Giants happy with Noel . . . Ice stuns Silvertips . . . Thunderbirds derail Chiefs

F Radek Meidl (Seattle, Tri-City, 2006-08) has signed a contract with Prostějov (Czech Republic, 1. Liga). Contract terms weren’t announced. This season, he had nine goals and eight assists in 16 games with Polonia Bytom (Poland, Ekstraliga). . . .
D Jindřich Barák (Red Deer, 2009-10) has signed a contract for the rest of this season with Skalica (Slovakia, Extraliga) after requesting his release from Sparta Prague (Czech Republic, Extraliga). Barák played for Skalica each of the past two seasons. With Sparta this season, he had one goal in 12 games.
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THE COACHING GAME:

The Vancouver Giants have signed Claude Noel as the fifth head coach in franchise history.
The WHL team made the announcement via a press release Sunday evening, during halftime of the Grey Cup, the annual championship game of the Canadian Football League that this year was held in Vancouver.
“We’re excited to have Claude join our organization,” Giants general manager Scott Bonner said in the news release. “He has worked extensively with Ken Hitchcock, who is one of the best coaches in WHL history, and with Claude coming from the NHL, we know he’s one of the top coaches in the world. We’re confident that he can get us back on track.”
Noel attended the Giants' game in Calgary on Saturday night. The Giants snapped a six-game losing skid, beating the Hitmen, 6-3. The Giants next play on Friday when they entertain the Portland Winterhawks.
The news release didn't give any indication of contract length or terms.
The Giants fired head coach Troy Ward on Wednesday. He was 25 games into a three-year contract and had a 9-16-0 record at the time. Assistant coach Matt Erhart was named interim head coach and the Giants were 1-2-0 with him running the bench.
Noel, 59, has twice been an NHL head coach, with the Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets. He was 80-79-18 with the Jets when they fired him in January. During his time in Winnipeg, he coached former Giants like Evander Kane, Spencer Machacek, Kenndal McArdle and James Wright.
In a short stint as the Blue Jackets' head coach in 2009-10, Noel was 10-8-6.
A native of Kirkland Lake, Ont., Noel has a lot of coaching experience but has never been a head coach at the major junior level. He spent two seasons (1988-90) as an assistant coach under head coach Bert Templeton with the OHL's North Bay Centennials.
Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province tries to piece together the Noel hiring right here.
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The BCHL's Victoria Grizzlies are bringing in Craig Didmon to replace general manager and head coach Brad Knight. The move wll be made official today at a news conference. The Grizzlies are 11-10-0-5, good for fourth spot in the Island Division, four points out of third and five points out of second. . . . Didmon, who is taking over on an interim basis, had been with the Grizzlies, but he resigned in June. . . . Independent Sports News has the story right here.
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Bob Woods, the general manager and head coach of the Saskatoon Blades, learned a lesson on Saturday night in Moose Jaw. We'll never know if it may have cost his side a 4-2 loss to the Warriors. . . . Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has the story right here explaining how Blades F Alex Forsberg had to leave a game in the middle of the second period, even though he was healthy and hadn't taken a penalty.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors have released F Linden Penner, a 19-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alta. Penner, who was a 10th-round selection by the Saskatoon Blades in the 2010 bantam draft, had a goal and three assists in 24 games with the Warriors. . . . The Warriors had acquired Penner from the Calgary Hitmen on Sept. 24, giving up a conditional sixth round pick in the 2016 bantam draft. Perhaps the draft pick was payable if Penner was on the Warriors' roster on Dec. 1.
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The Colorado Avalanche have recalled F Colin Smith from the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters and he could make his NHL debut tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. Smith, 21, is from Edmonton. He had 271 points, including 102 goals, in 272 regular-season WHL games with the Kamloops Blazers. The Avalanche selected him in the seventh round of the NHL's 2012 draft. . . . Last season, his first as a pro, he had 34 points, eight of them goals, in 76 games with Lake Erie. This season, he has four goals and seven assists in 16 games.
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F Mason Shaw of the Medicine Hat Tigers won’t play again this season. Ryan McCracken of the Medicine Hat News reports that Shaw “will undergo season-ending surgery this week.” . . . Shaw, a 16-year-old from Lloydminster, Alta., was a second-round pick by the Tigers in the 2013 bantam draft. In his first WHL season, he has three goals and six assists in 23 games.
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SUNDAY’S GAMES:

In Everett, D Tyler King scored at 3:08 of OT as the Kootenay Ice erased a 3-0 deficit and beat the Silvertips, 4-3. . . . Kootenay trailed 3-0 early in the third period when F Tim Bozon scored his ninth goal at 1:35. . . . Ice D Rinat Valiev got his side to within a goal with his fourth goal at 5:40, via a PP. . . . D Tanner Faith scored his first goal of the season at 13:52 of the third to force OT. . . . F Nikita Scherback (bruised thigh) returned to the Everett lineup and had his 12th goal and an assist. . . . The Silvertips also had F Remi Laurencelle (ankle) back in the lineup. . . . Kootenay F Sam Reinhart had his point streak snapped at 10 games. . . . The Ice is 9-2-0 with Reinhart in the lineup. . . . The Ice (13-15-0) has won two in a row. . . . Everett is 16-5-4. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman has more right here on the Ice’s weekend. . . .

