Think about this for a moment or two . . .
There were 18,890 fans at Rogers Place in Vancouver on Friday night as the Canucks beat the Dallas Stars, 5-2.
There were 7,044 fans at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre to watch the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat beat the Chicago Wolves, 4-3 in overtime. The Wolves, of course, are affiliated with the Canucks.
Meanwhile, there were 6,328 fans at Pacific Coliseum and they saw the Spokane Chiefs beat the Vancouver Giants, 5-1, in Game 5 of their first-round WHL playoff series.
Add it up and that’s 32,262 fans in attendance at three hockey games on B.C.’s Lower Mainland.
In the meantime, there is an arena situated between Vancouver and Abbotsford that seats almost 5,000 seats. In fact, you may remember that Prospera Centre in Chilliwack used to be home to a WHL franchise.
Now what if that franchise was competitive enough that it could forge a rivalry with the Vancouver Giants? What if an established team with a solid track record on and off the ice was to relocate?
What if . . .?
———

The AJHL’s St. Albert Steel notified the city on Wednedsay that it has filed a request to the league in the hopes of relocating to Whitecourt. AJHL officials held a conference call regarding the situation on Friday afternoon. . . . Whitecourt is 175 kilometres northwest of St. Albert, which is just northwest of Edmonton. . . . Glenn Cook of the St. Albert Leader reports “the AJHL has struck a committee of six governors, which will convene in Edmonton on Friday, April 6, to address the situation. Both the Steel and the City will have a chance to make a presentation to that committee.” . . . Greg Parks is the owner/GM/head coach of the Steel.
———
The Minnesota Wild announced Friday that Everett Silvertips D Josh Caron and Kelowna Rockets F Brett Bulmer will join the AHL’s Houston Aeros. . . . Caron signed with Wild as a free agent prior to the 2010-11 season. Bulmer started this season with the Wild before he was returned to the Rockets.
———
FRIDAY’S WHL GAMES:
(If you want WHL facts and stats, open a Twitter account, if you haven’t already, and follow @WHLFacts)

In Moose Jaw, the Warriors outshot the Regina Pats 14-0 in the first as they scored four times en route to a 5-2 victory. . . . The Warriors won the series 4-1, winning four in a row after losing the opener, and now will meet the Medicine Hat Tigers in Round 2. . . . That series will open Friday in Moose Jaw. The first three playoff games in Mosaic Place were sell outs (4,714). . . . That leaves the Edmonton Oil Kings and Brandon Wheat Kings to go at it in the Eastern Conference’s other semifinal. That series will begin in Edmonton on Friday. . . . Moose Jaw F Justin Kirsch scored 16 seconds into the game and the Warriors were away to the races. . . . F Cam Braes and F James Henry, the two 20-year-olds acquired by the Warriors at the trade deadline, each had two points. Braes drew two assists; Henry had a goal, his second of the series, and an assist. . . . Moose Jaw F Brayden Point, who turned 16 on March 12, had his third goal of the series. His first two were game-winners. . . . The Warriors, who use five forwards on their first PP unit, were 8-for-27 with the man advantage. Regina was 2-for-16. . . . The Pats were without G Matt Hewitt (broken wrist), D Brandon Davidson (separated shoulder), F Andrew Rieder (shoulder) and F Dyson Stevenson (one-game suspension). . . . D Morgan Rielly (knee) remains among Moose Jaw’s scratches. . . . With Hewitt out, the Pats brought in Tanner Burgardt, the 115th pick in the 2010 bantam draft, to back up Adam Beukeboom. Burgardt ws 20-2-1 with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos this season. . . . The Pats also had D Nathan Zimbaluk in the lineup. He played 15 games with the Pats earlier in the season, before being assigned to the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs. . . . After the game, the head coaches — Regina’s Pat Conacher and Moose Jaw’s Mike Stothers — didn’t shake hands. “My reaction to that is the same reaction I had when they sat guys out in the regular season. I have no reaction to it," Stothers told Greg Harder of the Regina Leader-Post. "I just keep marching ahead and focus on my team and make sure we conduct ourselves professionally.” . . . For his part, Conacher said he couldn’t find Stothers. “I looked for Mike and he walked off the bench so I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” Conacher told Harder. “I’m not going to chase him down the hallway.” . . .

In Vancouver, F Mitch Holmberg scored twice as the Spokane Chiefs bet the Giants, 5-1. . . . The Chiefs dropped the first two games in this series but now hold a 3-2 edge. This now is the only first-round series that has yet to be decided. Game 6 is Sunday in Spokane. . . . . This was the first time in the series that a visiting team won. . . . F Liam Stewart, at 7:20 of the first period, and F Darren Kramer, at 1:09 of the second, gave the Chiefs a 2-0 lead. . . . F Brendan Gallagher got Vancouver into it with his fifth of the series at 15:06 of the second, on the PP. . . . The Chiefs put it away with three in the third, the last two just 23 seconds part. Holmberg got his side’s third and fourth goals, giving him five in the series, with F Blake Gal getting the last one. . . . The start of the game was delayed almost 20 minutes by a broken pane of glass in the warmup. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province was paying particular attention in the warmup and tweeted about Kramer chatting up Vancouver F Cain Franson, and then exchanging howdy-dos with D Blake Orban and D Wes Vannieuwenhuizen. . . . Kramer finished the game by being assessed a minor penalty for “leaving penalty box” at 20:00 of the third period. . . . Referees Chris Crich and Trevor Hanson handed out 22 minor penalties. . . . The Giants were 1-6 on the PP; the Chiefs were 1-4. . . . Spokane F Mike Aviani came up empty on a third-period penalty shot with the Chiefs leading 3-1. . . . Spokane G Eric Williams, who has started each of the last three games, stopped 23 shots, four more than Vancouver’s Adam Morrison. . . . The Giants added F Brodyn Nielsen to their lineup while scratching Russian F Alex Kuvaev, who hasn’t scored in 26 games. Nielsen, 18, had one goal in 14 reguar-season games with the Giants. He spent the season with the junior B North Vancouver Wolf Pack.
———
FRIDAY’S CHECKING-FROM-BEHIND COUNT:
None.
———
FRIDAY’S CHECKING-TO-THE-HEAD COUNT:
None.

