Lipon, Jets cut a deal

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
With less than a week remaining before JC Lipon opens his first official NHL training camp, he admitted to being "a little nervous."
The freshly signed contract in his back pocket certainly will help.
Lipon signed a two-way deal with the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, nearly two months to the day after the Jets selected him in the third round of the NHL draft. The deal, a three-year entry-level contract, has an average annual value of $700,000, according to a Jets news release.
Lipon, 20, is still eligible to return for a fifth season with the WHL's Kamloops Blazers, although his signing makes it a little less likely. It all depends on how he performs at the Jets' prospects camp, which opens Thursday and will include the Vancouver Canucks 2013 Young Stars Classic Tournament from Sept. 6-9.
Lipon attended a Jets' development camp this summer, but never has been to a preseason camp such as next week's.
"I'm a little nervous," admitted Lipon, a right-winger. "But I gained a lot of confidence from last season and from going through the world junior camp."
You bet he did.
Lipon, a late bloomer, enjoyed a 65-point season in 2011-12, after picking up a total of 34 points the previous two seasons. But he really came into his own in 2012-13, scoring 36 goals and assisting on 53 others in only 61 games.
Although he wasn't on anyone's radar heading into the season, he made Team Canada for the world junior championship in Ufa, Russia, as Canada finished fourth. It was a wild season that ended with the Jets calling his name in the third round — this, after he was passed over in the two previous drafts.
Now, he is signed, and facing the prospect of playing professionally next season. Making the Jets is a long-shot, but it's not unreasonable to think he could end up with their AHL affiliate, the St. John's IceCaps.
He has a lot on his mind — but having the contract signed already takes some of the stress away.
"Now I'm not worried about it, not that you should be worried about it," Lipon said. "But sometimes it does creep into your mind, so I'm glad it's done with."
The Jets will play three games at the Young Stars Classic — they will meet the San Jose Sharks' prospects on Sept. 6, the Edmonton Oilers' prospects on Sept. 7, and the Vancouver Canucks' prospects on Sept. 9.
The Jets open their main camp on Sept. 11.
———
No one really knows whether Lipon and Colin Smith will be back with the Blazers.
Smith, a 2012 draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche, also has signed an NHL contract, so could play in its system. Smith, 20, is off to Denver next week for rookie camp, which opens Sept. 8.
But both Smith and Lipon are eligible for another season with the Blazers.
“We’re moving forward without them,” Blazers head coach Dave Hunchak told The Daily News on Wednesday. “If we get them back, great.
“Our plan is to move forward without them. Those are big holes we need to plug somehow. Veteran guys need to step in.”
———
The Blazers have made Cole Kehler their backup goaltender.
Kamloops announced after Wednesday night's Blue-White intrasquad game that it had reassigned six players, including goaltenders Liam McLeod and Cameron Pateman. That leaves Taran Kozun, the starter, and Kehler to lead the team into the preseason.
Kehler, who is to turn 16 on Dec. 17, was selected by the Blazers in the sixth round, 123rd overall, in the 2012 bantam draft. He spent 2012-13 with the Altona Aces of the Manitoba High School League, going 2-14 with a 4.27 GAA and .864 save percentage.
McLeod, a Kamloops native, spent 2012-13 with the BCHL's Prince George Spruce Kings, while Pateman played with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians last season.
———
The Blazers also reassigned two 15-year-old players — defenceman Dawson Davidson of Moosomin, Sask., and Jermaine Loewen of Arborg, Man. Both players were third-round selections in May's bantam draft.
Cameron Trott, a 16-year-old defenceman from Burnaby, and Laramie Kostelansky, a 16-year-old forward from Fort McLeod, Alta., also were reassigned on Wednesday.
The moves leave the Blazers with 30 players on their roster, including Smith and Lipon.
Of the 28 players on the preseason roster, 17 are forwards, nine are defencemen and two are goaltenders. The Blazers likely will trim the roster to around 23 before the regular season starts on Sept. 20.
———
The Blazers also announced Thursday that forward Nathan Looysen, 17, has signed a standard WHL contract.
Looysen, from Saanichton, spent last season with the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. He had 23 points, including 10 goals, in 27 games. The Blazers listed the 6-foot-1, 187-pounder in November.
———
The Blazers will open the preseason tonight against the Rockets in Kelowna.
Kamloops will be at home to the Vancouver Giants on Sunday, 6 p.m., at Interior Savings Centre. The Rockets and Giants will play in Ladner on Saturday night.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca

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Blazers' Blue-White game on tap tonight

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers are getting down to the nitty gritty.
And things will get nittier and grittier tonight as the WHL team holds its annual Blue-White intrasquad game, 7 p.m., at the Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers have 39 players left in training camp. Most of them took part in a controlled scrimmage on Tuesday night, the exceptions being five veterans — forwards Tim Bozon, JC Lipon, Matt Needham and Colin Smith, along with goaltender Taran Kozun.
All hands are expected to be on deck tonight, however.
“The two games will tell the tale for some of the players,” head coach Dave Hunchak said. “It allows us to give a real good evaluation to those kids who are on the bubble.”
While the microscope is on everyone, it is especially on Cole Kehler of Altona, Man., Liam McLeod of Kamloops and Cameron Pateman of Regina, who are competing to back up starting goaltender Taran Kozun.
Each played two periods last night — Teams Black and Orange played 5-on-5 in the first, 4-on-4 in the second and alternated special teams in the third — and it is quite possible that Kehler, who doesn’t turn 16 until Dec. 17, has the edge on the two 17-year-olds going into tonight’s intrasquad game.
However, the highlight of training camp, at least to now, may well be the team’s 1998-born players.
As Hunchak said: “The ’98 group, the forwards we have, that’s a special group of kids.”
That group is headed up by two first-round selections from the 2013 bantam draft — Quinn Benjafield of North Vancouver, whom the Blazers took with the 19th overall pick, and Jake Kryski of Vancouver, the 11th overall pick who was acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders in the Cole Cheveldave exchange — and Jermaine Loewen of Arborg,  Man., who was a third-round selection.
“Benjafield is a strong power forward,” Hunchak said. “Kryski has a lot of skill and plays a great 200-foot game. And just look at Jermaine Lowewne and the package he brings. He’s going to be something special down the road, too.”
Hunchak also pointed to Garrett Pilon, another 1998-born forward. From Saskatoon, the son of former NHL defenceman Rich Pilon was taken in the seventh round.
“Pilon looks like he’s playing pond hockey all the time,” Hunchak said, “and I mean that in a good way. He always looks like he’s enjoying the game and having fun.”
After last night’s scrimmage, Pilon was assigned to the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts.
It’s not known what the forward lines will look like tonight, but Loewen, Kryski and Benjafield, left to right, were on the ice together a fair amount last night. It’s fair to say that they created some magic.
JUST NOTES: Team Orange beat Team Black 8-7 in a shootout last night. Nick Chyzowski had two goals, plus the shootout winner. Kryski and Joe Kornelsen also scored twice for Orange, while Nathan Looysen and Chase Souto each scored twice for Black. . . . The Blazers also assigned F Spencer Bast of Macklin, Sask., to the midget AAA Battlefords Stars and F Josh Stang, who also is from Macklin, to the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires. . . . The WHL’s exhibition season began last night with the host Swift Current Broncos beating the Moose Jaw Warriors, 5-4. . . . The Blazers meet the Rockets in Kelowna on Friday and then are at home to the Vancouver Giants on Sunday, 6 p.m. . . . D Connor Hamonic, 17, of Winnipeg, a seventh-round pick by the Blazers in 2011, was released by the Red Deer Rebels yesterday. . . .
F Max James, 16, of Kamloops has signed a WHL deal with the Tri-City Americans, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2012 bantam draft. James had 12 points in 40 games with the major midget Thompson Blazers last season. . . . Pat Mangold, who played for the WHL Blazers in 1984-85, was killed Saturday evening on Okanagan Lake near Kelowna when the personal watercraft on which he was riding struck a log boom near Traders Cove. Mangold, 47, was a native of Kelowna, who also played in the WHL with the Calgary Wranglers. With the Blazers, he had 20 points, nine of them goals, in 53 games.