In Kent, Wash., the Seattle Thunderbirds scored three PP goals and beat the Spokane Chiefs, 4-1. . . . Only the game's first goal, from Seattle D Turner Ottenbreit, didn't come via the PP. . . . F Ryan Gropp scored twice for Seattle, giving him 12 goals this season. Gropp played six games without a goal after last scoring on Nov. 8. . . . F Justin Hickman had two assists for Seattle. . . . F Calder Brooks had Spokane's lone goal, his 11th. . . . Seattle D Sahvan Khaira gave his side a 3-1 lead with his first goal at 10:03 of the second period. . . . The Thunderbirds scratched F Mathew Barzal (knee) and D Shea Theodore (undisclosed). . . . The Thunderbirds improved to 11-12-4, while the Chiefs (14-8-3) had a five-game winning streak end.
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Just watched a midget game with a total of 9 coaches on the benches. Why is this necessary? #ThreeIsPlenty #Overkill
— Mike Fraser (@MikeFraser29) November 30, 2014

Signings, signings and more signings . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Kenton Smith (Calgary, 1995-2000) signed a two-week tryout contract with the Braehead Clan Glasgow (Scotland, UK Elite). He had three goals and 16 assists in 59 games with the Cardiff Devils (Wales, UK Elite) last season. According to the club, the tryout is to cover a “slight knock” picked up by D Ray Macias (Kamloops, 2002-07). . . .


D Ty Wishart (Prince George, Moose Jaw, 2004-08) signed a one-year contract with the Schwenninger Wild Wings (Germany, DEL). He had seven goals and 17 assists in 62 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) last season.
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All three members of what was at times the best forward line in the WHL last season now have signed NHL contracts. RW JC Lipon of the Kamloops Blazers signed a three-year, two-way entry-level deal with the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday after being a third-round selection in the 2013 draft. . . . Lipon, from Regina, played on a line with C Colin Smith, a seventh-round pick by the Colorado Avalanche in 2012, who has signed, and LW Tim Bozon, a third-round selection by the Montreal Canadiens in 2012, who also has signed. . . . Lipon and Smith both are 20, so are eligible to play in the AHL if they don’t make an NHL roster. Lipon could end up with the St. John’s Ice Caps, while Smith would play for the Cleveland-based Lake Erie Monsters. . . . Bozon, 19, will attend Montreal’s camp, but if he doesn’t make the Canadiens he has to be returned to Kamloops. . . . Last season, Smith had 106 points, including 41 goals, in 72 games, while Bozon put up 91 points, 36 of them goals, in 69 games. Lipon, who missed some time while with Canada’s national junior team, finished with 89 points, including 36 goals, in 61 games.
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The Lethbridge Hurricanes have opened training camp without D Ryan Pilon, who turns 17 on Oct. 10, and G Corbin Boes, 20. . . . Pilon has been diagnosed with mononucleosis and the Hurricanes suggest he may miss the start of the regular season. Pilon played for Canada’s U-18 team as it won the Memorial of Ivan Hlinka earlier this month. He had 28 points in 57 games for the Hurricanes as a 16-year-old last season. . . . Boes, who was acquired from the Brandon Wheat Kings in May, has had surgery on his right hand and is expected to be out for up to three weeks.
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The Seattle Thunderbirds have signed F Kaden Elder and F Nolan Volcan to WHL contracts. . . . Elder, from Saskatoon, was selected with the 22nd pick of the 2013 bantam draft. He had 64 points in 33 games with the bantam AA Notre Dame Hounds last season. . . . Volcan, from Edmonton, was taken with the draft’s 27th selection. He had 76 points, including 40 goals, in 32 games with the bantam AAA Edmonton Maple Leaf Athletic Club team last season. His father, Marty, is a former WHLer (Portland, Seattle Breakers, Victoria Cougars, 1984-86).
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The Tri-City Americans had a busy day as they signed three players to WHL deals. . . . F Jordan Topping, from Salt Spring Island, B.C., is a 16-year-old who had 17 points in 40 games with the North Island Silvertips of the B.C. Major Midget League last season. He was an eighth-round selection in the 2012 bantam draft and is the seventh draft pick to sign with the Americans. He is not related to D Mitch Topping, who is Tri-City’s captain. . . . The Americans also signed D Dylan Coghlan of Nanaimo, B.C., to a contract. Coghlan was a third-round selection in the 2013 bantam draft. He had 40 points in 34 games with the bantam AAA Nanaimo Clippers. . . . Later in the day, the Americans announced the signing of F Michael Sauer, 16, from Bemidji, Minn. He played last season for Bemidji High School, putting up 30 points in 25 games. He has been on Tri-City’s list since March.
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The Kamloops Blazers have signed F Nathan Looysen, 17, to a WHL deal. From Saanichton, B.C., Looysen was placed on the Blazers’ protected list in November 2012. He had 23 points in 27 games with the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior League last season.
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The Portland Winterhawks have signed F Ethan Price, 16, who played last season with the Omaha Lancers AAA U-16 team in the North American Prospects League. He had 38 points in 22 games. . . . From Lincoln, Neb., Price was a sixth-round pick in the 2012 WHL bantam draft. . . . From the Winterhawks’ news release: “Price is the latest highly rated American-born player to join the Winterhawks in recent seasons, including current ’Hawks Paul Bittner (Minnesota), Brendan Burke (Arizona), Chase De Leo (California), Josh Hanson (Alaska), Keegan Iverson (Minnesota), Alex Schoenborn (North Dakota), Keoni Texeira (California) and Dominic Turgeon (Colorado). Apart from Hanson, each of those players has at least three years of WHL eligibility remaining.”
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The NFL and more than 4,500 players have settled a concussion-related lawsuit, with the players to get $765 million if a judge, as expected, approves the settlement. . . . Ken Belson of The New York Times offers an explanation for what happened right here.
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Jeff Blair of The Globe and Mail writes: “A lawyer specializing in class-action lawsuits believes the already-long odds of former NHL players attempting legal action against the league over the matter of concussions have become a little longer with the announcement of an imminent settlement between the NFL and more than 4,500 former players.” . . . That piece is right here.
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Daniel Engber of Slate.com writes:
“The imprecision of diagnosis means that even with all this money changing hands, we’ll still have no idea how prevalent these disabilities really are.
The settlement does almost nothing to elucidate this question, nor any other in the science of concussions. How serious is the problem of head injuries in football? No one has ever done a well-controlled, long-term study of cognitive impairment to find out. No one has ever selected a random group of athletes in advance, then followed them over time to figure out how their rates of brain pathology relate to everybody else’s. These are just the most basic questions that are yet to be answered, but there’s lots more we still don’t know.”
Engber’s complete piece is right here.
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Rob Nutter, a 55-year-old millwright from Castelgar, B.C., has undergone a heart-and-kidney transplant. Derrick Penner of the Vancouver Sun has today's feel-good story right here. 