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Mark Ferner and his Everett Silvertips have their sights set on a playoff spot.
(Photo by Christopher Mast / mastimages.com)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Were the WHL playoffs to start tonight, the Kamloops Blazers would be opening at home against the Everett Silvertips.
The Blazers, the B.C. Division champions, would be going in as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, with the Silvertips No. 7.
That is where both teams are right now and, when one looks at what’s left on the schedule, the Silvertips have a better than puncher’s chance of finishing right there.
Which brings us to Mark Ferner, the first-year head coach of the Silvertips, who played and coached with the Blazers.
“Knowing the history there, I hope they win . . . I hope they win,” Ferner said Monday. “They haven’t won a round in a long time.”
He paused and chuckled, before adding: “Unless they play us . . . then I hope they don’t win.”
The Silvertips have a league-low 21 victories and just a few weeks ago were last in the 10-team Western Conference. But they have gone 5-4-1 in their last 10 outings and that, combined with 10 loser points, has them on the verge of qualifying for the playoffs for the ninth time in their nine-season existence.
“We just want a chance to play somebody,” Ferner said.
The Silvertips (21-38-10) have three games left, all of them on the road, where they are 7-20-6. They are to play the Kelowna Rockets on Wednesday, the Tri-City Americans on Friday and the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday.
Everett goes into the last week one point ahead of the eighth-place Victoria Royals, four up on Seattle and six ahead of the Prince George Cougars.
Everett is 1-1-1 against Kelowna, but they last faced each other on Jan. 18. Against Tri-City, Everett is 2-4-1, including 0-2-1 in Kennewick. The Silvertips hold a 4-2-3 edge over the Thunderbirds, including 1-1-2 in Kent.
“We’ve had a little bit of success against Tri, a little bit of success against Portland . . . we haven’t beaten Kamloops yet,” Ferner said.
The Blazers went 4-0-0 against the Silvertips, winning 5-2 and 3-2 there and 6-1 and 5-2 here.
Lately, however, things have been looking up for the Silvertips.
“The kids are starting to understand that you have to work,” Ferner said, adding that goaltender “Kent Simpson is playing very well for us and we’re better in front of him.
“It’s confidence and work ethic.”
Simpson, 20, has a 19-29-7 record, but is 5-1-1 in his last seven starts. In March, he is 4-0-1 with a 2.77 GAA and a .939 save percentage.
Everett’s roster also boasts Ryan Murray, who may be the league’s top defender.
Murray, an 18-year-old from White City, Sask., is certain to be an early first-round selection in the NHL’s 2012 draft.
“He’s a special player,” Ferner said. “He’s as good as I’ve ever seen at this level. Period.”
Murray missed two months early in the season with a high ankle sprain, then spent a month with Canada’s national junior team. These days, he’s healthy but battling fatigue.
“He just plays too much,” Ferner said. “When games are close, you have to make sure he’s on the ice at the right time.”
Ferner gave his squad Monday off and said he very well may give Murray today off, as well. Everett has two other defencemen — Austin Adams and Nick Walters — out with injuries.
“We just need to get healthy,” Ferner said, noting that former Kamloops winger J.T. Barnett (knee) is back skating and taking contact, so may return in time for the playoffs.
“If he does come back,” Ferner said, “he will play completely different minutes than if he was healthy. But he’s an older body.”
The other former Blazers skater in Everett, defenceman Josh Caron, has been “very, very good for us,” Ferner said.
“We were getting pushed around and we weren’t winning games and our back end wasn’t very good,” Ferner said. “He’s come in and he’s solidified it. He kills penalties and he plays 4-on-4. He’s in our top four (defencemen) right now.”
The Blazers (46-18-5) are to leave this morning for Spokane where they will play the Chiefs (36-23-9) on Wednesday. Kamloops will finish up its regular season going home and home with Prince George, playing here Friday and there Saturday.
The Blazers are four points off the Western Conference lead, which is held by Tri-City (49-17-3), and three back of Portland (48-17-4). The Blazers, then, aren’t officially locked into the No. 2 seed, but all signs are pointing in that direction.
At least they know they will be in the playoffs. Everett can’t say that yet.
“We’re close,” Ferner said. “We’re close.”

——————
Victoria (22-41-7) has two games remaining, both of them at home against the Winterhawks, who will play there Wednesday and Friday.
Seattle (23-43-2) plays host to the Chiefs tonight, goes to Spokane for a Friday engagement, takes on the visiting Silvertips on Saturday and finishes up in Portland on Sunday.
Prince George (22-45-2) visits the Americans tonight — the Cougars couldn’t hold a 3-1 lead and lost 5-3 to Tri-City on Sunday — before playing home-and-home with Kamloops.
The Cougars are facing long odds, though, and their margin of error is awfully small — with three games to play, they are five points behind the Royals.
JUST NOTES: The Blazers are listing F Chase Schaber (leg) and F Chase Souto (shoulder) as being out day-to-day. . . . The WHL has made it official — the Blazers will open the first round at home on March 23 and 24. Game time both nights will be 7 o’clock.