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Kozun moves into starter's role with Blazers

Taran Kozun, the Kamloops Blazers' starting goaltender, shares a chuckle
with a teammate prior to a Monday afternoon scrimmage.
(Hugo Yuen / Kamloops Daily News)

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
If Taran Kozun wanted a vote of confidence from the Kamloops Blazers' coaching staff, he got it on July 10.
Kozun is the Blazers' No. 1 goaltender as camp continues today at Interior Savings Centre. He got the starting job in the middle of the summer, when Kamloops traded Cole Cheveldave, its starter, to the Prince Albert Raiders.
Cheveldave was excellent in his two seasons in Kamloops, and leaves some big shoes to fill.
"I believe (Kozun) can do the job," said Blazers head coach Dave Hunchak after Monday scrimmages wrapped up. "That's the reason we made the trade with Cole. Taran's a guy we feel can step right in and do the job."
Kozun admitted that he was a little surprised at the Cheveldave deal, in which the Blazers received prospect forward Jake Kryski, but mostly because of its timing. It was expected that the Blazers would trade either Cheveldave, who is going into his 20-year-old season, or Kozun, who is two days shy of his 19th birthday.
Cheveldave got a trade, and Kozun got a promotion.
"I was excited to hear that they were giving me the opportunity to take over," said Kozun, a native of Nipawin, Sask. "I'm just going to go out and try to stop shots and keep performing."
Since the Blazers listed him early in 2010, Kozun has done everything asked of him.
He came to camp in August 2010, but chose to leave after the Blue-White Game because he didn't feel ready to play at the WHL level. He spent the 2010-11 season with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos.
He came back to battle for the open starting position before the 2011-12 season, but lost out to Cheveldave and Cam Lanigan. After spending 2011-12 with the SJHL's Nipawin Hawks, going 5-10-1, with a 3.30 GAA and .904 save percentage, he finally cracked the Blazers' roster in 2012-13, serving as Cheveldave's backup.
He was solid when needed, appearing in 20 games, going 11-4-1, 2.36, .914. He also had two shutouts, including a 31-save effort in his final start, a 7-0 victory over the Prince George Cougars on March 16.
"It's a little different, this time at camp," Kozun admitted, "but knowing all the guys here really helps. You feel like you're part of the team — but you still have to work, you still have to make saves and you still have to compete for your spot on the team."
Kozun spent the summer working construction with his dad and training in Nipawin. Each week, he drove the 270 kilometres to Saskatoon to work on his skating.
The goal was to get stronger — something that will come in handy with Kozun facing the prospect of playing some 50 or 60 games this season. He played 35 games with the Mintos three seasons ago, but has appeared in fewer than 40 since.
"I did a lot of off-ice stuff . . . to get my strength up," he said. "They say playing all those games is harder on you, but I think if you have a good mindset and don't get too upset, you'll be OK."
Hunchak spoke of that — the need for Kozun to keep things on an even keel, not getting to low or too high during a season that will provide its fair share of peaks and valleys.
"He has to be consistent day in and day out," Hunchak said. "With his practices and his games, we need to see the same Taran all the time, and I think that's something that he's learned over the last year.
"His mindset needs to change and he has to understand that every day he has to be the best player he can be."
Kozun agreed with that.
"When everything's going good you can't get too cocky out there," he said. "If something happens, all of the sudden you lose confidence. You've got to keep going, keep battling. It's not always going to go your way."
Kozun is the only sure thing in the Blazers' goal at this time.
The Blazers brought six backup hopefuls to camp, and three remain — 16-year-old Cole Kehler of Altona, Man., and 17-year-olds Liam McLeod of Kamloops and Cameron Pateman of Regina. In all likelihood, one of these goalies is going to be backing up Kozun this season.
"They're all very even, and they're all different goaltenders," Hunchak said. "We've got an interesting battle there, and it's going to be a tough decision."
The coaches aren't looking simply for someone to open and close the gate during games, however.
"We need to find the guy who's going to do the job," Hunchak said, "not only in the backup role, but maybe pushing Taran and try to take his position."
JUST NOTES: The Blazers trimmed their roster by 18 on Monday, leaving them with 39 players heading into today's action. A complete roster is in Scoreboard. . . . The remaining players are divided into teams — Orange will be on the ice for a 9:15 a.m., practice, with Black on at 10:30 a.m. The teams will play in a controlled scrimmage at 7 p.m. — it is open to the public, and free. . . . Returning Blazers F Colin Smith, JC Lipon, Tim Bozon and Matt Needham and Kozun won't play in tonight's scrimmage, but are to play in the Blue-White Game on Wednesday, 7 p.m. . . . Six scrimmages were played Monday: Smith, Mitch Lipon, Nathan Looysen and Eric Krienke scored as Black beat White, 4-2. Bozon and Dexter Robinson scored for White, which went on to beat Black 1-0 on a goal by Joe Kornelsen. . . . Orange defeated Black twice, 2-1 and 2-1. Jermaine Loewen and Nick Chyzowski scored for Orange in the first game, with Mitch Friesen and Devin Oakes counting in the second; Krienke and Looysen had the Black goals. . . . Orange beat White 2-1 in a shootout, with Chyzowski scoring the winner and Oakes singling. Robinson scored for White, which came back to win the rematch, 3-0. Sam Grist had two goals, and Tyler Jeanson scored into the empty net.
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca

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Kozun to open camp as Blazers' starter

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The vacation is over.
Two weeks from today, Dave Hunchak begins his tenure as head coach of the Kamloops Blazers as players begin registering for training camp.
And about all that’s left to do in preparation is to introduce a new assistant coach.
“There will be an announcement in the very near future,” Hunchak said on Wednesday. “Once we figured out who we wanted, there were some logistics that we had to work through. I think we’ve worked through them and there should be an announcement shortly.”
Hunchak, who had been the Blazers’ associate coach, was named head coach on May 15. He takes over from Guy Charron, who remains with the club as an advisor to hockey operations.
Hunchak isn’t a freshman head coach in the WHL. He had been in that position for four seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors before joining the Blazers.
With two weeks to go before camp opens, Hunchak confirmed that Taran Kozun, 19, is the team’s No. 1 goaltender.
That has been the case since the Blazers dealt Cole Cheveldave, the starter for the last two seasons, to the Prince Albert Raiders on July 10.
Kozun, from Nipawn, Sask., has gotten into just 22 WHL games over the last two seasons, 20 of them last season when he went 11-4-3, 2.36, .914.
“Certainly, to start things off, it’s Taran’s position and he needs to become a starting goaltender,” Hunchak said. “I’ve talked to Taran several times since the trade happened. He’s aware of where things are at.”
Hunchak said that all involved are going to have to find out whether the 6-foot-0, 170-pound Kozun is capable of shouldering the load.
“Let’s be honest,” Hunchak stated. “Taran hasn’t been a starter since midget AAA and that’s three years ago. Can he handle the mental stresses of doing it every day?”
Hunchak also promised that “Taran is going to be pushed.”
The coach then rattled off the names of Liam McLeod, a 17-year-old from Kamloops; Cole Kehler, who won’t turn 16 until Dec. 17; Cameron Pateman, 17, of Regina; and Ryan Ternes, a 16-year-old from Calgary.
McLeod was a ninth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft who got into 14 games last season with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. Kehler, from Altona, Man., was taken in the sixth round of the 2012 draft. Pateman and Ternes are list players.
According to Hunchak, Ternes “had a really good second-half last season in Calgary” where he played for a minor midget AAA team.
“The battle for the backup job is going to be really interesting,” Hunchak said. “We’ve got some quality young guys coming in.”
In listening to Hunchak it sounds as though the backup will see some quality playing time, too. Only once, when he was running the Warriors in 2010-11, has Hunchak ridden one horse. Thomas Heemskerk, a 20-year-old, went 36-21-6 in 65 games that season.
“It was based on him being that solid that season,” Hunchak said. “But if you’re going to keep a young goaltender, he has to play. Him just sitting there doesn’t make any sense.”
Once the coaching staff settles on its goaltenders, Hunchak said, the split will be dictated by “how they’re playing.”
Other than that one season, he said, “I’ve never been one to say, ‘OK, you’re the guy. Run with it.’ ”
It seems that the organization might be looking at Kehler, who played high school hockey last season, as the goaltender of the future.
“A guy like Kehler, who is a top-notch goaltender,” Hunchak said, “if we are only going to be able to get him into ‘x’ amount of games . . . it doesn’t make any sense for us to keep him.
“But, again, if he stands on his head and beats the others out, then we’ve got a decision to make.”