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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 get down to two goaltenders

If you haven't seen it, this is the new scoreclock at Interior
Savings Centre in Kamloops.
(Murray Mitchell / The Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
For the most part, the evaluation process is over, and so is training camp.
The Kamloops Blazers will get down to the routine of practising today as they get ready to play their first WHL exhibition games.
The Blazers will visit the Kelowna Rockets on Friday and return home to face the Vancouver Giants on Sunday, 6 p.m. (On Saturday, the Rockets will play the Giants in Ladner.)
On Wednesday night, the Blazers put the wraps on another training camp as Team Blue scored an 8-4 victory over Team White in the annual intrasquad game.
For veteran forwards JC Lipon and Colin Smith, both 20 years of age, it may have been their last time in a Blazers uniform.
Lipon leaves next week for Winnipeg and the camp of the NHL’s Jets, who selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft. Smith departs Friday and will end up in Denver at the Colorado Avalanche’s camp.
Lipon has yet to sign a pro contract; Smith is under contract to Colorado, which selected him in the seventh round in 2012.
“We’re moving forward without them,” Blazers head coach Dave Hunchak said. “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.”
Hunchak has talked with Dean Chynoweth, the general manager and head coach of the Lake Erie Monsters, the Cleveland-based AHL affiliate of the Avalanche.
Based on those conversations, Hunchak said: “I don’t expect to get Colin Smith back.”
As for Lipon, he could end up with the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps.
“He’ll do everything he can do stay there, as he should,” Hunchak said of Lipon. “For us to be sitting here and hoping that one of those guys comes back isn’t right. From an organizational standpoint, we want to move players up.”
Without Lipon and Smith, the Blazers are left with two 20-year-olds on their roster — defenceman Sam Grist and centre Joe Kornelsen. WHL teams are allowed to dress three such players per game.
Last night, the Blue guys erased a 1-0 deficit with three straight second-period goals, courtesy of Jake Kryski and Swiss imports Tim Bozon and Edson Harlacher. Cole Ully, with two, Deven Sideroff, Joe Kornelsen and Matt Needham also scored for Blue.
Team White got two goals from Chase Souto and singles from the Lipon brothers, Mitch and JC.
Hunchak quite liked what he saw, noting that the coaches have done some work on systems, some of which was evident on the ice.
“It was good as far as structure,” Hunchak said of the game, adding that some players had picked up the defensive-zone coverage and the forecheck in the neutral zone.
As for the much-watched scrap for the position backing up starting goaltender Taran Kozun, the winner is Cole Kehler, a youngster from Altona, Man., who played high school hockey last season. Kehler, who won’t turn 16 until Dec. 17, was beaten three times last night after coming on in relief of Kozun for Team Blue.
The Blazers released two 17-year-old goaltenders — Liam McLeod of Kamloops and Cameron Pateman of Regina — following the game. McLeod played Kozun to a 1-1 draw in the game’s first half; Pateman was beaten six times.
The Blazers also released forwards Jermaine Loewen and Laramie Kostelansky, along with defenceman Dawson Davidson and Cameron Trott.
Loewen, a 15-year-old from Arborg, Man., was a third-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft. He has signed with the Blazers and had a good camp.
Kostelansky, 16, from Fort MacLeod, Alta., was a 10th-round pick in the 2012 draft. Davidson, from Moosomin, Sask., was the 58th overall pick in the 2013 draft, while Trott, 16, from Port Moody, is the younger brother of Portland Winterhawks forward Jason Trott.
 JUST NOTES: The Blazers still have two 1998-born players on their roster — 2013 first-rounders Quinn Benjafield and Kryski. Both are expected to see game action this weekend. . . . Hunchak said he expects the Rockets to “dress a good team” on Friday. “They will be motivated from last season,” he said. . . . The Blazers swept Kelowna from a second-round playoff series last spring. . . . Hunchak also said the Blazers will be wanting to push the Rockets. “We want to make sure to put our best foot forward every game,” he said. . . . Colorado’s three-day rookie camp opens Sept. 8 in Denver, with main camp starting Sept. 12. Smith, who signed a three-year NHL contract earlier this season, is on the roster wearing No. 37. . . . Ryan Huska, who won three Memorial Cups as a player with the Blazers, has signed a three-year extension as head coach of the Rockets. Huska, 38,now is signed through 2016-17. He is going into his seventh season as the Rockets’ head coach and his 12th season with the organization.

