By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers began serious preparations for their playoff opener on Monday.
The Blazers, who begin a first-round series with the visiting Victoria Royals on Friday, did it with centre Matt Needham on the ice and right-winger JC Lipon nowhere to be found.
Needham sat out the regular-season’s last 13 games with an undisclosed injury. Needham, who finished with 33 points, including 12 goals, in 15 games, last played on Feb. 15.
Yesterday, he was wearing a yellow (non-contact) jersey and looked to be skating easily as he centred Tim Bozon and Dylan Willick.
Needham, in his second WHL season, had shown terrific improvement as the winter wore on and had become one of the Blazers’ top defensive forwards and penalty-killers.
Lipon finished his fourth WHL season with 89 points, including 36 goals, in 61 games. He was ill yesterday  so was told to stay home to cut down on the risk of other players getting sick.
Lipon practised in yellow late last week and then sat out the last two regular-season games with what the team said was an “upper body injury.” Head coach Guy Charron said that Lipon ran the risk of aggravating his injury with contact and that the time off would be good for him.
With Lipon not skating, the Blazers had freshman Mitch Friesen in his spot alongside centre Brendan Ranford and Cole Ully. They also moved Chase Souto into Bozon’s spot with centre Colin Smith and Kale Kessy.
A fourth line featured Nick Chyzowski with Aaron Macklin and Josh Connolly.
Forward Deven Sideroff, who had a goal and an assist in his second WHL game, Saturday’s 7-0 victory over the Cougars in Prince George, has returned to his midget team at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton.
Centre Joe Kornelsen, who missed the last six games with a leg injury, was in Interior Savings Centre but didn’t skate. It is looking more and more like Kornelsen, a 19-year-old from Abbotsford who had 12 points in 60 games and provides experienced depth, won’t be ready to open against the Royals.
Victoria will be without centre Alex Gogolev, its leading scorer, after he underwent surgery to repair damage from a skate cut to his left leg.
Neither goaltender Patrik Polivka nor defenceman Tyler Stahl, both of whom have undisclosed injuries, practised yesterday. Both are expected to at least skate today.
Victoria forward Trent Lofthouse, who hasn’t played since Jan. 31, was out of the yellow jersey and back to full practice yesterday. Lofthouse, who was acquired from the Everett Silvertips during the season, is the son of former New Westminster Bruins star Mark Lofthouse.
———
There are other WHL teams with some injury concerns, too.
The Kelowna Rockets revealed yesterday that centre Colton Sissons, their captain, will miss up to 12 weeks with what is believed to be a shoulder injury.
Sissons, a 19-year-old from North Vancouver, is their MVP and top defensive forward. He wasn’t able to finish Kelowna’s 6-2 victory over the host Giants on Friday night after being involved in a collision with Vancouver defenceman Mason Geertsen. Sissons had one arm in a sling at Kelowna’s awards banquet on Sunday.
Sissons, who had 67 points in 61 games, missed 10 games with a concussion earlier in the season, an injury that caused him to miss the Canadian national junior team’s December selection camp in Calgary. The Rockets went 8-2-0 while Sissons was injured.
The Rockets, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, open against the No. 7 Seattle Thunderbirds in Kelowna on Friday night.
In Saskatoon, the Blades, the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed and the host team for the Memorial Cup, have played five games without winger Michael Ferland. However, he is back practising and should play Thursday when the Blades open at home against the Medicine Hat Tigers.
In Portland, the Winterhawks, who had the WHL’s best regular-season record, were without starting goaltender Mac Carruth, who didn’t finish a 4-1 victory in Victoria on March 12, for their last three games. But he skated lightly on Sunday and is expected to start Friday against the visiting Everett Silvertips.

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By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Victoria Royals will be without their leading scorer, veteran forward Alex Gogolev, for a first-round WHL playoff series with the Kamloops Blazers.
Gogolev, who hasn’t played since Feb. 5, was cut by a skate and has had surgery to repair tendon damage in his left leg.
Despite missing the last 20 games, the 20-year-old Gogolev led the Royals in assists (45) and points (65) in only 49 games. He was honoured as the team’s MVP on Sunday and was on crutches at the event.
A 20-year-old from Moscow, Gogolev was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen prior to the start of this season.
The Royals and Blazers will open the series at Interior Savings Centre, playing Games 1 and 2 on Friday and Saturday nights. The series then will shift to Victoria’s 2,781-seat Bear Mountain Arena — 7,006-seat Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre is occupied by the Ford world men’s curling championship — for Games 3 and 4 on March 26 and 28.