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Blazers win, deal Caron

CHASE SCHABER

JOSH CARON

Chase Schaber and Brendan Ranford lit up Victoria’s Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Tuesday night.
Schaber scored three goals and Ranford drew four assists as the Kamloops Blazers escaped with a 4-3 WHL victory over the host Victoria Royals.
The game ended with the Royals holding a 6-on-4 advantage — they were on the power play and goaltender Keith Hamilton was on the bench. However, the home team wasn’t able to beat Kamloops goaltender Cole Cheveldave.
Following the game, the Blazers announced they have traded veteran defenceman Josh Caron, 20, to the Everett Silvertips for a fourth-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. The two teams had been talking about this trade since at least Thursday. Caron, who didn’t make the trip to Victoria, completed a three-game suspension when he sat out last night’s game.
Caron, one of the toughest players and most-feared scrappers in the WHL, played 128 games with the Blazers, picking up 15 points and 375 penalty minutes. Caron never was selected in the NHL draft, but he went to camp with the Minnesota Wild prior to last season and signed a contract before returning to the Blazers.
This was the second recent deal between these teams. On Nov. 14, the Blazers sent right-winger J.T. Barnett to Everett for a third-round selection in the 2013 draft.
Interestingly, the Silvertips are scheduled to play in Kamloops on Dec. 7.
The Blazers have been carrying eight defencemen, meaning freshmen Tyler Bell and Landon Cross haven’t been able to get into the lineup on a consistent basis. Cross was a healthy scratch last night.
By moving Caron, the Blazers also open up a spot for a 20-year-old player. A WHL team is allowed to have three such players on their roster; the Blazers other two are Schaber and defenceman Bronson Maschmeyer.
The Silvertips had room for a 20-year-old after sending centre Tyler Maxwell to the Edmonton Oil Kings last week. Their other 20-year-olds are F Josh Birkholz and D Brennan Yadlowski.
Caron also becomes one of nine defencemen on the Everett roster, although Silvertips fans aren’t likely to see Ryan Murray until some time in January. He is out with an ankle injury and isn’t likely to play for them before head for the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp early next month.
Schaber, who has played hurt for most of the last month, finished last night’s game with the second three-goal game of his WHL career; it came in his 241st regular-season game. He also scored three times in a 6-3 victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat on Feb. 27, 2010.
Ranford enjoyed the first four-assist game of his career; he had drawn three assists in a game on four occasions. He now has six points in his last two games after recording a goal and an assist Saturday in an 8-2 victory over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds.
This was the start of a stretch of four games in five nights for the Blazers. They will play in Victoria again tonight, then return home to face the Prince George Cougars on Friday and the Royals on Saturday.
The Blazers (17-7-1) remain fourth in the Western Conference, but are only one point behind the Vancouver Giants (17-9-2) and Portland Winterhawks (17-9-2). Kamloops, which is 9-2-0 against B.C. Division opponents, is 5-1-1 in its last seven games.
The Royals, meanwhile, are 11-15-1. They have lost four in a row and eight of nine, and are seventh in the 10-team conference.
Last night, Schaber scored the game’s first, third and fifth goals. He gave the Blazers a 1-0 lead, then broke 1-1 and 2-2 ties, his third goal coming at 5:33 of the third period.
Right-winger J.C. Lipon upped the Blazers’ lead to 4-2 at 14:54 of the third period. That goal proved important as centre Logan Nelson pulled Victoria to within one just a minute later.
Jamie Crooks had Victoria’s first two goals.
Cheveldave, an 18-year-old freshman from Calgary, stopped 26 shots as he made his sixth straight start. He also improved his record to 10-3-1.
Hamilton also finished with 26 saves.
JUST NOTES: Announced attendance was 4,400. . . . Lipon’s ninth goal was his 22nd point this season. He had 21 points in 65 games last season. . . . Kamloops D Brady Gaudet had two assists, giving him five over his last two games. He also has nine in 17 games this season; last season, he finished with seven in 56 games. . . . The Blazers were 1-for-4 on the PP; the Royals were 0-for-3. . . . Victoria F Kevin Sundher picked up two assists. The first was his 218th regular-season point. That broke the franchise’s career record that had been held by F Ryan Howse, who now is with the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat. . . . The Blazers scratched F Jordan DePape (shoulder), Caron, Cross and F Chase Souto. . . . When the Cougars are at Interior Savings Centre on Friday night, it’ll be the annual Teddy Bear/Toque Toss.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Oleg Tverdovsky (Brandon, 1994-95) was assigned by Salavat Yulayev Ufa (Russia, KHL) to Toros Neftekamsk (Russia, Vysshaya Liga) after clearing KHL waivers. He has no points in 12 games for Salavat Yulayev this season. . . .
F Dan DaSilva (Portland, 2002-05) was not offered a contract by Biel (Switzerland, NL A) after his four-day tryout ended Thursday. He had one assist in 15 games with Lev Poprad (Slovakia, KHL) earlier this season.
———
It would seem that Bob Green, the general manager of the Edmonton Oil Kings, has served notice that he feels his club can contend in the Eastern Conference.
Or he at least wants to serve notice to the other teams that, hey, “We’re in this, too.”
On Thursday, Green surrendered D Griffin Foulk, 16, and a 2012 third-round bantam draft pick in order to acquire F Tyler Maxwell, 20, from the Everett Silvertips.
Maxwell had been sent home to Manhattan Beach, Calif., a couple of weeks ago after asking for a trade.
In 216 games with Everett, Maxwell put up 195 points, including a franchise-record 107 goals.
Maxwell flew from SoCal to Everett on Thursday and will get into Edmonton today. He should arrive in time to play tonight against the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers.
The acquisition of Maxwell dictated another move from the Oil Kings, as that left them 20-year-old over the maximum of three, the others being forwards Josh Lazowski, Jordan Peddle and Rhett Rachinski. They promptly placed Lazowski on waivers. A native of Leduc, Alta., he had eight points in 17 games this season. Last season, he put up 28 points in 32 games.
Meanwhile, Foulk is from Broomfield, Colo. He was an eighth-round selection by Edmonton in the 2010 bantam draft, and has been in each of the Oil Kings’ last two training camps. He is playing a second season of major midget with the Colorado Thunderbirds.
The Oil Kings (13-8-3) go into the weekend in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, where nine of 12 teams have winning percentages above .500.
The Tigers have beaten the Oil Kings twice this season, 5-3 in Edmonton on Sept. 30 and 4-3 in a shootout in Medicine Hat the next night.
———
JUST NOTES: D Josh Caron of the Kamloops Blazers drew a three-game suspension for a Wednesday night check to the head of Kootenay Ice F Max Reinhart. . . . D Martin Marincin of the Prince George Cougars will play for Slovakia in the 2012 World Junior Championship. . . . The Victoria Royals have released F Brendan Persley, 18, who had one goal in nine games this season. He missed training camp and the start of the season with mononucleosis. Persley, who had eight points in 43 games last season with the Chilliwack Bruins (hey, remember them?), is from Kelowna.
———
There’s a neat story right here from Stephen Whyno of the Washington Times. It involves F Brooks Laich, now of the Washington Capitals, and Dean Chynoweth, now an assistant coach with the New York Islanders. Back then, though, Laich was with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Chynoweth was the head coach.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Charron's flick not that scary

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Guy Charron was in his office early Thursday and, yes, he watched the flick from the previous night.
Less than 24 hours earlier, the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers had stood behind the bench and watched as his charges were felled, 7-3, by the Kootenay Ice, the WHL’s defending champion.
Charron then began the work of preparing his guys for two weekend home games, tonight against the Victoria Royals (11-12-1) and Saturday against the Seattle Thunderbirds (10-11-0).
Kamloops goes into the weekend at 14-7-1, good for fourth spot in the Western Conference, although it has the conference’s second-best winning percentage (.659).
If you weren’t in Interior Savings Centre on Wednesday, you missed a six-goal second-period explosion by the visitors that broke open a 1-1 game.
After watching the video, Charron decided that “the score was not an indication of the game.”
As he pointed out, the Ice had 15 scoring chances, while the Blazers had “18 or 19.”
Of course, such use of numbers gives credence to Mark Twain’s theory that “facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.”
Because, as Charron was well aware, while his guys owned the third period, outscoring the Ice 2-0, both goals coming via the power play, and outshooting it 11-4, the game had ended in the second period.
The Blazers actually came out of the first period in good shape, despite a major penalty handed to defenceman Josh Caron for a hit to the head of Ice centre Max Reinhart. The WHL has suspended Caron for three games, meaning he won’t play this weekend.
Still, the Blazers came out of the first period tied 1-1. The home side also held an 11-8 edge in shots.
“Even though we took the major penalty,” Charron said, “I thought we did very well. Our first period was dominant.”
The second period, however, was a different story. The Ice scored six times on eight shots, while the Blazers mustered only two scoring chances.
“Their second period was dominant . . .,” Charron said. “In the third, we outchanced them. But, in saying that, you (allow a team to) score x number of goals on x number of shots, it’s going to be tough to win the hockey game.”
The Blazers’ downfall began with two penalties — a goaltender interference call against left-winger Brendan Ranford and a checking-from-behind minor to defenceman Austin Madaisky — in the period’s first five minutes.
The Ice scored on each of the power plays to take a 3-1 lead. And the Blazers were done, if for no other reason than they now were too caught up in the work of referee Derek Zalaski.
“For sure . . . for sure . . . for sure,” Charron said. “That’s a valid point, for sure.
“Something we as a team have to get better at is dealing with some of the adversity. For me, we didn’t play badly, but we didn’t . . . when things go well for us on the road we are more focused to play the way we need to play and at home we get away from it a little bit.”
So the work in progress will continued tonight against Marc Habscheid’s Royals, who have won three of their last 10 games and have given up a WHL-high 121 goals.
With Caron out, Brady Gaudet, 17, draws back into the Blazers’ lineup after being a healthy scratch for three straight games. Landon Cross, another 17-year-old defenceman, has been a healthy scratch for six straight games and nine of the last 10, but may play tonight in place of Tyler Bell.
Two Kamloops forwards — team captain Chase Schaber and freshman winger Cole Ully — were missing from practice yesterday.
Charron said Schaber was given a maintenance day — “He’s resting. He’s been banged up for quite some time,” Charron said — while Ully has a “lower body injury.”
And who to start in goal? Cole Cheveldave started Wednesday and gave up four goals on 12 shots, before being relieved by Cam Lanigan, who was beaten three times on four shots. Cheveldave re-entered and stopped the last six shots he faced.
So . . . Cheveldave is expected to make his fourth straight start tonight.
JUST NOTES: Caron will be eligible to return for a game in Victoria on Wednesday. The Blazers also play in Victoria on Tuesday. . . . Kamloops D Bronson Maschmeyer was playing the role of proud brother yesterday, after his sister, Emerance, a 17-year-old goaltender, was named to the Canadian team that will play in the IIHF U-18 World championship in Prerov and Zlin, Czech Republic, Dec. 31 through Jan. 7. Emerance plays for the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats. . . . The Royals signed F Ben Walker, 18, from the Edina, Minn., High School Hornets on Monday. He could make his WHL debut tonight. . . . Victoria remains without D Tyler Stahl (concussion), who was injured on Oct. 1. . . . Seattle, which has won three in a row, is at home to the Prince George Cougars tonight. . . . Seattle F Branden Troock, 17, is back after missing all of last season with what was thought to be a concussion. In short, it turned out to be a problem with a nerve in his neck that was mimicking a concussion. He now visits an acupuncturist once a week and, so far, it’s keeping him in the lineup.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
gdrinnan.blogspot.com
     