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Lipon brothers meet up during Blazers scrimmage

Forward Mitch Lipon of the Kamloops Blazers applies some freezing gel
to his upper front teeth after having them chipped when he was checked
by his brother, JC, during an earlier scrimmage on Sunday.
(HUGO YUEN / Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
JC Lipon was chuckling.
His younger brother, Mitch, was grimacing.
Their mother, Shelley, was, well, she was being a mother.
During a Sunday morning scrimmage at the Kamloops Blazers’ training camp at Interior Savings Centre, JC caught Mitch with a shoulder check in open ice.
“He got me with a shoulder and my teeth went into my visor,” offered Mitch, 17, showing the damage to his two upper front teeth, both of which were chipped, then adding that he was going to have to call home.
“I hit him in middle ice,” said JC, 20, with a laugh, while nodding in the direction of Mitch.
“I suppose (JC) is just trying to toughen up his little brother,” Shelley wrote in a text from Regina. “I have just come to the conclusion that it’s part of hockey.
“But it is tough on a mom!”
While JC has spent four seasons with the Blazers, Mitch, who played last season with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians, is hoping for a spot here this season. He put up 51 points, 20 of them goals, in 44 games with Regina last season, and also got a late-season taste of life with the Blazers, getting limited playing time and going pointless in three regular-season and five playoff games.
Having been here last spring has made this camp a bit easier for him.
“It’s a lot easier to come in here knowing all the guys, having been here before and knowing how things work,” Mitch said. “You’re still a rookie but you know what to do and are expected to know what to do.”
Mitch also has gotten more help than a shoulder to the face from his older brother.
“He helps me out a lot,” Mitch said. “He gives me that extra push. He’s in my face quite a bit but it’s all good.
“He said I have the skill, I just have to put in the work ethic to get where I want to be and get a spot on the team. I want to make the team and find a spot where I can contribute.”
JC, meanwhile, is hoping to play this season for the St. John’s IceCaps, the Newfoundland-based AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. They selected Lipon in the third round of the 2013 NHL draft.
That put a cap on a season during which Lipon really came of age, at one point leading the WHL in scoring and then earning a spot on the Canadian team that played at the world junior championship in Ufa, Russia.
“Obviously a lot of good things happened last winter,” Lipon said. “I made some big strides. But it’s like you’re in the doghouse again . . . you get drafted and start from the bottom again. It’s another challenge in life and I’m looking forward to it.”
Shortly after the draft, Lipon attended a Jets’ prospects camp that, he said, only served to help his confidence.
Asked how he stacked up there, he replied: “Good, really good.”
He admitted to having been intimidated a bit in fitness testing “with the college guys.”
“But,” he added, “then you get on the ice and you know why you’re there. I did really well in all the practices and in the game, too. I’m pretty happy with the way things are.”
Lipon, who has yet to sign an NHL contract, will head for Winnipeg on Sept. 4 and then play for the Jets team at the Young Stars tournament in Penticton, Sept. 5-9.
“Obviously, I want to make the big team,” he said. But, being realistic, “definitely St. John’s is where I want to be.”
And if he ends up back in Kamloops?
“It is what it is,” he said. “There’s good coaching staff here. We’re young but just from being here it’s an awesome coaching staff. They’ve kind of developed that over the last few seasons and it’s a good organization to be in.”
Of course, if Lipon should wind up back here, he could get to play with Mitch, something he said is “pretty exciting.”
“He worked really hard this summer,” Mitch said. “I told him, ‘it’s your position to lose and he’s got to work hard.’ ”
Yes, even if it means taking a shoulder to the mouth from big brother.
So . . . when is payback?
“I don’t know,” Mitch said. “I guess we’ll see.”
JUST NOTES: Of the 57 players left in the Blazers’ camp, 32 were born in 1997 or ’98. The 14 players born in 1998 aren’t eligible for WHL rosters this season. . . . Veteran F Chase Souto, who turns 19 on Oct. 8, is the lone American in camp. . . . Sophomore D Jordan Thomson remains day-to-day with a cut to one foot. Thomson, who was injured while vacationing with his family, skated Sunday. . . . F Tim Bozon, 19, will leave Sept. 4 for Montreal and the Canadiens’ training camp, while F Colin Smith, 20, leaves Friday to join the Colorado Avalanche. Both have signed NHL deals. . . . G Bailey De Palma, the son of Blazers goaltending coach Dan De Palma, stopped 23 of 24 shots during his stint and was the second star last night as the host Prince George Spruce Kings dropped a 5-2 decision to the visiting Merritt Centennials in a BCHL exhibition game.