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Blazers trade Cheveldave

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
One of Cole Cheveldave’s lasting memories of Kamloops will be the near-daily trek to the Interior Savings Centre.
“I’ll always remember driving to the rink over the Red Bridge,” Cheveldave said Wednesday from his home in Calgary.
Cheveldave, the Kamloops Blazers’ starting goaltender the past two seasons, was traded to the Prince Albert Raiders yesterday. The Blazers also sent a 2015 fourth-round WHL bantam draft pick to the Raiders in exchange for 15-year-old forward Jake Kryski and a 2014 seventh-round selection.
Few players have been as valuable to their teams as Cheveldave has been to the Blazers over the past two seasons. He has been one of the big reasons for the team’s big turnaround, taking them from an also-ran to a front-runner.
But, with Taran Kozun heading into his 19-year-old season and Cheveldave now 20, the Blazers decided to make a move.
“There was some talk (about a trade) at the end of the season, so it’s not as big a shock,” Cheveldave said. “But it’s still pretty surprising. I would have liked to have been a Blazer for my last season.”
Kozun, a native of Nipawin, Sask., who played midget in Prince Albert, started two games with the Blazers early in 2011-12 before being sent to the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks. Last season, he played in 20 games, going 11-4-3, 2.36, .914.
Beyond Kozun, the Blazers’ goaltending picture is a little murky. There are some prospects — Cameron Pateman of Regina and Kamloops’ Liam McLeod are going into their 17-year-old seasons, while Ryan Ternes of Cochrane, Alta., and Cole Kehler of Altona, Man., are both 16 years old — but none of those goaltenders has played a WHL game.
Where Cheveldave ended up, however, is a team on the rise. Prince Albert went 37-28-7 last season, good for fifth in the Eastern Conference, but lost starting goaltender Luke Siemens, who has used up his junior eligibility.
“I’m pretty excited about where I’m going,” Cheveldave said. “They’re an older team and it should be a good year.”
The Raiders, who have a new head coach in Cory Clouston, are feeling the same way as Cheveldave.
“If you don’t think you have an opportunity to contend or be very, very competitive, you’re not going to do this deal,” Raiders general manager Bruno Campese told Perry Bergson of the Prince Albert Daily Herald. “We feel that we have an opportunity to be very competitive this year.”
Although the Blazers gave up a lot, they got a top prospect in Kryski, whom the Raiders took with the 13th selection in May’s bantam draft. Kryski played last season with the Burnaby Winter Club, picking up 118 points, including 59 goals, in 58 games. The 6-foot-0, 170-pounder also was plus-96.
“It’s going to be expensive any way you look at it, whether it’s draft picks or a player or whatever,” Campese told Bergson. “We liked Jake as a player, we drafted him high.”
Cheveldave came to the Blazers in 2011 after winning the Alberta Junior Hockey League rookie-of-the-year award with the Drumheller Dragons in 2010-11. Kamloops had listed Cheveldave earlier that season.
When he came to camp in 2011, he was expected to fight for the starting role — in reality, there wasn’t much of a fight, as Cheveldave became Kamloops’ everyday goalie less than a month into the season. He went 34-11-5 in 2011-12 and led the Blazers to their first division title in a decade. Kamloops also won a playoff series for the first time this millennium. Cheveldave was injured early in a second-round series and wasn’t able to finish the playoffs.
The Blazers surpassed that last season, making it to the Western Conference final before falling to the Portland Winterhawks, who went on to win the WHL title.
And while Cheveldave won’t get to drive the Red Bridge any more — he now will get the chance to cross the North Saskatchewan River on the Diefenbaker Bridge, named after former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker — Cheveldave will still have his memories.
“Even though I wasn’t on the ice for it, that comeback in the 2011-12 playoffs against Portland . . .” Cheveldave said. “Down 3-0 and to come all the way back, it was great.
“And then this year’s playoff run. That was definitely a high of my time there.
“So many memories . . .”
———
Perry Bergson of the Prince Albert Daily Herald has more on this trade right here.