The Royals, who a couple of weeks ago scratched seven players due to injuries and/or illness, also have been without Patrik Polivka, their starting goaltender, and defenceman Tyler Stahl, their captain.
Polivka, a Czech who turned 19 on March 4, hasn’t played since March 5 when he left after the second period of a 6-0 loss to the host Blazers. When the injury list came out Tuesday, he was shown as being out one to two weeks with an undisclosed injury.
Stahl, who turned 21 on Jan. 29, has had an injury-filled last two seasons. He played in 20 games last season and 41 this season. He played in only six games in February and last played on March 2. The injury list shows him as day-to-day with an undisclosed lower-body injury, but he also has a history of concussions.
The Royals also have been without forwards Luke Harrison and Trent Lofthouse, although the latter may be back in time for Game 1.
The Blazers, meanwhile, wrapped up their regular season in Prince George on Saturday, beating the Cougars 7-0 behind a 31-save performance by goaltender Taran Kozun, who posted his second shutout.
Cole Ully, with two, Kale Kessy, Tim Bozon, Dylan Willick, Deven Sideroff and Connor Clouston scored for the Blazers, while Brendan Ranford drew three assists. Sideroff, playing his second WHL game, scored his first goal, as did Clouston, who was in his fourth game. Sideroff also had an assist and was plus-4.
The Blazers finished 47-20-5, which was their record last season when they won the B.C. Division. This time, they finished nine points behind the Kelowna Rockets (52-16-4).
The Blazers go into the playoffs as the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed. Victoria, which won just three of its last 17 games, placed sixth, at 35-30-7.
Like the Royals, the Blazers also have injury problems.
Centre Aspen Sterzer (concussion), who last played on Dec. 29, is at home in Calgary and isn’t likely to play again this season.
The Blazers also have been without centres Matt Needham (undisclosed) and Joe Kornelsen (leg).
“Needham is going as scheduled,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said, adding that Needham, who has missed 13 games since last playing on Feb. 15, should skate later this week.
“Kornelsen is probably a question mark,” Charron said. “The kind of injury he has may need more time.”
The Blazers are hoping that Kornelsen, who missed the last six games, is able to skate at some point this week.
Neither defenceman Joel Edmundson nor right-winger JC Lipon played on the weekend. Both sat out, Charron said, for precautionary reasons. The Blazers also scratched veteran defenceman Tyler Hansen on Saturday.
 JUST NOTES: While the Blazers finished with the same record each of the last two seasons, they scored 29 fewer goals this time and cut their goals-against by 31. . . . F Colin Smith, who had one assist on Saturday, led the Blazers in goals (41) and points (106), while tying with Ranford for the lead in assists (65). . . . Smith is the first Kamloops skater with at least 100 points since F Erik Christensen won the WHL’s 2002-03 scoring title with 108 points. . . . Smith also was the only Kamloops player to get into all 72 regular-season games. . . . Blazers F Mitch Friesen earned his first WHL point, an assist, on Saturday. It came in his 45th game. . . . Blazers G Cole Cheveldave finished fifth in GAA (2.38) and 13th in save percentage (.908). He also won 36 games, and only Jordon Cooke of the Kelowna Rockets and Andrey Makarov of the Saskatoon Blades, with 37, won more. . . . Charron won his 144th game as the Blazers’ head coach on Saturday, tying him with Don Hay on the Blazers’ alltime list. Only Ken Hitchcock (291) has more. . . . Hay, now the head coach of the Vancouver Giants, was behind the bench for his 1,000th WHL regular-season game on Saturday, a 5-2 loss in Kelowna. Hay has 577 coaching victories in the WHL. However, his Giants went 21-49-2 and finished with the WHL’s poorest record this season. . . . When the Royals handed out their awards yesterday, D Joe Hicketts of Kamloops was named the top rookie and co-scholastic player of the year.

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Blazers take care of Thunderbirds

Defenceman Connor Clouston (25) of the Kamloops Blazers battles for a loose
puck with Seattle Thunderbirds defender Jesse Forsberg on Friday night.
(Murray Mitchell / Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Goaltending controversy? What goaltending controversy?
With Taran Kozun, Kamloops’ mostly backup goaltender, making his second straight start, the first time he’s done that this season, the Blazers dumped the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-1 at Interior Savings Centre on Friday night.
“It’s always nice to have . . . two goalies,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said. “We know what Cole (Cheveldave) can do. He is the No. 1 goalie . . . probably.”
