched, were a tired bunch by the time Wednesday’s game ended. But Huska was having none of that.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “Kamloops was the better team in this series.”
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Referees Chris Crich and Devin Klein handed out 12 minor penalties on Wednesday, each of them resulting in a power play. The Rockets took 11 of those minors – the first six and the last five.
Asked about the penalties, Huska took a moment, measured his words and replied:
“I find it sad . . . when in this type of a game the calls are 11-1. And I find it even sadder that it was a televised game where people see that type of officiating. . . . No discredit to (the Blazers) for what they did on the other side, but if you look back at this series, it was sad.”
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When F JC Lipon scored at 3:43 of overtime to give the Blazers a 5-4 victory in Game 3 on Tuesday, it was the first time Kamloops had won an OT game on home ice since April 6, 1996. On that occasion, F Jarome Iginla’s power-play goal at 13:23 gave the Blazers a 4-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans in Game 2 of a best-of-five conference semifinal that Kamloops woud win, 3-2.
Of course, the Blazers then won a second straight OT game at home on Wednesday. Kessy’s goal, at 2:42 of OT, allowed the Blazers to wrap up a playoff series at home for the first time since April 11, 1996, when they beat the Americans, 5-1. The Blazers had trailed 2-1 in that series, before winning 6-1 in Kennewick, Wash., on April 9. The Blazers then lost the conference final to Spokane in six games.
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JUST NOTES: Lipon leads the WHL playoffs in assists (16) and points (21). He is the only WHL player with at least a point in each of his team’s games. . . . Rattie and Kessy lead with 11 goals. . . . Rattie has 19 points, leaving him tied with Kamloops F Brendan Ranford, who has 13 points in his last five games. . . . The Blazers scored three power-play goals on Wednesday, including Kessy’s winner, on the power play. That’s a 27.2 per cent success rate, which is excellent in any coach’s opinion. . . . Iginla finished the 1996 playoffs with 16 goals in 16 games. Kessy is the first Kamloops skater since then to reach double digits in goals.

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Blazers looking to Portland

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was late Wednesday night in the bowels of Interior Savings Centre.
The vanquished, the Kelowna Rockets, were packing their gear and loading their bus, wanting only to get out of the building where their WHL season had come to a sudden stop less than 30 minutes earlier.
The conquerors, the Kamloops Blazers, meanwhile, already were looking ahead to the Portland Winterhawks.
The Blazers swept the Rockets from the Western Conference semifinal, the series-winning goal coming from right-winger Kale Kessy at 2:24 of overtime.
That goal set up a rematch of sorts with the Winterhawks, this one in the best-of-seven conference final. It will open with games in Portland on April 19 and 20, before resuming in Kamloops on April 23 and 24.
“They’ve won the last two Western Conference finals,” offered Kamloops centre Brendan Ranford, who put up nine points in the four games with Kelowna. “We had a great series with them last year and it’ll be a good one again.”
A year ago, Kamloops and Portland met in a conference semifinal. The Winterhawks won the first three games before the Blazers staged a near-epic comeback, winning the next three before falling 2-0 in Game 7 in Portland.
That series will be remembered in these parts mostly for Game 6, a game in which the Blazers trailed 5-2 early in the third period, took a 6-5 lead at 15:21, fell into a tie at 15:47 and won it 7-6 on defenceman Bronson’s Maschmeyer goal at 19:39.
The 5,080 fans in the house were so pumped when it ended that they stood and cheered until the Blazers returned from their dressing room for what amounted to a curtain call.
“I think we learned a lot from that series . . . that we never quit,” Ranford said. “Even when it’s tied, we just keep pushing and pushing.
“You could see it in Game 3 and 4 (against Kelowna). It was a tie game but we kept pushing. We are playing with confidence instead of playing scared . . . we’re playing to win; we’re not playing to lose.
“It’s been fun and we’re going to keep pushing.”
While Ranford and Co. were eliminating the Rockets, the Winterhawks were sweeping the Spokane Chiefs, ending it with a 5-0 victory on the road on Wednesday.
“They get rolling and they play hard and they have a lot of skill on that team,” Ranford said of the Winterhawks, who outscored the Chiefs 18-3 in four games. “We have to minimize their skill and just play a hard-nosed game like we can.”
For the Blazers, it also has been a case of sticking with the game plan no matter the circumstances.
On Tuesday, the Rockets dominated the first period, but the Blazers stayed with the game plan – get pucks deep, make the Kelowna defence work – and it paid off. On Wednesday, the Blazers had the great start, but the Rockets came back and tied it. Still, the Blazers stuck with the plan.
“They were tired. You could tell,” Charron said of Kelowna’s defencemen. “We kept by the game plan and made sure pucks were in deep and made them work.”
Charron pointed out that making defenders work doesn’t necessarily mean being physical.
“If you work down there and you force them to work defensively, to defend, it makes them tired,” Charron said. “If you can make the other team defend more than you, chances are you will get some offence and you should be able to pull it off.”
“Even when it was 3-3,” Ranford said, “we kept on sticking to our game plan. It worked out, didn’t it? That’s what we do and it’s been awesome. . . . it’s been a good ride so far. But we’ve got a good team in Portland . . .
“I think we’re a good match for them. We just have to play our game and play our structure and it’ll be good.”
Meanwhile, Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska expects a Kamloops-Portland series to be “entertaining to watch” because both teams have excellent transition games.
“They are two of the most offensively dangerous teams in our conference,” Huska said. “I think it will be a fast paced series. Probably at the end of the day it will come down to goaltenders.”
If an MVP had been selected in the Kamloops-Kelowna series, it may well have been Blazers goaltender Cole Cheveldave. It wasn’t that he stopped an overwhelming number of shots – 105 out of 115 (.913) – but the number of timely, momentum-killing saves he made was off the charts.
In 10 playoff games, Cheveldave is 8-2, 2.60, .895.
Meanwhile, Portland’s Mac Carruth became the first goaltender in franchise history to post two shutouts in one series when he held Spokane to three goals over four games. Overall, Carruth is 8-2, 1.74, .925.
Carruth also became the winning goaltender in WHL playoff history. He has 41 victories, two more than Cam Ward, who won 38 during his career with the Red Deer Rebels.
 