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Inglis blazes way to Kamloops

CHARLES INGLIS
(Red Deer Rebels photo)

 By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers have added the enigmatic Charles Inglis to their roster.
Inglis, 20, was sent home to Saskatoon by Brent Sutter, the owner/general manager/interim head coach of the Red Deer Rebels last week to await a trade.
That trade occurred Monday morning when the Blazers surrendered a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2015 WHL bantam draft.
WHL teams rarely reveal what constitutes such ‘conditions’ but, in this case, it could be that the draft pick changes hands only if Inglis remains on the Blazers’ roster after the WHL trade deadline of Jan. 10.
WHL teams are allowed to have three 20-year-olds on their rosters. Inglis replaces right-winger Jordan DePape, who ended his WHL career on Saturday because of right shoulder problems. DePape has returned to Winnipeg and will have surgery on Nov. 26. Dr. Peter MacDonald, who did reconstructive surgery on DePape’s left shoulder a year ago, will handle this one, too.
Inglis, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound centre, has played with three other WHL teams and been traded three times.
The Saskatoon Blades selected him with the fourth overall pick in the 2007 bantam draft. He played two full seasons with the Blades, recording 37 points in 64 games in the second one (2009-10), before he was dealt to the Prince George Cougars for a second-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft.
He had 60 points, including 32 goals, in 69 games with the Cougars in 2010-11. But 16 games into last season – and following a game in Kamloops – Cougars management tired of his off-ice indiscretions and sent him home to await a trade.
Inglis said he was “happy to get out of Prince George,” saying that he felt he wasn’t treated fairly. The Cougars chose not to comment.
Inglis ended up in Red Deer – the Cougars got back forward Daulton Siwak and a 2012 third-round draft pick – and put up 26 points in 36 games. This season, he led the Rebels in goals (11) and points (14) when Sutter sent him home last week.
“I’m more than excited,” Inglis said Monday afternoon. “This is a great opportunity and I’m really looking forward to it.
Asked what happened in Red Deer, he replied: “I’m not too sure. Brent said they were playing younger guys . . . I likely wouldn’t have played Saturday (in a 2-1 victory over the visiting Swift Current Broncos).
“I was doing my best and I worked hard. In Red Deer, I did everything they asked. I took on a leadership role . . . things just didn‘t work out.”
Sutter appeared on The Pipeline Show on Saturday. When asked about Inglis’s departure from Red Deer, Sutter replied:
“Well I'll put it this way. At this point in time he was the leading goal scorer on the team, he was the leading scorer on the team and when a general manager has to send him home . . . I don't think I need to say any more than that."
Inglis is scheduled to practise with the Blazers today and could be in the lineup Wednesday against the visiting Regina Pats. It is expected that he will play centre with Brendan Ranford on the left side and perhaps Joe Kornelsen opening on right wing.
“That would be good,” Inglis said of playing with Ranford. “He and I could have some good chemistry.”
———
Lost in the departure of DePape on Saturday night was Kornelsen’s debut.
The Blazers acquired Kornelsen on Friday, sending a fifth-round selection in the 2013 WHL bantam draft to the Calgary Hitmen in exchange.
Kornelsen was in the Blazers’ lineup, playing mostly on a line with  Ranford and Matt Needham, for a 5-4 shootout victory over Prince George at Interior Savings Centre on Saturday. He also took a regular turn killing penalties.
“My first period wasn’t very good . . . nerves,” Kornelsen admitted later. “I thought I started playing better in the second and third.”
After that shaky first 20 minutes, the native of Abbotsford settled down and turned in a workmanlike effort. In 188 career regular-season WHL games, he has 62 points, including 24 goals. This season, he has yet to score, with four assists in 19 games.
This was the second trade of Kornelsen’s career. On Oct. 26, 2011, he and defenceman Collin Bowman, along with a 2012 fourth-round bantam draft pick, went to the Hitmen with the Warriors getting forwards Justin Kirsch and Kenton Miller.
“This (trade) is different because the last time I got traded it was with a teammate,” Kornelsen said. “This one, I’m on my own.”