Cheveldave, the team’s sophomore starter, was hooked from WHL games Dec. 27 (a 7-3 loss to the Rockets in Kelowna) and Dec. 29 (a 9-5 victory over the visiting Vancouver Giants as his save percentage slipped to .899. He has been beaten 22 times over his last four appearances.
Kozun, meanwhile, has allowed five goals on 62 shots over 173:42 in his last four appearances.
“I’m very happy,” Kozun, an 18-year-old freshman from Nipawin, Sask., said after last night’s 22-save performance. “The team is playing well in front of me. I’m just trying to give them a chance to won.”
This actually was the fourth straight game in which Kozun has appeared.
Asked when he last played in four straight games, Kozun replied: “Never.”
Then, with a laugh, he added: “I got three one week.”
That was last season when he got into 16 games with the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks. Last night, Kozun made his 15th appearance of this season.
“I thought I played well in Vancouver,” Kozun said, in reference to Wednesday’s 4-2 victory, “and I had a good game here. I’m  happy with it.”
The Blazers (27-10-4) are happy, too. But Cheveldave is expected to start Wednesday against the Tri-City Americans.
“It’s great that Taran is playing well,” Charron said, “but we need our No. 1 to get back on track.
“We know (Kozun) is a good goalie. But unless he plays it’s difficult to get confidence. Hopefully, these games help his confidence.”
More games like this one definitely will help the team’s confidence.
The Blazers, who have who have won three in a row, have relied heavily on centre Colin Smith, the WHL’s leading scorer, and his linemates this season. In this one, however, the Smith line was blanked — left-winger Tim Bozon picked up one assist on a power play — while a line with Brendan Ranford between Cole Ully and newly acquired Kale Kessy took over.
Ranford finished with four assists, while Ully had a goal and two assists, and Kessy, who was acquired from Vancouver after Wednesday’s game, scored twice.
“That’s OK. I don’t mind,” Charron said of Smith’s line being blanked but the team still scoring six times. “That’s secondary scoring and that’s what we’re looking for.”
And even at that the best player on the ice was Kamloops centre Matt Needham, who continues to excel in a penalty-killing and shutdown role, now alongside Dylan Willick and Joe Kornelsen.
“It’s nice that Matt Needham, who I thought was snakebit for a while, scores a goal,” Charron said.
Needham didn’t just score a goal; he scored THE goal of the game. He went one-on-one with defenceman Shea Theodore, who is projected as a potential first-round NHL draft pick, giving him the old whoop-de-do and then beating goaltender Danny Mumaugh through the legs for his sixth goal this season.
“Shea’s a buddy of mine,” Needham said. “We’ll have a couple of laughs about that one.”
The Blazers also got goals from Kornelsen and defenceman Josh Connolly, who got his first WHL goal in his 25th game this season.
Forward Justin Hickman scored for Seattle, beating Kozun at 14:38 of the first period when the Thunderbirds actually had a lot of the play.
“We just didn’t have the puck,” Needham said. “We weren’t getting it to spots we wanted it. They had a lot more control than we did.”
Charron added: “We didn’t have possession. We had it and we gave it up. There were options there but we weren’t making those passes.”
Once the Blazers ironed out those problems, they won going away.
Mumaugh, a 16-year-old from Centennial, Colo., stopped 30 shots in his first WHL start. He has been playing for head coach David Wilkie, a former Blazers defenceman, with the Omaha AAA U16 team in the North American Prospects League.
The Thunderbirds (16-20-3), who have lost nine in a row, are at home to the Spokane Chiefs tonight. Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk, obviously not happy, kept his players in their dressing room for quite a while after last night’s game.
JUST NOTES: Attendance was 5,114. . . . The Blazers remain atop the B.C. Division, two points ahead of the Kelowna Rockets, who beat the Cougars 4-2 in Prince George. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Needham: Hits, blocked shots and a nifty goal; 2. Ranford: Playmaker deluxe; 3. Kessy: As advertised — big, strong and with some touch. . . . These teams won’t meet again this regular season. The Blazers won the season series, 3-1. . . . F Nick Chyzowski, 15, played in his first game with the Blazers. He got three shifts, including two in the third period. . . . The Blazers returned F Mitch Lipon, 16, to the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians yesterday. . . . D Kevin Davis, 15, of Kamloops made his WHL debut with Everett as the Silvertips beat the visiting Spokane Chiefs, 3-2, last night. Davis was the 11th overall selection in the 2012 bantam draft.

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Two's company in WHL penthouse

Justin Kirsch (12) of the Moose Jaw Warriors slides the puck through
Kamloops Blazers goaltender Cole Cheveldave during a shootout
Saturday night at Interior Savings Centre.