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Blazers: Rebuilding, reloading or retrenching?

Rebuilding, reloading or retrenching.
Take your pick, because the Kamloops Blazers have placed themselves firmly in the ‘re’ world.
If there was any doubt, it was erased Wednesday when the WHL team traded Cole Cheveldave, its starting goaltender for each of the last two seasons, to the Prince Albert Raiders for a 15-year-old forward, Jake Kryski, who is two or three years away form making an impact in this market.
If you are an aspiring WHL player, in any position, who is searching for an opportunity to play, Kamloops will be the place to be in late August when training camp opens.
The Blazers, who ended a horrible drought when they got into the second round of playoffs two seasons ago and reached the Western Conference final last spring, have some openings on their roster. Yeah, like Lindsay Lohan has some openings on her schedule.
The Blazers have 10 forwards with at least some WHL experience, but five of those are really, really raw. The roster shows five defencemen, but only one of those, 19-year-old Landon Cross, has played regularly at this level.
Of the five goaltenders on the depth chart at the moment, only one, Taran Kozun, has played even one WHL game.
On top of that, the chances are good that two of their prime 20-year-old candidates – centre Colin Smith and right-winger JC Lipon, who finished tied for fourth and 11th, respectively, in the WHL scoring race last season – will open the season in the AHL. Smith, who has signed with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, would seem ticketed for the Lake Erie Monsters, while Lipon, who has yet to cut a deal with the Winnipeg Jets, may start with the St. John’s IceCaps.
In making the run to the Western Conference final a few weeks ago, where they were beaten in five games by the eventual-champion Portland Winterhawks, the Blazers morphed into a team that relied on one goaltender, four defencemen and seven or eight forwards. At season’s end, they were using three 20-year-old forwards and eight players who were 19.
When a team does that, it knows that the time will come to pay the piper. For the Blazers, that time is now.
Over the last two seasons, Cheveldave played in 111 of the team’s 144 regular-season games and was credited with 70 of its 94 victories.
Kozun, a 19-year-old from Nipawin, Sask., got into two games in 2011-12 before being assigned to the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks.
Last season, in 1,092 minutes over 20 games with Kamloops, he went 11-4-3 with a 2.36 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
However, he had a propensity for letting in one bad goal – one that was either of the soft variety or one that came at an inopportune time — and that, more than anything, ate at the coaching staff’s confidence in him. Of course, Kozun really was caught in the backup goaltenders’ conundrum — he needs ice time to improve, but no matter how well he plays he’s stuck behind the veteran starter.
It also hurt Kozun’s chances that his team came out of the gate like a cat on fire.
The Blazers, you’ll recall, were the major junior game’s early-season sensation last autumn. At one point, they rattled off 14 straight victories and climbed to the top of the CHL’s rankings. That only served to fuel the fire as management went all-in on the season.
You will recall that in acquiring veteran defenceman Joel Edmundson from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Dec. 6, the Blazers surrendered a 2015 first-round bantam draft pick and forward Jayden Halbgewachs, who had been their first-round selection, 19th overall, in 2012.
The Blazers, who knew that Edmundson, then 19, was a rent-a-player and would be somewhere in the St. Louis Blues organization in 2013-14, recouped some of that loss with the acquisition of Kryski, who put up 118 points, including 59 goals, in 58 games with the Burnaby Winter Club’s top bantam team last season. Kryski was honoured in 2012 as Hockey Now’s B.C. minor hockey player of the year, and attended the Raiders’ spring camp in late May.
WHL rules prohibit Kryski, at the age of 15, from playing for the Blazers in 2013-14. He will be expected to make the roster in September 2014 and start being a serious contributor one year later.
Between now and then, though, you can expect the Blazers to be wheeling and dealing.
As has been well documented, the Blazers reached the WHL final in 1999, then weren’t able to get out of the first round of playoffs until 2012.
Let’s hope this latest (a) rebuilding, (b) reloading, (c) retrenching, (d) all of the above doesn’t take as long.

(Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, gdrinnan.blogspot.ca and twitter.com/gdrinnan.)