However, he added, “it’s nice knowing” a couple of his new teammates.
Kornelsen and winger Rob Trzonkowski, who was acquired over the summer, were teammates in Calgary, and Kornelsen and centre Colin Smith were roommates with Team Pacific at the U17 World Hockey Challenge three years ago.
Kornelsen also is familiar with Kamloops associate coach Dave Hunchak, who was the head coach in Moose Jaw when he played there. As well, assistant trainer Jan Antons worked with the Hitmen last season.
Kornelsen didn’t dress for his last game with the Hitmen, a 4-0 loss to the visiting Kootenay Ice on Nov. 13. The next day, the Hitmen revealed that forward Victor Rask, 19, a 33-goal man last season, was on his way back from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
“I got scratched the night before he got sent back so I kind of knew something was up,” Kornelsen said.
———
The Blazers unveiled a new look to their power play during Saturday’s victory over the Cougars.
During their 14-game winning streak, the Blazers got a lot of mileage out of a formation that would culminate with someone, usually left-winger Tim Bozon, getting great chances off a play to him at opposing goaltender’s blind side.
But as that winning streak wound down, teams started to take away that play. Which is how the Blazers came to go 1-for-23 in losing five of six games.
In winning their last two games, they went 2-for-8, scoring once with the man advantage in each game.
On Saturday, the Blazers, with the puck in the offensive zone, had a defenceman start the power play on the point and then go to the front of the net. It worked on their third goal — Cole Ully’s second of the game gave them a 3-2 lead early in the third period — when Sam Grist charged from the blue-line to screen Prince George goaltender Mac Engel.
———
The Blazers are expected to start goaltender Cole Cheveldave Wednesday against the Pats, who will be playing their fourth game in six nights — and second in two nights — on this B.C. tour. Regina spent Monday travelling from Victoria to Prince George for a game tonight.
Cheveldave was good in Friday’s 6-4 victory over the visiting Portland Winterhawks, although he felt he had some problems with rebound control.
Against Prince George, head coach Guy Charron said, Cheveldave “didn’t have one of his better games. (He gave up) a couple of goals along the ice and those are the goals that usually aren’t scored against him.”
Cheveldave also got help in the shootout when Zach Pochiro put a shot off the crossbar and Alex Forsberg hit the outside of a post.
In the end, though, Cheveldave, a 19-year-old sophomore, got the victory. He is 8-0-0 against the Cougars.
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Even though Saturday’s game was in doubt until right-winger JC Lipon won it in the fourth round of the shootout — and Cheveldave stopped forward Jordan Tkatch — the Blazers’ offence showed that it is out of its slump.
In the second period, the Blazers had 16 shots on goal. More importantly, Charron said his side had 15 scoring chances.
“I thought their goaltender played exceptionally well,” Charron said.  “With 15 scoring chances in the second period, what can I say? The puck didn’t go in. We played against a hot goaltender.”
Early in the second period, Engel came across to take an apparent empty net away from Bozon, who didn’t let up as he rifled the puck on what he must have thought would be his 16th goal. Instead, the puck ended up in Engel’s big trapper.
Bozon, gritting his teeth, could only skate into a corner, muttering to himself.
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JUST NOTES: After Wednesday, the Blazers will be at home to the Saskatoon Blades on Friday and the Vancouver Giants on Saturday. . . . Lipon goes into this week with the WHL lead in goals (21) and points (50). C Colin Smith has the lead in assists (33) and is second in points (49). . . . Bozon is tied for fourth, with 36 points. . . . Smith was named the WHL’s player of the week on Monday, the second time this season he has won the honour. . . . The Blazers have added G Cameron Pateman, 16, to their protected list. From Regina, he is 4-2-2, 1.23, .937 with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians. Two other players off that team – F Jayden Halbgewachs and F Mitch Lipon, JC’s younger brother – also are on the Blazers’ list.

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