(HUGO YUEN / KAMLOOPS DAILY NEWS)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers have company in the WHL's penthouse for the first time in more than six weeks.
The Blazers, who took sole possession of first place on Oct. 14, dropped a 3-1 decision to the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., on Sunday night. That followed a 3-2 shootout loss to the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday in the annual Teddy Bear Game.
When the smoke had cleared, Kamloops (21-7-3) and the Portland Winterhawks (22-4-1), who have won six in row, were tied atop the overall standings, each with 45 points. However, the Winterhawks now hold four games in hand.
The Winterhawks, who beat host Everett 4-1 on Saturday, entertain the Silvertips on Tuesday. Portland, which beat visiting Seattle 5-2 on Friday, is two games into a stretch of 15 straight games against U.S. Division opponents.
The Blazers will play their final two home games before the Christmas break this week. The Swift Current Broncos (12-13-5) are scheduled to play at Interior Savings Centre on Tuesday, with the Prince George Cougars (9-14-4) here on Friday.
Last night, Seattle forward Justin Hickman broke a 1-1 tie at 16:52 of the third period as the Thunderbirds (14-13-1) won for the second time in two nights. They had beaten the visiting Kelowna Rockets 4-2 on Saturday.
Latvian forward Robert Lipsbergs scored twice for Seattle, the last one into an empty net. He has 13 goals in his freshman season.
The Thunderbirds nursed a 1-0 lead well into the third period before winger Joe Kornelsen scored his first goal of the season for Kamloops. He hadn't scored in 18 games with the Calgary Hitmen before being traded to the Blazers. He now has played seven games with Kamloops.
Seattle goaltender Brandon Glover, a one-time teammate of Kornelsen's in Calgary, finished with 30 saves, two more than the Blazers' Taran Kozun.
On Saturday night, defenceman Tyler Bell of the Blazers scored his first goal of the season — and second in 81 regular-season games — with 24.5 seconds left in the first period to launch the Teddy Bears from the stands.
The Warriors came back in the second period with goals from defence partners Morgan Rielly and Travis Brown, the latter shorthanded with 12.3 seconds left in the frame. That was the third shorthanded goal the Blazers have surrendered this season.
The Blazers forged a tie when centre Colin Smith got his 21st goal at 5:46 of the third period, beating goaltender Justin Paulic, who made 29 saves.
The visitors won it on shootout goals by forwards Justin Kirsch and Brayden Point.
“We just aren't getting sustained effort. Not even now, after a week off,” stated Kamloops head coach Guy Charron, whose club had five days without a game last week, a rarity this season. “You can't ask any more from Smitty. But there are others . . . consequently we have to shorten the bench. We have some guys who haven't scored in some time. They have to go the net and create things.”
The Blazers' recent goal-scoring woes continued in Kent.
The Blazers are 5-8-1 in the 14 games since their 14-game winning streak ended with a 3-0 loss in Kelowna on Nov. 1. Kamloops has scored 30 goals in those 14 games, with 11 of them coming in two games - victories over Portland (6-4) and the Prince George Cougars (5-4, shootout). In 11 of those games, the Blazers have scored two or fewer goals.
After playing the Cougars on Friday, the Blazers will head to Vancouver for a Sunday date with the Giants. Then it's into Alberta for four games in five nights before their Christmas break begins.
JUST NOTES: Canada's national junior team is expected to start issuing invitations today to its selection camp. The final list is likely to include at least 38 names, with 14 or 15 of those from the WHL. Linemates JC Lipon and Smith, who are tied for the WHL scoring lead, may be on the list. . . . On Sunday, the Blazers scratched F Dylan WIllick (ankle), F Cole Ully (mononucleosis), D Jordan Thomson (ill) and D Ryan Rehill. . . . Seattle F Tyler Alos, 19, has been shut down with post-concussion syndrome and isn't expected to play again this season. . . . The Blazers arrived in Seattle at 4 a.m. . . . Both teams were playing for the third time in as many nights. . . . The attendance on Saturday was 5,053. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Brown: Plays in Rielly's shadow but was terrific; 2. Bell: Assertive and a goal; 3. Paulic: More than solid. . . . The Warriors hung out in Kamloops on Sunday and left for Prince George this morning. They will play the Cougars there on Tuesday. . . . The OHL's London Knights are on a 15-game winning streak after beating the host Mississauga Steelheads 4-3 in a game that took a 19-round shootout to decide. That eclipses the Blazers and the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads for the longest winning streak in the CHL this season.

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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.
———
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.
———
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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