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Thunderbirds need an assistant coach

THE MacBETH REPORT:
F Casey Pierro-Zabotel (Vancouver, 2007-09) signed a one-year contract with Lausitzer Füchse (Germany, 2. Bundesliga). He had 22 goals and 53 assists in 66 games with the Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL) and one goal and one assist during a five-game loan assignment with the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) last season. Pierro-Zabotel led Gwinnett in scoring, finished fifth in league scoring, and was named to the ECHL first all-star team. . . . Pierro-Zabotel won the WHL’s 2008-09 scoring title when he put up 115 points in 72 games with the Giants.
———
As you arose this morning, no doubt you were shaking your head and asking yourself: “What was the purpose of the lockout?”
You remember the lockout. There wasn’t any NHL in September or October or November or December. Just like the last one, this was all about the owners wanting cost certainty and, yes, to put the serfs in their place.
But, again, as happens every year, July arrives and the players ride the gravy train into the station.
No doubt you are aware that Friday was free-agent frenzy or, if you prefer, Christmas Part 2 for NHL players.
One tally I saw indicated that NHL teams signed 59 players to contracts worth US$394,875,000.
Think about that for a while as you attempt to enjoy your morning coffee.
And, while you are pondering, remember this: That total doesn’t include any contracts that were bought out earlier in the week.
Sheesh, why don’t the owners just turn over the keys and forget about it?
———

Were you surprised when F Daniel Alfredsson, the captain of the Ottawa Senators, up and left for the Detroit Red Wings? Nicholas J. Cotsonika explains right here exactly what happened.
———


Centre Colin Smith, who played the last four seasons with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.    Smith, an Edmonton native, was selected by the Avalanche in the seventh round, 192nd overall, of the NHL’s 2012 draft. As a 20-year-old signed to an NHL contract, Smith is eligible to play next season with the Avalanche, or in its organization, perhaps with the AHL’s Cleveland-based Lake Erie Monsters, or with the Blazers. Smith put up 271 points, including 102 goals, in 272 regular-season games. He is 14th on the franchise’s all-time list of scorers. Last season, he finished with 106 points, including 41 goals. He is expected to be in camp with the Blazers in August, before joining Colorado’s camp.
———
“It’s that time of year again, a month or so after the OHL & WHL drafts, when players and families are getting into that frenzied period of what I like to call, ‘keeping up with the Crosbys’,” writes Jason Nadeau, a player agent who often writes for Hockey Now. . . . His entire piece is right here.
———
THE COACHING GAME:
As expected, Darren Rumble, an assistant coach with the Seattle Thunderbirds for the past two seasons, was named head coach of the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats on Friday. . . . Rumble takes over from Danny Flynn, who was bumped upstairs to focus on his duties as director of hockey operations.
———



From Aaron Ward (@aaronward_nhl): “Like I said, Jarome Iginla to the Boston Bruins #TSN #ThisTimeForReal”




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Blazers add Swiss defenceman

EDSON HARLACHER

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers, with the ‘Vacancy’ sign up on their back end, selected Swiss defenceman Edson Harlacher with the 51st selection of the CHL import draft on Wednesday.
Harlacher turned 17 on Jan. 22 and goes by Edi. He played last season with the U20 Kloten Flyers of the Swiss Elite Junior A League.
In fact, he has played in the Kloten program since 2009-10 when he was on the U15 team.
Last season, Harlacher had six points and 22 penalty minutes in 34 games with the Flyers, and six points, four of them goals, in six games with Kloten’s U17 team. He also played eight games with the U17 national team, recording one assist.
As a 17-year-old on the U18 national team, he was pointless in five games at the world championship. In six other games with that team, he had one goal.
The CHL import draft page shows Harlacher as being 6-foot-1 and 165 pounds, while the Elite Hockey Prospects website has him at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds.
The Blazers used only one of their two import draft picks because they anticipate having left-winger Tim Bozon back for a third season. Bozon also is from Switzerland although he played for France in the 2013 IIHF world championship. He was selected by Montreal in the third round of the NHL’s 2012 draft and has signed with the Canadiens. But, as a 19-year-old, Bozon has to play in Montreal or Kamloops.
Major junior teams are allowed to have two European players on their rosters.
Blazers head coach Dave Hunchak said the team’s European contacts have said that Harlacher “is definitely a prospect.”
“He’s a bigger body,” Hunchak added. “Apparently, he skates pretty well.
“Whether he can play in our top four right away . . . that’s the hope. There will be lots of opportunities for a lot of guys . . . we’ll have to wait and see.”
The Kamloops depth chart contains six defenders who have played at this level, headed up by veterans Sam Grist, 20, and Landon Cross, 19. Also included are Jordan Thomson, 17, Ryan Rehill, who turns 18 on Nov. 7, Connor Clouston, 17, and Josh Connolly, 18.
Clouston played only four WHL games last season as he spent most of the season with a midget AAA team in Medicine Hat.
Hunchak said that Connolly, who played a lot of his freshman season as a forward, will be back on defence when training camp opens on Aug. 22.
No matter what happens, though, the Blazers will be young on the back end.
“We were older last season,” Hunchak stated. “At some point, you have to start playing these young guys.”
Grist, who was acquired early last season from the Tri-City Americans, is in the 20-year-old mix, along with forwards JC Lipon and Colin Smith, and goaltender Cole Cheveldave.
Lipon, who will turn 20 on Wednesday, was selected by the Winnipeg Jets in Sunday’s NHL draft, while Smith was taken by the Colorado Avalanche in last year’s draft. Neither has signed an NHL contract.
“A lot of it is going to depend on what Winnipeg and Colorado want to do with their guys,” Hunchak said of his club’s 20-year-old plans. “We’re left at the mercy of what the NHL teams want to do.”
Each WHL team is allowed to carry a maximum of three 20-year-old players.
———       
The Blazers’ 2013 preseason roster that is available on the WHL website doesn’t include F Aspen Sterzer or G Taran Kozun.
Sterzer, who is to turn 19 on Sept. 9, played in only 31 games last season. He didn’t play again after suffering a concussion on Dec. 29.
Kozun, who will be 19 on Aug. 29, got into 20 games (11-4-3, 2.36, .914) while backing up Cheveldave.
Hunchak said the omissions of both players is “a mistake . . . that’s all that is” and that both are expected at training camp.
Of course, that same website continues to show Guy Charron as the Blazers’ head coach.
———
The Blazers have yet to sign an assistant coach, but Hunchak admitted that “we’re close. We’re real close on things.”
How close?
Close enough that there may be an announcement this week.