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Blazers move into conference final

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
This time, there won’t be a comeback.
It wasn’t easy and it took overtime, but the Kamloops Blazers made certain of that.
The Blazers managed to shake off the Kelowna Rockets 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday night at Interior Savings Centre, sweeping the visitors from the second round of the WHL playoffs.
Let the history books show that Kale Kessy’s second goal of the game and his 11th in 10 playoff games won this one.
With the Blazers on the power play — they were 3-for-11 with the man advantage, while the Rockets were, uhh, 0-for-1 — Kessy shook off a hit from Kelowna’s Ryan Olsen along the right boards and got to the net in time to redirect defenceman Joel Edmundson’s hard pass behind goaltender Jordan Cooke at 2:24.
The Blazers are into the Western Conference’s best-of-seven final for the first time since the spring of 1999, when they swept the Tri-City Americans before losing the championship final in five games to the Calgary Hitmen.
Kamloops will meet the Portland Winterhawks in the conference final, with the first games in Oregon on April 19 and 20. Yes, the Winterhawks, who completed a sweep of the Chiefs with a 5-0 victory in Spokane last night, and Blazers now will have eight days off.
The Rockets, meanwhile, will be off for a while longer than that.
The Rockets had fallen behind the Seattle Thunderbirds 0-3 in the first round, then had become the second team in WHL history to win the next four games and the series.
So you can bet the Rockets were grasping at that straw after a 5-4 overtime loss at ISC on Tuesday night left them in that 0-3 hole, again.
But this time there wouldn’t be a miracle. Almost. But not quite.
The Rockets, who were playing their sixth game in nine nights, did a lot of hanging around and hanging on last night. They took the game’s first six minor penalties, five of them in the first period. Although they gave up just one power-play goal, that to Kessy, they paid a steep price from their energy bank because they spent so much time defending and were forced to over-use their top guys.
Due to injuries, the Rockets had been trying to make do for the most part with five defencemen. By the end of the first period, the back-enders were almost on empty and the mistakes were mounting.
And the Blazers kept pushing. Hard. They held a 19-4 edge in shots after 20 minutes.
Still, the Rockets got some momentum eight minutes into the second period when they were given their first power-play opportunity. They didn’t score right then, but forward Tyson Baillie, back from a two-game suspension, pulled the visitors even at 12:48 when he beat goaltender Cole Cheveldave from 20 feet out in the slot.
By that point the Rockets were looking like they might make a game of it.
But that thought appeared to end when Kamloops forward JC Lipon, who scored the OT winner Tuesday and was dominant in this one, checked Olsen off the puck in the Blazers’ zone and turned around the play. Moments later, at 17:05, defenceman Marek Hrbas gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead.
And then, with 27.4 seconds left on the clock, centre Matt Needham scored off some good work by Cole Ully the Rockets really were in trouble.
But Kelowna survived three Kamloops power plays in the third period and got goals from J.T. Barnett and Cole Linaker to force overtime.
The Blazers, as they had done Tuesday, opened the overtime with energy and the result was that Kelowna defenceman Madison Bowey, in trying to clear the zone, inadvertently put the puck into the crowd. That, in today’s game, is a delay-of-game penalty.
The Blazers stormed to the attack on the PP, with Kessy beating Cooke on their seventh shot of extra time and their 45th shot of the game.
Kamloops goaltender Cole Cheveldave stopped 22 shots and, as he did on Tuesday night, made at least half-a-dozen of the timely variety.
Early in this season, it was the Rockets who ended the Blazers’ franchise-record 14-game winning streak. Later, the Rockets skated past the Blazers and won the B.C. Division’s regular-season pennant.
But last night the Blazers sent the Rockets home for the summer and moved on to the conference final.
You know the Rockets would switch positions in a New York minute.
JUST NOTES: The attendance was 4,904. . . . Lipon had two assists and remains the only player in the WHL with at least one point in each of his team’s playoff games this season. . . . The Daily News Three Stars — 1. Kessy: Two goals in big game; 2. Cheveldave: Getting better each time out; 3. Linaker: Bright future. . . . The Blazers were without C Colin Smith for a third straight game. He suffered a suspected concussion early in the second period of Game 1. However, he is back skating and should be back for the start of the conference final. . . . Games 3 and 4 in the conference final will be at ISC on April 23 and 24. If necessary, Game 5 would be in Portland on April 26, Game 6 in Kamloops on April 28 and Game 7 in Portland on April 30. . . . Andy Clovechok, Mr. Hockey in these parts, celebrated his 90th birthday by attending last night’s game, with the lovely Molly, of course.