Taking Note on Twitter

Hansen has been Blazers' Minister of Defence

Tyler Hansen (2) has been front and centre among Kamloops Blazers
defencemen early in this WHL season.
(Photo by Marissa Baecker / Kelowna Daily Courier)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

If any one player best represents the amazing transformation that is taking place with the Kamloops Blazers, it is defenceman Tyler Hansen.
Hansen, an 18-year-old from Magrath, Alta., is into his third WHL season with the Blazers, who selected him in the third round of the 2008 bantam draft.
But, based on his first two seasons, who saw THIS coming?
Going into this season, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Hansen had 20 points, including three goals, and 108 penalty minutes in 119 regular-season games. He also was a minus-17.
As the Blazers prepare to meet the Portland Winterhawks at Interior Savings Centre tonight, Hansen has eight assists and 14 penalty minutes in 14 games.
Oh, did we mention that he was leading the WHL at plus-16?
“The biggest thing is that this season I have just accepted my role,” Hansen said Tuesday following practice at Interior Savings Centre. “I’m a defensive defenceman. Since Day 1, Dave Hunchak has come in and told me that’s who I am and that’s who I’m going to be. He has built that confidence in me.”
Hunchak, the Blazers’ associate coach, signed with the team over the summer, after seven seasons in the Eastern Conference, the last four as head coach of the Moose Jaw Warriors. He has spent a lot of time working with the Blazers’ defencemen.
“It’s no different with any young player,” Hunchak said. “They think they are more than what they are when, in reality, once they figure out and accept what they are and apply themselves to it . . . in this case, he’s a shutdown, hard-to-play-against defenceman. Guys make careers of that.”
While Hansen showed signs last season of being this kind of player, he wasn’t able to do it with any sort of consistency. That hasn’t been the case this season as he and frequent partner Josh Caron have provided the Blazers with perhaps the WHL’s edgiest defensive pairing.
Hansen was eligible for the 2011 NHL draft but wasn’t selected. When he did an analysis, he decided he needed “to be more of a mean, physical strong guy.”
“That brings a whole new level to my game,” Hansen said. “Playing with Caron . . . he’s a good influence on me.”
Both are physical players who bring an edge onto the ice with them, something Hansen said “gives us more time and space.”
“The meaner I play,” he said, “the more in the other guy’s face I am, the more ice I have to work with.”
While Hansen may want to be mean and aggressive on the ice, that isn’t the case away from the rink. Hansen is one of those teenagers who wears a smile on his face the way John Wayne wore a cowboy hat.
Hansen is of Mormon upbringing, and family, faith and friends are of utmost importance to him. That’s why it was so important to him that he attend the funeral of a high school friend in Magrath on Oct. 20.
The Blazers were on a three-game swing into Alberta at the time, and the funeral fell on an off-day. So Hansen and good friend Russ Maxwell, who plays for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, wore their hockey sweaters to the funeral, one of four held in Magrath after four teenagers were killed in a single-vehicle accident.
“It was tough,” Hansen said. “It was nice to go home but it was very bittersweet. . . . I was glad I had the opportunity to mourn with everyone else.”
The community also held a fund-raising evening to benefit the four families. It included a concert, father-son hockey game and silent auction at which John Evans of Magrath purchased a signed Hansen sweater for $500. The evening brought in more than $50,000.
Hansen and Maxwell, who also is from Magrath, are close friends. In fact, they were teammates on a Lethbridge baseball team that won the Canadian Big League championship this summer and then played in the Big League World Series in Easley, S.C.
Baseball, Hansen said, “is definitely my other passion. I’ve been playing since I was a kid. I’ve always been told you have to have a balance of things.”
Hansen and Maxwell both had the misfortune of playing for WHL teams that failed to make the playoffs last season. So, Hansen said, the two decided “to get away from the rink and play some baseball . . .. get our minds off hockey.”
Little did they know they would end up in South Carolina.
“It was an amazing experience,” Hansen said. “The Puerto Rican team had 11 guys drafted by Major League teams. Their pitcher was throwing 94 miles an hour.”
All told, the Lethbridge team spent three weeks on the road.
“When we got home,” he said, “I was ready to get back to hockey. I think that helped me get my mind off hockey. When I was done baseball I was rejuvenated and ready to get back to hockey.”
When he returned to Kamloops, Hansen was bigger and stronger, and ready to take on his new role.
“He’s come a long ways,” Hunchak said. “I think a lot of it has to do with, No. 1, maturity, and, No. 2, accepting what he is and relishing that role. He knows he’s not going to play the power play. He knows there are certain situations he doesn’t play in, but there are others he does play in because that’s what his job is.”
“I’m comfortable and know my role,” Hansen said. “I can contribute in my own way. Shutting down the other team’s top line, staying out of our d-zone and giving our forwards the puck. When they have the puck they’re pretty good, so I just try to get it to them as much as possible.”
That pretty much has been the game plan that has helped the Blazers to an 11-3-0 record and first place in the Western Conference. That, in turn, has led to a lot of smiles in the team’s dressing room.
“It’s always fun when you’re winning,” Hansen said. “It has a lot to do with the team and team success. It’s easy on me when our forwards are playing well and the other d-men are playing well. It makes it easy on all of us and that helps our personal stats.
“My stats and my credit is a little bit different than scoring a bunch of goals. It’s more plus-minus, the odd assist . . . when the team excels I feel pretty good.
“We’re pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished but we know there’s a lot to do still.”
JUST NOTES: G Cole Cheveldave, who has a 5-0-0 record, will start in goal for the Blazers. The Winterhawks are likely to open with veteran Mac Carruth (7-7-1, 3.06, .893). . . . Portland’s backup goaltender is Brendan Burke (1-0-1, 4.30, .829). Burke, 16, is the son of former NHLer Sean Burke. . . . The NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets said yesterday that they have decided to keep F Ryan Johansen, 19, at least for now. Johansen, the fourth overall pick in the NHL’s 2010 draft, has to play in the NHL or be returned to the Winterhawks. . . . The New York Islanders have assigned F Nino Niederreiter, 19, to the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers on injury rehab. Niederreiter, who also must be returned to Portland if he doesn’t stay with the Islanders, has yet to play this season because of a groin injury.