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Blazers right back in Western Conference final

Kamloops Blazers goaltender Cole Cheveldave made some key first-period saves,
including this one on Portland forward Nic Petan.
(Keith Anderson / Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was late in the second period when the Interior Savings Centre crowd began chanting “Chevy! Chevy!! Chevy!!!”
And the sound system blared: “Like a rock.”
The fans were saluting Kamloops Blazers goaltender Cole Cheveldave, who was exactly that as he and his mates overwhelmed the Portland Winterhawks to the tune of 5-1 on Tuesday night.
What that means is that the Winterhawks take a 2-1 edge in the WHL’s best-of-seven Western Conference final into tonight’s game at ISC. And the series now is certain to return to Portland for Game 5 on Friday.
The Blazers won this one because Cheveldave was terrific in the first period, and the Winterhawks didn’t have an answer for the Kamloops line of, left to right, Tim Bozon, Colin Smith and JC Lipon.
On Nov. 16, the trio combined for 14 points in a 6-4 victory over the visiting Winterhawks, the only time this season that Kamloops beat Portland, prior to last night. For various reasons, including Lipon’s stint with the national junior team, the line was broken up and rarely reunited . . . until last night.
“It was a matter of, we weren’t generating what we thought we needed to generate,” Guy Charron, the Blazers’ head coach, explained. “You sometimes go back to what gave you success and early on they were the top line in the WHL. There was no reason to think they wouldn’t be able to put it together.”
“They’re a good line,” said Travis Green, Portland’s interim general manager and head coach, “one of the best lines in the league. But we made mistakes tonight that we don’t usually make.”
Bozon, playing his third game since coming back from a fracture in his right hand, had two goals and two assists; Smith potted a goal and had two assists; and Lipon had an assist and a whole lot of sandpaper.
“We just wanted to come out and play hard,” Smith said. “We need to focus on playing hard and things will open up. If we’re focused on the end result, some things can go sideways.”
The Blazers also won this one by beating Portland goaltender Mac (The Truth) Carruth four times on 11 shots in the second period, turning a 1-1 tie into a 5-1 lead in the process. They also triumphed by winning pretty much every one-on-one battle for two periods, no matter where it took place, and that was something they had failed to do in 4-1 and 4-0 setbacks in Portland.
“The effort was there,” Charron said. “We had more jump. We skated well. We took the body.”
Defenceman Joel Edmundson got it started just 1:07 into the second, fourth-line winger Aaron Macklin kept it going with a nifty wrap-around against the flow at 8:02, and Bozon scored twice, at 14:56 and 17:04, to hand control to the Blazers.
“Smith, Bozon, Lipon got things going and that’s what we needed,” said Charron, whose team went into the game not having beaten Carruth in 117 minutes 50 seconds. “We needed some offensive production, something positive to build on.”
All of that came after a first period in which Portland had a number of glorious scoring chances and the Blazers were fortunate to escape at 1-1.
That, of course, was thanks to Cheveldave, the 19-year-old sophomore from Calgary who missed a practice last week as he attended the funeral of a grandfather.
“He was in perfect control of every situation,” Charron said of his goaltender, who made 35 stops. “He was really strong. He was never out of position . . . a very strong game by him.”
Portland defenceman Tyler Wotherspoon agreed.
“Their goalie played well,” he said. “We got some chances and Cheveldave stood on his head over there. He kept them in it right away.”
Right away was when Portland was handed a 5-on-3 advantage for a full two minutes just 4:53 into the game.
“The 5-on-3 didn’t make us too comfortable,” Charron admitted. “But I thought we did a pretty good job under the circumstances. Their first goal, it was so early in the game we knew we had plenty of time.”
The Winterhawks were only able to score once on that PP, when the puck appeared to bounce past Cheveldave off an ankle belonging to winger Ty Rattie. The Blazers got that one back at 16:37 when Smith redirected a Bozon shot through Carruth’s legs.
In between, it was the Cheveldave show.
There was a come-across stop on Oliver Bjorkstrand early on, and three outstanding saves in one flurry during a late Portland power play as he beat Nic Petan on a back-door play, then robbed Petan with a glove, and got a shoulder on a Rattie back-door shot. And let’s not forget stoning Wotherspoon with a glove when he went in alone after a big-league pass from defenceman Seth Jones. All of that came in a 50-second span.
Late in the period, Cheveldave beat Chase De Leo from in tight.
It’s no wonder the crowd was chanting.
“I felt great,” Cheveldave said, “and I was seeing everything. That’s all I can ask for. Our defencemen were clearing bodies out in front of me and I was able to see the puck really well.”
While the Blazers were savouring the sweet taste of victory, the Winterhawks already were working on erasing the loss from their minds.
“We can’t dwell on this night,” Wotherspoon said. “We have to learn from our mistakes. We have to come out strong in the first period and show them that we’re ready to play, and clean up our mistakes.”
“It doesn’t happen very often,” Green said, “but tonight we just weren’t sharp in a lot of areas. The good thing is we get right back at it (tonight).”
JUST NOTES: Attendance was 4,642. . . . Each team was 1-for-5 on the PP. . . . Carruth stopped 24 shots. . . . Green said he never once thought about yanking Carruth. “Not at all,” the coach offered. “I don’t think he (gave up a bad one). I liked Mac’s game tonight . . . it didn’t cross my mind at all.” . . . The Winterhawks lost F Joe Mahon to a game misconduct eight minutes into the first period. Green said he understood the penalty was for “a gesture of some kind, but I’m not 100 per cent sure.” . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Cheveldave: In the zone; 2. Bozon: Looks healthy; 3. D Joel Edmundson, Kamloops: Big in his zone. . . . Earlier in the day, Carruth was named the CHL’s goaltender of the week after stopping 60 of 61 shots in the first two games of this series. . . . Both goaltenders have terrific playoff beards, but Cheveldave gave a bit of an edge to Carruth. “He’s got a pretty good one,” Cheveldave said with a laugh. “He’s got a year on me, though.”