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Blazers put Rockets in 0-3 hole

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The WHL playoff game’s outcome was right there, on the stick of Kamloops Blazers forward JC Lipon.
The third period was nine minutes old, the Blazers and Rockets were 4-4 and linemate Brendan Ranford had presented Lipon with an empty net.
Lipon misfired wide to the long side . . . way right. He was not a happy camper.
But all that changed when Lipon scored at 3:43 of overtime to give the Blazers a 5-4 victory at Interior Savings Centre.
That gave the Blazers a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series. Kamloops will be in a position to wrap it up when the teams meet again tonight at ISC. A fifth game, if necessary, would be played Friday in Kelowna.
“I missed like maybe two of those all season,” Lipon, a 36-goal man, said, referring to that third-period opportunity. “That was a big one and I fanned on it. I was pretty mad. It definitely bothered me.”
It didn’t bother him enought to distract him from the task at hand, though. And in an overtime in which both teams had their chances, Lipon had the final say.
Lipon, who leads the playoff scoring race, took advantage of some good work by Ranford and Cole Ully deep in the Kelowna zone and beat goaltender Jackson Whistle from the short left side of the slot and — that’s why they call it sudden-death — this one was over.
“I didn’t play very well all game,” said Lipon, who also had an assist and now leads the WHL in assists (14) and points (19). “I was pretty disappointed in myself. I just couldn’t seem to rebound. For overtime, it was definitely good to get some confidence back.”
The Rockets, playing their fifth game in eight nights, started this game with a lot of energy and only Kamloops goaltender Cole Cheveldave kept his guys from getting blown out.
Forward Tyrell Goulbourne forced a turnover and Cheveldave stoned him with a right pad just 10 seconds into the game. That signalled the start of an onslaught and the Rockets went on to put up 12 of the game’s first 13 shots.
But Cheveldave kept them off the scoreboard and that’s something that paid huge dividends for the home boys by game’s end.
“He’s been our backbone the whole series and the first period as well,” Lipon said. “We kind of expect it from him now but we have to help him out a little bit more.”
Cheveldave, who finished with 33 stops, made timely saves all game, including a diving save on Kelowna defenceman Madison Bowey earlier in the overtime period.
“If he doesn’t make that save,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said, “the momentum has changed completely.”
As things turned out, Charron added, “The momentum is still on our side with that win in overtime.”
“He made the saves, the timely ones,” Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska said of Cheveldave. “Even the one in overtime . . . he made timely saves tonight.”
The same couldn’t be said of Kelowna starter Jordon Cooke, who was beaten three times on 11 shots in the first period. He was replaced by Whistle to start the second period.
“We need our guy to bounce back,” Huska said.
The Blazers escaped from that first period with a 3-2 lead, despite being outshot 19-11. The five goals were scored in a span of 6:33, which was more than enough to put a buzz into the crowd.
The Rockets then outscored their hosts 2-1 in the second period, forging a 4-4 tie going into the third, which was scoreless.
The Blazers got a stellar evening from captain Dylan Willick, who had two goals and an assist, with Ranford and Kale Kessy also scoring.
Former Blazers forward J.T. Barnett, who had missed the last eight games due to illness, scored twice for Kelowna, with Ryan Olsen and Cole Martin also scoring.
The Rockets, still without four injured regulars and the suspended Tyson Baillie, their leading scorer, definitely outskated the Blazers for much of this game.
“I liked the way we played for the most part,” Huska said. “This was our best game of the series. Getting J.T. back was a big help for us; I thought his energy was really good.
“And I thought we were more physical tonight and we have to continue that in the series.”
Charron didn’t especially like his team’s start. In fact, he didn’t like much about his team’s game until the overtime.
“I thought in OT it was the most energy I saw collectively,” Charron said. “During the game, I don’t think we were working collectively. As they say, good teams find ways . . . so I guess we’re a good team.
“But we’re going to have to be much better and I believe we can be.”
JUST NOTES: The attendance was 4,305. . . . Lipon, with 19 points in nine games, is the only WHLer to have at least a point in each of his team’s playoff games. . . . The Blazers were 1-for-6 on the power play and that included a 5-on-3 for 1:17 in the second period. . . . Kelowna was 0-for-4. . . . Kelowna D Mitchell Wheaton, playing in his third game since coming back from a shoulder injury, left favouring his right shoulder at 17:38 of the second period. He did return for the third. . . . The Daily News Three Stars — 1. Willick: Getting better and better; 2. Martin: Played big; 3. Cheveldave: Gave up four but it could have been 10. . . . The Blazers were without F Colin Smith for a second straight game. He is believed to have a concussion after a hit by Baillie early in the second period of Game 1. Baillie has served his two-game suspension, so is eligible to return tonight. . . . The entire series is being shown by Shaw TV. . . . Ranford has been named the WHL and CHL player of the week after putting up eight points in three games. . . . Former WHL referee Darren Loraas was in the house as a league supervisor.