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Taking Note on Twitter

Blazers welcome back Ranford

All eyes are on the puck in front of Spokane goaltender Zach Rakochy
in WHL action in Kamloops on Friday night. Spokane defencemen
Brendon Kichton (8) and Corbin Baldwin (23), along with Blazers
winger Jordan DePape wait for the little black thing to come down.
(Photo by Murray Mitchell / Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN

Daily News Sports Editor

It wasn’t quite Welcome Back, Kotter. But it’ll have to do.
Left-winger Brendan Ranford was welcomed back to the Kamloops lineup on Friday night and lit the fuse early to spark the Blazers to a 6-4 WHL victory over the Spokane Chiefs before 3,859 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
Ranford, who led the Blazers in goals (33) and points (86) last season, missed this season’s first three games as he completed a six-game suspension left over from last season.
Obviously, he was excited to get his season rolling and he had a lot of jump early. Just 3:24 in, he cut across the Spokane zone and fired a shot back against the flow, as he often does, and beat goaltender Zach Rakochy, who was making his WHL debut.
“Getting that first goal early was key,” Ranford said. “But it doesn’t matter who scores . . . we just need the goals.”
The Blazers had scored 14 goals over their previous two games, and through 50 minutes were in total control of this one, with a 5-1 lead.
In fact, when freshman winger Aspen Sterzer scored a shorthanded goal, somehow, while falling, getting a one-handed flip up and over Mac Engel at 8:56 of the third period, you couldn’t be faulted for thinking school was out. Kamloops had that 5-1 lead and, to that point, owned the play.
“I got hit,” the 17-year-old from Canal Flats said of his first WHL goal. “I got up and saw it going over his back. I saw the guy coming and just tried to get it on net. And it went in.
“I was pretty excited.”
However, the Blazers promptly stopped moving their feet and their puck-pursuit game dried up. Suddenly, a game that had been played mostly in Spokane’s zone now was centred in front of Blazers goaltender Cam Lanigan.
And the Chiefs quickly scored three goals to make a game of it.
“We got away from our plan. We had to get things deep a little bit more,” Sterzer said.
Ranford agreed.
“We came out and played hard the first 30 or 40 minutes,” he said. “Then we got away from our game plan and we can’t do that. We’ll learn from that. It’s the start of the season and, hey, we got two points . . . from a hard-working team.”
J.T. Barnett, in his first game after sitting out three with a knee injury, Jordan DePape, Austin Madaisky and J.C. Lipon, the latter into an empty net, had the Blazers’ other goals.
Darren Kramer, with two, Reid Gow and Jason Fram replied for the Chiefs (1-2-1).
The game ended at 9:41 p.m.; Spokane head coach Don Nachbaur still was in the dressing room as the clock tolled 10. It is safe to assume he wasn’t scheduling a turkey dinner.
With the victory, the Blazers (3-1-0) closed out their season-opening four-game homestand.
They are scheduled to leave for Everett this morning at 10:30, where they are to play Mark Ferner and the Silvertips tonight. Ferner is in his first season as head coach of the Silvertips; in fact, he got his first victory with his new team last night, beating the visiting Portland Winterhawks, 4-2. Tonight will mark the first time Ferner has coached against the franchise for which he once played and also coached.
The Blazers return home to face Emerson Etem and the Medicine Hat Tigers on Monday, 2 p.m. Etem scored four times last night as the Tigers dropped a 5-4 decision in Victoria. Etem, 19, has 11 goals in six games.
Two years ago, he torched the host Blazers for four goals in a 12-5 Medicine Hat victory on Thanksgiving Day.
Fans may find out in a hurry, then, whether the Blazers learned their lesson last night.
“You can learn from those mistakes and win hockey games,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said. “As a team, we have to realize when we are up three or four goals going into the third period there is no way we should allow another team to come back.”
Ranford wasn’t about to disagree. But, as he said, it’s early.
“We have another 68 games to play,” he stated. “If we have this problem when there are 10 or five games left, then it’s an issue.”
JUST NOTES: The Chiefs were 2-for-6 on the power play; the Blazers were 1-for-7. . . . Lanigan stopped 20 shots. Rakochy, whose namebar read ‘Rakocy’, turned aside 12 of 15 shots, while Engel came on to play the last two periods and stopped 13 of 15. . . . Sterzer’s goal was the Blazers’ third shorthanded score this season; they scored four all of last season. . . . Veteran F Dominik Uher, 19, of the Chiefs completed a three-game WHL suspension by sitting out last night. . . . Among the Chiefs’ scratches was F Liam Stewart, who suffered a shoulder injury last weekend when he absorbed a hit from behind. He is the son of actress/model Rachel Hunter and music legend Rod Stewart. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Kamloops D Josh Caron: Plus-4, a third-period glove save and a beauty, and a pugilistic victory; 2. Ranford: He’s back; 3. Sterzer, fine defensively and a goal to remember. . . . Tom Gaglardi, the Blazers’ majority owner, spent the the last three days in Dallas and watched from a luxury suite last night as the Stars opened their NHL season with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. He is hoping to purchase the Stars, who are in bankruptcy. Should no one bid more than his US$267 million, he could be named owner some time after Oct. 22.

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Taking Note on Twitter

Game to remember for Madaisky

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Austin Madaisky won’t ever forget Tuesday night in Winnipeg.
Madaisky, a 19-year-old defenceman, was in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ lineup for the return of the Jets to Winnipeg.
There were 15,004 fans in the sold-out MTS Centre for the exhibition game and, yes, it was noisy. Madaisky may as well have been standing in the middle of a busy runway at Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport as the Jets arrived.
“You couldn’t even hear the intro music or the announcer giving the starting lineups over the public address system,” said Madaisky, who will begin the trek back to Kamloops today and will play in the Blazers’ WHL regular-season opener here against the Prince George Cougars on Saturday. “You couldn’t hear anything.
“It was crazy . . . it was nuts. It felt like Stanley Cup playoffs out there.”
This was the Jets’ first NHL appearance in Winnipeg since a playoff game on April 28, 1996, after which the franchise moved to Phoenix.
Madaisky said the Jets, who won 6-1, were kind of pumped for this one.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Off the first shift, there were two fights to start the game. Right from the start . . . it was crazy.
“Being influenced by that crowd and the buildup, not only from game day, but what transpired over the last month there, I’m sure they were pretty anxious to show the fans a little something. There were four fights . . . it was pretty wild.”
This also was Madaisky’s NHL debut and, he said, it was something he never will forget.
“Even just flying out there in the team plane and things like that . . . it was just a hell of an experience,” he said.
Madaisky, who watched the Blue Jackets beat the visiting Washington Capitals ?? on Wednesday night, was a fifth-round pick by Columbus in the NHL’s 2010 draft. This was his second NHL training camp, although he has yet to sign an NHL contract. Still, he doesn’t feel that he did anything to hurt his chances.
“I thought I held my own,” he said of the game, in which he played 11 minutes 16 seconds and finished minus-1. “It’s probably the fastest hockey I’ve ever played. Everything happens a lot quicker out there.
“It’s one of those things where every game you play, it starts to slow down a little more. As the game went on I started to feel more and more comfortable . . . confidence started to rise after a couple of simple plays.
“It felt good out there.”
Like most junior players who get to play in the NHL, Madaisky quickly learned that play is far more structured there than in the WHL.
“Absolutely, in terms of positioning and things like that,” he said. “It’s hard to get used to at first, but once you get used to it, it’s easier than the junior game because it is more structured. It just takes a while to get that timing down . . . especially as a young defenceman, not to get caught up in running around and over-committing and things lke that.”
Madaisky learned in a hurry that a lot of it is about “simplifying the game and letting the game come to you.”
He also found out that, after being a veteran defenceman in the Blazers’ camp, he was the younger guy, partnered with veteran journeyman Aaron Johnson, 28.
“Yeah,” Madaisky said. “All of a sudden, I’m the younger guy. It took a bit of getting used to at first, but once you get the nerves out and settle down it’s really just another game.
“It’s just that everything’s a lot faster.”
Madaisky came out of the game believing more than ever that he is capable of being a regular in the NHL.
“Obviously, I think it’s going to take a couple more years of development,” he stated, “but I think it’s possible.
“Strength, battling in the corners . . . I was holding my own and I know that I can only get better.”
JUST NOTES: D Josh Caron, 20, was returned to the Blazers by the Minnesota Wild yesterday. Madaisky’s return will leave only F J.T. Barnett, 19, in an NHL camp. He is with the New Jersey Devils, but didn’t play in last game’s exhibition game against the New York Rangers. The two teams have a rematch Friday. . . . Blazers D Brady Gaudet, who wore No. 28 last season as a freshman, has switched to No. 7. The last regular to wear No. 7 was Slovakian D Michal Siska (2008-09). Last season, F Jesse Sinatynski wore it for three games. In 2009-10, D Max Mowat wore it in one game.
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Taking Note on Twitter