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Chevy's ready for Portland

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
This is the series to which Cole Cheveldave has been looking toward for a year.
Last season, when the Kamloops Blazers lost a second-round WHL playoff series to the Portland Winterhawks in seven games, Cheveldave didn’t play even one minute of the last six games.
The Blazers’ goaltender had been run over by Portland forward Oliver Gabriel late in the first game. The resulting concussion kept Cheveldave out of the remainder of the series.
But with the teams set to begin the Western Conference’s best-of-seven final with games in Portland on Friday and Saturday, Cheveldave feels he’s ready.
“I think I have progressed through these playoffs,” Cheveldave said following practice at Interior Savings Centre on Monday. “Hopefully, this will be my best series.”
Cheveldave, who won’t be at practice today as he attends a funeral, got progressively better as the Blazers ousted the Victoria Royals from a first-round series in six games.
The Blazers then swept the Kelowna Rockets from a series in which Cheveldave very well may have been the MVP.
Right now, then, he feels that he is close to being right on top of his game.
“You get in a groove and you feel comfortable,” the 19-year-old sophomore from Calgary said. “That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m really comfortable in the net.”
And, he admitted, being comfortable leads to a boost in confidence.
Cheveldave, who is 8-2, 2.60, .895, in these playoffs, knows that if the Blazers are to advance, he will have to be good. That’s because his counterpart, Mac Carruth, is rolling.
Carruth, the winningest playoff goaltender in WHL history, also is 8-2 this spring. He has a 1.74 GAA and a .925 save percentage. And he put up two shutouts in Portland’s four-game second-round sweep of the Spokane Chiefs.
Cheveldave also is well aware that Portland was the WHL’s top offensive team in the regular season and No. 2 on defence.
“They’re very offensive,” Cheveldave said. “They capitalize on their chances, so I have to be there for my team and come up with key saves.”
There is good news for Cheveldave and Co., in that centre Colin Smith is set to return after missing the last three games of the Kelowna series with a suspected concussion. Smith, who was injured on April 6, is back to taking part in full practice sessions.
“He’s a huge part of our team,” Cheveldave said of Smith, who led the Blazers with 106 points in the regular season. “The boys really came together last week when we lost him. It’s just another asset on our team going into this next round.”
Cheveldave also is of the opinion that he and his mates learned a lot in the seven-game loss to Portland last spring. In that series, the Blazers lost the first three games and were trailing 4-0 in Game 4, only to roar back and take the Winterhawks the distance.
“(We learned) that we can’t quit and that we have a chance in every game,” Cheveldave said. “The more we push the harder it is for the other team.
“That’s the way we were. We weren’t going to give up on it. We knew we were fighting for our lives. That’s the motivation that we had . . . fighting for our lives. We played every game as though it was our last game.”
That series, he said, also brought the players closer together and that closeness continues to live in the Kamloops dressing room.
“We were really tight at the end,” the goaltender stated. “Everyone was pushing everybody. There weren’t any negative vibes.
“Everybody was pushing and everybody loved everybody.”
JUST NOTES: Games 3 and 4 will be played at Interior Savings Centre on April 23 and 24. . . . Blazers F Tim Bozon (hand) skated in full gear on Monday for the first time since being injured March 26. He was wearing a non-contact yellow sweater. . . . G Liam McLeod, a ninth-round selection by the Blazers in the 2011 bantam draft, has joined the team in practice. McLeod, from Kamloops, played this season with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. . . . Chances are that there will be crowds of 10,000 for Games 1 and 2. The Winterhawks are leading the WHL in playoff attendance, with an average of 8,786. That’s more than 1,500 ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings (7,152).

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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.
———
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.”
———
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.”
———
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.
———
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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