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There has been some controversy in the second-round series between the Kamloops Blazers and Kelowna Rockets.
On Sunday, the WHL suspended Kelowna F Tyson Baillie – length to be determined – for an unpenalized Game 1 hit on which Kamloops F Colin Smith was injured. The hit occurred early in the second period Saturday and Smith didn’t return. He was re-evaluated Sunday and kept out of the game.
The Blazers claim Baillie’s hit was late; the Rockets say Baillie caught Smith with his head down.
“Skating with the puck,” writes Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier, “Smith cut towards the middle of the ice, then took a shot. Baillie then swooped in and hit Smith, who was looking towards the Rockets’ net.
“It was a grey-area hit, that was technically clean, yet also borderline late. Regardless, Smith is out with an undisclosed injury — possibly a concussion as it looked like his head hit the ice hard after the collision — and the length of Baillie’s suspension is yet to be determined."
Kamloops head coach Guy Charron told Potenteau that Smith’s injury is “a day-to-day scenario. After being examined by a doctor, it was felt that he wouldn’t take part in the game. You have to respect those things; I don’t think he was 100 per cent; it wouldn’t have been fair to put him in that situation, so that’s where it’s at, at this point. He’ll be reevaluated as we move along.”
Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ president and general manager, told Potenteau:
“There’s no doubt in (the Blazers’ mind) it was a late hit. It was point-six of a second after (Smith) got rid of the puck. To me, I’m all for the penalties and suspensions when guys are vulnerable and when they’re hit from behind or blows to the head. You can control that. This, to me, isn’t what they’re doing.
“If you’re coming across the middle with your head down and the other guy is coming straight at you, he’s at as much risk (to injury) as you are. The check was right into his shoulder, and I feel bad that he’s hurt, but, in my day, if you came across the middle and had your head down, somebody
got you, all the time.
“The rules have changed that whenever somebody’s hurt, something happens.”
Smith has 11 points in seven playoff games after putting up 106 in 72 regular-season games. He hadn’t missed a game since early January of 2010; in fact, he had played in 273 consecutive regular-season and playoff games.
Baillie leads the Rockets in goals (7) and points (12) in these playoffs.
———
On the topic of suspensions, F Matt Bellerive of the Red Deer Rebels isn’t expected to play tonight in Game 3 against the visiting Calgary Hitmen. He has been hit with a ‘tbd’ suspension for a kneeing major he incurred in Game 2 on Friday in Calgary. . . . Greg Meachem of the Red Deer Advocate reports that the Rebels are exected to dress F Adam Musil, a first-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft, tonight, and also will use F Scott Feser. . . .
———
F Grant Besse, a senior at Benilde-St. Margaret, has been honoured with the Mr. Hockey award in Minnesota. The award, presented by the Minnestoa Minute Men, is for the top high school senior hockey player in the state. . . . Besse, 18, had 76 points, including 48 goals, in 28 regular-season and playoff games. . . . Besse, who has committed to attend the U of Wisconsin, is on the Kamloops Blazers’ college list. Interestingly, he attended the same school as F Alex Baer, who left early and joined the Vancouver Giants late in their season. . . . Besse now is with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. He has four goals in seven games.
———