The Spokane Chiefs have dealt D Tyler Vanscourt, 19, to the Prince Albert Raiders in exchange for G Luke Lee-Knight, 18, and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2012 bantam draft.
(Note that the news release from the Raiders refers to the draft pick as conditional; the news release from the Chiefs doesn’t use the word conditional.)
Lee-Knight, who was listed by the Raiders in January 2011, was 7-7-7, 2.56, .912 with the midget AAA Calgary Royals last season. He got into two exhibition games with the Raiders, going 4.00, .886 in 60 minutes of action.
Vanscourt was a seventh-round selection by the Kootenay Ice in the 2007 bantam draft. He had 23 points, including four goals, and 49 penalty minutes in 57 games with the Chiefs last season.
"This trade was dictated by our abundance of young defensemen ready to take the step and play in the WHL," Spokane GM Tim Speltz said in a news release. "It strengthens our draft position, which is always important, and also strengthens our goaltending position."
At the same time, the Chiefs released G Jacob Edwards, 19, who is from Calgary.
They now are carrying 26 players, including three goaltenders and nine defencemen.
Joining Lee-Knight in the crease are veteran Mac Engel, 18, and newcomer Zach Rakochy, 18, who is from Canora, Sask.
———
The Calgary Hitmen have traded D Kyle Schmidt, 18, to the Saskatoon Blades for a fourth-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft.
Schmidt, from Waldheim, Sask., is a right-hand shot, something for which teams often are searching. He had 10 points, three of them goals, and 74 penalty minutes in 65 games with Calgary last season.
The Blades’ roster is at 26, including two goaltenders and seven defencemen.
———
The Tri-City Americans have dealt F Max Moline, 18, to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a conditional fifth-rounder in the 2013 bantam draft.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Moline, who is from Lethbridge, had four points and 42 penalty minutes in 53 games with the Americans last season. He was a fifth-round pick by the Americans in the 2008 bantam draft.
“Max is a quality kid and this move will allow him to play closer to home in front of his family and friends,” Bob Tory, the Americans’ GM, said in a news release.
Moline should be in the Lethbridge lineup for games tonight against the Kootenay Ice and Saturday against the Calgary Hitmen in the Crowsnest Pass, Alta. Those teams are taking part in the Thunder in the Pass preseason tournament to benefit Crowsnest Minor Hockey.
———
D Josh Caron, 20, of the Kamloops Blazers has what the Minnesota Wild is calling a “minor injury” and is to see a doctor today.
Caron was with the Wild’s rookie team at the tournament in Traverse City, Mich., and is on Minnesota’s main camp roster. Caron travelled the same road last season and came out of it with an NHL contract. Thus, he is eligible to play in the Wild’s organization.
He also is one of three 20-year-olds on the Blazers’ roster, the others being D Bronson Maschmeyer and F Chase Schaber, who is the team captain and who was on the Edmonton Oilers’ rookie team that played in the Young Guns tournament in Penticton, B.C., this week.
———
F Brett Hextall is in camp with the Phoenix Coyotes as he gets his first shot at helping the Hextalls become the NHL’s second four-generation family.
This will be worth watching.
Eons and eons ago I was in camp with the MJHL’s Portage Terriers when Bryan Hextall Sr. was their coach. The family patriarch has been a Hockey Hall of Famer since 1969. I also spent some time in the Brandon Wheat Kings’ camp a long, long time ago when Randy Hextall was there.
I would later cover the Wheat Kings when Ron Hextall, Brett’s father, was their starting goaltender. And, yes, Ron was a starting goaltender in every sense of the word — he was known to start things. Ron now is the Los Angeles Kings’ assistant general manager.
I also got to know Ron’s father, Bryan Jr., who split 549 NHL games and 99 goals between six teams.
And let’s not forget Dennis, Bryan Jr.’s brother, who scored 153 goals in 681 NHL games and was as tough as they came. He finished with 1,398 PMs.
Rick, another brother, didn’t get to the NHL but he did play pro for a handful of seasons.
It’s worth noting that the Hextall clan will gather in Poplar Point, Man., which is where it all began, early in 2013. There will be a celebration from Feb. 1-3.
The Detroit Red Wings alumni team will be there to play against the Poplar Point Alumni in a fund-raiser for the local community club.
Anyway . . . Brett, who played three seasons at North Dakota, was in action on Wednesday night against the Kings (yes, Ron was in the stands) and Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times was there. Her report is right here.
———
Greg Meachem, the sports editor of the Red Deer Advocate, reports:
“Veteran Adam Kambeitz returned to the Rebels Wednesday after attending the Phoenix Coyotes rookie camp, while fellow forward John Persson is expected back Saturday from the rookie camp of the New York Islanders.
“Forward Turner Elson and defencemen Alex Petrovic and Justin Weller will attend the main camps of the Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers and Coyotes, respectively, starting this weekend. All three are expected to be back with the Rebels before the team’s regular-season opener Sept. 23 versus the defending league champion Kootenay Ice.
“Byron Froese, a Chicago Blackhawks prospect, will at least start the season in the AHL and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be given every chance to earn regular employment with the Edmonton Oilers as the first overall pick in June’s NHL entry draft.”
———
Despite what you may have seen or heard — Vancouver’s Tom Gaglardi gets an NHL team, read the headline on one website — Vancouver’s Tom Gaglardi doesn’t own the Dallas Stars.
Not yet, anyway.
Gaglardi, the majority owner of the Kamloops Blazers, has been in hot pursuit of the NHL franchise for at least a year now. And, finally, it would appear that the end is near.
First, though, things have to go through bankruptcy court in Delaware, after which there is likely to be an auction.
As Kate Hairopoulos writes in the Dallas Morning News:
“The bankruptcy plan allows for a court-supervised auction of the sale, so Gaglardi’s offer is subject to higher bids.”
Why Delaware? As Hairopoulous notes: “Delaware is known as an efficient place to do bankruptcy business.”
Her complete story is right here and is a must read if you want to know the latest in this long, drawn-out saga.
———
It seems G Deven Dubyk, 20, was rather surprised when to learn he had been claimed on waivers by the Moose Jaw Warriors. Darren Steinke of the Medicine Hat News has that story right here.
———JUST NOTES: F Jason Swyripa of the Brandon Wheat Kings didn’t practise on Thursday after taking a hit to the head during a 4-0 loss to the Pats in Regina on Wednesday night. Regina F Michael Jung was given a major penalty for checking to the head. A suspension may follow. . . . The Alberni Valley News reports that F Sawyer Mick has had to end his hockey career because of a shoulder injury. According to the newspaper, he “will instead pursue a new career as a firefighter. Mick is enrolled in a three-month firefighting course at Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas. After Mick completes the course, he will participate in a two-week practicum en route to becoming a firefighter.” . . .
Larry Mitchell, the dean of St. Albert, drops a note to let us know that D Landan Viveiros, who will turn 18 on Oct. 25, is in camp with the AJHL’s St. Albert Steel. His brother, Layne, 16, is with the Portland Winterhawks. Their father, Emanuel, was a star defenceman with the Prince Albert Raiders back in the day and was named head coach of the Austrian national team earlier this week. . . . Tri-City F Adam Hughesman returned from the camp of the NHL’s New York Islanders to score two goals Thursday night and help the Americans to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Spokane Chiefs. Hughesman also had an assist. . . .
The Victoria Royals have released F Blair Wentworth, 19, who spent the last three seasons with the Chilliwack Bruins. He had 14 points and 132 penalty minutes in 149 regular-season games. “We have a lot of 16 and 17 year olds and we’re building with those young guys. Our strength is in our youth,” Royals GM/head coach Marc Habscheid told Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist. “(Cutting a veteran like Wentworth) is one of the most difficult things to do. But it’s part of the business. And the only constant in this business is change. Blair is a great kid and hopefully he can catch on with another (WHL) team or with a team in Junior A.” . . .
Former WHLer Josh Holden (Regina, 1994-98) has drawn an eight-game suspension in the Swiss National League A. He plays for Zug and was penalized for a hit to the head of Christian Dube of SC Bern. Holden was hit hard because he is a repeat offender. . . .
F Wheaton King, 19, has been released by the Medicine Hat Tigers and will return to the SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers. King had 11 points in 38 games with the Wheat Kings last season and 15 points in 16 games with the Klippers. . . . The Everett Silvertips got F Tyler Maxwell, 20, back from the Minnesota Wild’s rookie team that was in the Traverse City, Mich., tournament, while the Vancouver Canucks returned F Ryan Harrison. Everett F Josh Birkholz move on to the Florida Panthers’ main camp. . . . The Edmonton Oilers have returned G Adam Brown, 20, to the Kelowna Rockets. However, the Minnesota Wild have taken Kelowna D Colton Jobke and F Brett Bulmer on to main camp. The Rockets also got D Jessey Astles back from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
———
TWEET OF THE DAY:
From F Cody Beach of the Moose Jaw Warriors, who is in camp with the NHL’s St. Louis Blues: “physicals done, finally got to eat after 7 hours of no food. Pretty interesting places the doctor went, dont want to get into details #yikes”