The WHL’s playoff situation:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
SECOND ROUND
Edmonton (1) vs. Medicine Hat (7)
(Edmonton leads, 2-0; Game 2, Tuesday, in Medicine Hat)
Calgary (3) vs. Red Deer (4)
(Calgary leads, 2-0; Game 3, tonight, in Red Deer)
———
WESTERN CONFERENCE
SECOND ROUND
Portland (1) vs. Spokane (4)
(Portland leads 2-0; Game 3, Tuesday, in Spokane)
Kelowna (2) vs. Kamloops (3)
(Kamloops leads 2-0; Game 3, Tuesday, in Kamloops)
———
SUNDAY’S GAMES:
In Kelowna, the Kamloops Blazers scored the game’s last five goals and beat the Rockets, 5-1. . . . F Myles Bell gave Kelowna a 1-0 lead at 1:35 of the first period, via the PP. . . . Kamloops F Brendan Ranford tied the score at 3:11, with his third first-period goal in two games. . . . Blazers F Dylan Willick broke the tie at 9:47 of the second, on a PP. . . . Kamloops F Kale Kessy scored his eighth goal of these playoffs in the third period. He trails only Portland Winterhawks F Ty Rattie, who has nine. . . . Kamloops F Aaron Macklin, who scored one goal in 62 regular-season games, added his second goal in two nights. . . . Ranford also had an assist, giving him four points in the two games. . . . He has 14 points in eight playoff games; last season, he finished with 14 points in 11 postseason games. . . . After getting D Mitchell Wheaton (shoulder) back for Game 1, the Rockets had F Carter Rigby (shoulder, foot) back for Game 2. Not that long ago both players were considered to be out for the season. . . . The Rockets also dressed D Dalton Yorke, 16, from Maple Ridge. He played this season for the Vancouver North East Chiefs, putting up 20 points and 122 penalty minutes in 40 games. . . .

In Edmonton, G Laurent Brossoit stopped 33 shots as the Oil Kings beat the Medicine Hat Tigers, 2-0. . . . You want hot? Brossoit has three shutouts in seven games in these playoffs. He is 6-1, 0.69, .972. . . . Brossoit has five playoff shutouts in his career. . . . Medicine Hat held an 18-3 edge in second-period shots but wasn’t able to score. . . . The Oil Kings scored two power-play goals, with F Henrik Samuellson scoring at 6:04 of the first and D Cody Corbett getting the second one at 1:56 of the third. . . . Tigers G Cam Lanigan stopped 32 shots. . . . The Tigers were 0-for-7 on the PP. According to Sean Rooney of the Medicine Hat News, “The Oil Kings haven’t given up a goal to Medicine Hat on special teams since Feb. 20, 2012 — a stretch of 44 chances.” . . . In these playoffs, the Oil Kings have yet to surrender a power-play goal in 33 opportunities over seven games.
———
CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT (13):
D Landon Cross, Kamloops

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT (5):
None
———

From Andrew Weiss (@WeissFC): “In wake of Coach Gwozdecky’s departure, NTDP U18s Gage Ausmus has decomitted from Denver.”
Ausmus, who turns 18 on April 22, is from East Grand Forks, Minn., and is on the Calgary Hitmen’s protected list.

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THE MacBETH REPORT:
Frölunda Gothenburg (Sweden, Elitserien) announced they won’t offer a new contract to F Fredrik Sjöström (Calgary, 2001-03). Sjöström had five goals and five assists in 50 games this season. . . .