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Taking Note on Twitter

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Reinforcements are on the way.
Well, sort of!
The Kamloops Blazers may well dress 15 skaters for their final WHL exhibition game when they meet the Cougars in Prince George on Friday.
Of those 15 skaters, six will be forwards, meaning that as many as three defencemen are likely to see duty up front.
The Blazers and Cougars were to have met Wednesday night at Interior Savings Centre. But the Blazers cancelled the game due to a shortage of players, what with eight players at NHL camps and four others injured.
Head coach Guy Charron indicated Wednesday that forward Dylan Willick should be back with the Blazers in time for Friday’s game. Willick, who is from Prince George although his family relocated to Kamloops over the summer, has been with the Minnesota Wild’s rookie team at a tournament in Traverse City, Mich.
Of the four injured players, only defenceman Landon Cross (groin) is likely to play. Cross, from Brandon, is one of three newcomers vying for a spot as the club’s seventh defenceman. Josh Connolly, 16, of Prince George and Tyler Bell, 17, of Regina also are in pursuit of that spot.
Forwards Ryan Hanes (charleyhorse), Logan McVeigh (concussion) and Chase Souto (headaches) won’t play. All three are listed as day-to-day.
The Blazers have added defencemen Jordan Thomson, 15, and Ryan Rehill, 16, to their roster for Friday’s game. Thomson, from Wawanesa, Man., was the fourth player chosen in the WHL’s 2011 bantam draft. Rehill, from Edmonton, was a sixth-round pick in 2010. Both players will rejoin their midget teams following the game in Prince George.
On Wednesday, the Blazers assigned forward Devin Oakes, 16, to the Pursuit of Excellence midget AAA prep team in Kelowna. He is to join that team in time to take part in a tournament in Minneapolis this weekend.
Oakes, a list player, had 24 points in 41 games with the PoE midget AAA team last season.
Including the players at NHL camps, as well as Thomson and Rehill, the Blazers are carrying 28 players — three goaltenders, 11 defencemen and 14 forwards.
The Blazers are scheduled to open the regular season at home on Sept. 24 with the Cougars providing the opposition. In fact, Kamloops will play its first four games at home.
JUST NOTES: Willick scored the Wild’s third goal Wednesday, as it beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 in the fifth-place game. . . . D Josh Caron, 20, also was on the Wild’s team. He signed with the Wild a year ago and is eligible to play in Minnesota’s organization. . . . D Austin Madaisky was with Columbus’s rookie team in Traverse City and is one of 19 defencemen on the Blue Jackets’ main training camp roster.