Ingolstadt (Germany, DEL) announced that they won’t offer new contracts to D Craig Weller (Kootenay, 2000-02) and D Chris Heid (Spokane, 1998-2003). Weller had one assist in 34 games and Heid had one goal in 38 games for Ingolstadt this season.
———


F Kale Kessy of the Kamloops Blazers has signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers. Kessy, 20, was a fourth-round selection by the Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL’s 2011 draft. The Oilers acquired him last week in exchange for F Tobias Rieder of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. . . . This season, his fifth in the WHL, Kessy has played with the Medicine Hat Tigers (two games), Vancouver Giants (27) and Kamloops (31). He finished with 41 points, including 21 goals. . . . He scored seven goals, including two hat tricks, in the Blazers’ six-game first-round playoff victory over the Victoria Royals.
———

The WHL’s playoff situation:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
SECOND ROUND
Edmonton (1) vs. Medicine Hat (7)
(Edmonton leads, 1-0; Game 2, today, in Edmonton)
Calgary (3) vs. Red Deer (4)
(Calgary leads, 2-0; Game 3, Monday, in Red Deer)
———
WESTERN CONFERENCE
SECOND ROUND
Portland (1) vs. Spokane (4)
(Portland leads 2-0; Game 3, Tuesday, in Spokane)
Kelowna (2) vs. Kamloops (3)
(Kamloops leads 1-0; Game 2, today, in Kelowna)
———
SATURDAY’S GAMES:
In Kelowna, F Brendan Ranford scored two first-period goals and the Kamloops Blazers went on to a 4-2 victory over the Rockets. . . . It was the first time in these playoffs that Kelowna lost in regulation time. Kelowna lost three times in OT during a seven-game first-round victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Ranford opened the scoring 30 seconds into the first period and the Blazers were never caught. . . . Kamloops outshot the Rockets 18-3 and outscored them 3-0 in the first period. . . . Kelowna’s penalty kill, which was 27-for-27 against Seattle, surrendered two PP goals in the first period. . . . Kamloops lost F Colin Smith, who was its leading regular-season scorer with 106 points, after he took a hit from F Tyson Baillie two minutes into the second period. Smith went to the dressing room and didn’t return. He will be re-evaluated today. . . . Baillie wasn’t penalized. . . . The Rockets had D Mitchell Wheaton back in the lineup. He had been out since Jan. 25 with a shoulder problem. Originally, it was though that he would need surgery, but that obviously hasn’t happened. . . . Kamloops F JC Lipon drew two assists and now leads the playoff scoring race with 16 points, one more than Portland F Ty Rattie. . . . The Blazers also got two assists from Matt Needham. . . . Kamloops F Aaron Macklin, a freshman from High River, Alta., who turned 18 on Jan. 17, scored his first WHL playoff goal on a first-period PP. He had one goal in 62 regular-season games. . . . F Henrik Nyberg had a goal and an assist for Kelowna. . . . Kamloops G Cole Cheveldave stopped 21 shots, eight fewer than Kelowna’s Jordon Cooke. . . . The entire Kamloops-Kelowna series is being televised by Shaw. . . .

In Portland, G Mac Carruth stopped 27 shots as the Winterhawks blanked the Spokane Chiefs, 3-0. . . . Carruth set two records with the shutout and the victory. He had been tied with former Red Deer Rebels G Cam Ward for the record for most playoff victories. Carruth now holds that record, with 39. . . . This was Carruth’s fourth career playoff shutout, giving him Portland’s franchise record. He had been tied with Lanny Ramage. . . . F Chase De Leo’s goal at 13:17 of the first period stood up as the winner. . . . F Brendan Leipsic had a goal and an assist, with F Ty Rattie getting two assists. . . . Spokane G Eric Williams made 40 saves. . . . Paul Buker of The Oregonian was there and his report is right here.
———
CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT (12):
None

CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT (5):
None
———






Three observers with comments after Kamloops-Kelowna game . . .

Patrick King (@SNPatrickKing): “So Bowey gets a penalty I can’t comprehend and Baillie doesn’t for a late hit on Smith? Having a hard time seeing some consistency here . . .”
———
From Alan Caldwell (@smallatlarge): “same refs from the RDR/CGY game last night. The ones who needed video replay to see a major penalty that wasn’t there.”
———
From Regan Bartel (@Reganrant): “I’m not a fan of Matt Kirk. Seems to stick it to team that dispues a call. Veteran guy with no feel for the game.”

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