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Taking Note on Twitter

DePape hoping hip heals, allows him to join Jets

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
You will have to excuse Jordan DePape’s excitement level. After all, it isn’t often that a guy gets to go to camp with his hometown NHL team.
But such is the case with the Kamloops Blazers veteran right winger, who will be part of the Winnipeg Jets’ rookie team that is to participate in a tournament that opens in Penticton on the weekend.
Now about that hip . . .
“It’s OK. It’s getting there,” DePape said Monday, referring to a hip flexor injury that is keeping him off the ice. “It’s just a little tweaked thing.”
DePape started to feel the problem early in training camp. He tried to keep skating on it but that only irritates it “and it gets sorer and sorer.”
The prescription, then, has been to stay off the ice and get treatment from trainer Colin Robinson.
DePape has missed two exhibition games — a 4-2 victory over the visiting Victoria Royals on Friday and a 6-3 loss to the host Vancouver Giants on Saturday. He’s just thankful that he has two WHL seasons behind him so doesn’t feel pressure to rush back.
“Luckily enough I’ve been able to prove myself the last couple of years in the league so I didn’t have too much to worry about,” said DePape, who had 48 points, including 21 goals, in 54 games last season. “But training camp is pretty important and I’d like to be getting in shape, especially for pro camp coming up.”
DePape is scheduled to leave later this week for Winnipeg. He will spend two days there with the other Jets’ hopefuls, including former Blazers winger Shayne Wiebe, who played out his eligibility with the Brandon Wheat Kings last season. (On Dec. 13, 2009, the Blazers traded Wiebe, who is from Brandon, to the Wheat Kings in exchange for DePape, the MJHL’s rookie of the year in 2008-09 with the Winnpeg Saints.)
The rookie team then will head for Penticton and the second annual Young Stars tournament that also will feature the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks. The Jets are to play their first game on Sept. 12, 4 p.m., against the Sharks.
“It’s real exciting,” DePape said. “It’s kind of like a hometown dream for a kid like me, hearing all the history of the Jets and whatnot.”
DePape got a real taste of it over the summer as he was at home in Winnipeg when the Atlanta Thrashers’ move to Winnipeg and the rebirth of the Jets became official. He and some buddies even headed downtown to witness history.
“It was about 9:30 or 10 in the morning,” he recalled. “I looked at my phone — I hadn’t had it on me — and there were about 20 missed calls from all my buddies. We went to The Forks about 11 . . . all these older people skipping work, probably lots of people getting fired, everybody wanted to be part of this event. It was just packed. Everybody had Jets wear — a lot of old-school stuff . . . it was pretty cool.”
Later in the summer, he found out that his agent, Tony Matarazzo of Titan Sports Management, had landed him a tryout with the Jets.
“It was exciting to hear the news this summer that the Jets were coming back,” DePape said. “And then, after the draft, I found out I was going to get a rookie tryout with them . . . I couldn’t be more thrilled,” he said.
Now if that hip only will co-operate.
“I’m hoping,” DePape said. “I might take another day or two off the ice. Then we’ll see how it feels on the ice. I think I’ll be good to go for camp.”
It may end up being touch-and-go, however, as head coach Guy Charron said Monday that the injury “isn’t responding” as well as Robinson would like it to. Robinson will be in touch with the Jets’ training staff before a decision will be made.
DePape is one of eight Blazers who will be joining NHL teams over the next while.
Defenceman Josh Caron, 20, and forward Dylan Willick, 19, will play for the Minnesota Wild at the annual rookie tournament in Traverse City, Mich. Also there will be defenceman Austin Madaisky, 19, with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Centres Chase Schaber and Colin Smith will be with the Edmonton Oilers on free-agent tryouts and will play in the tournament in Penticton. As well, left-winger Brendan Ranford will join the Philadelphia Flyers and right-winger J.T. Barnett is going to camp with the New Jersey Devils.

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Taking Note on Twitter

Blazers have more questions than answers as camp opens

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
One of the longest offseasons in the history of the Kamloops Blazers came to an end Friday as the local WHL team opened training camp at Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers are coming off a season in which they finished 29-37-6 and didn’t qualify for the playoffs for only the second time in the franchise’s 30-year history in this city.
The last time that happened was 2005-06. With Dean Clark as the general manager and head coach, the Blazers bounced back with a 40-26-6 regular season before being swept from a first-round playoff series.
That summer the franchise was sold to private owners.
Today, the Blazers are preparing for their fifth season under private ownership — Vancouver-based businessman Tom Gaglardi owns 51 per cent, with ex-Blazers Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor sharing the rest.
The Blazers have played an even 300 regular-season and playoff games under this ownership group. They have won 121 of those games. The winning percentage of .403 is less than mediocre.
The bloom that was on a franchise that once won three Memorial Cup championships in four years has long since wilted. The rose looks more like a dandelion.
The result is that the Blazers go into this training camp facing far more questions than there are answers.
——————
GOALTENDING
Going into training camps, coaches often can be heard saying that the goaltending position is wide open. Those coaches, for the most part, are talking through their hats.
Not Guy Charron, the head coach of the Blazers.
“There’s going to be a competition to see who rises to the occasion,” Charron says.
Over the last few seasons, the club has relied on veterans like Justin Leclerc, Kurtis Mucha and Jeff Bosch. Not this season.
There would appear to be four candidates for what should become two positions, but trying to handicap them at this stage is a mug’s game.
Cam Lanigan, 19, has WHL experience, but his numbers (3-9-0, 5.59, .843) were woeful after coming over from the Edmonton Oil Kings last season. Granted, he was playing behind Bosch, but the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Lanigan, who has appeared in 90 regular-season games, didn’t show much when given the opportunity, so has a lot to prove.
Taran Kozun, who turns 17 on Aug. 29, and Cole Cheveldave, 18, are the two other main combatants for the two spots.
Kozun, 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, had a big season with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos, going 17-4-2, 2.22, .914.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Cheveldave, 18, was named the AJHL’s rookie of the year after going 16-20-6, 2.90, .917 with the Drumheller Dragons.
But don’t count out 6-foot-6, 185-pound Troy Trombley, 17, who played midget AAA and was the playoff MVP with the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers.
Charron indicates that, depending on how the exhibition season goes, he may open the season carrying three goaltenders.
“Does it mean we have three guys for a while? Does it mean someone takes the ball and runs with it . . . obviously we are going to need goaltending and that’s where it’s at,” the head coach says.
This will be the most interesting battle in camp.
——————
DEFENCE
It is no secret that the Blazers have a deep and veteran defence corps.
However, let’s not forget that this team had the WHL’s third-poorest defensive record last season. That translated to the poorest defensive record in the 10-team Western Conference.
Granted, hard-nosed Josh Caron missed a lot of the season with collarbone problems and Austin Madaisky had his season ended prematurely by a broken neck.
The Blazers likely will use two of their three 20-year-old slots on Caron and Bronson Maschmeyer, with the 19-year-old Madaisky expected to return to his minute-eating role now that he is healthy again.
Associate coach Dave Hunchak is especially high on puck-moving Czech Marek Hrbas, 18, who was acquired from the Edmonton Oil Kings in June.
Charron wants his team to spend far less time in its zone, thus the acquisition of Hrbas, which resulted in the trading of Brandon Underwood, 19, to the Regina Pats.
“We need people to help get the puck out quicker so that we’re not spending more time than we have to in our zone,” Charron says. “We have reason to think (Hrbas) will be a plus in that department.
“And that’s an area we have to be better at.”
When you spend as much time in your zone as the Blazers did last season, it causes problems. It’s more tiring to play defence than it is to skate with the puck. When you’re on defence a lot, you get tired, you stop moving your feet and you take penalties. And with the rules changing in an attempt to increase offence — a team icing the puck from its zone can’t change personnel, for example — defencemen who can make the first pass are becoming more valuable.
“That’s where the game has evolved — speed and execution,” Charron says. “Size is important but you need that element to get out of trouble.”
With the injuries to Caron and Madaisky, Brady Gaudet got plenty of playing time as a 16-year-old and the Blazers should benefit from that this winter. Gaudet, the 10th overall pick in the 2009 bantam draft, had really improved by season’s end. Don’t be surprised if he is quarterbacking the power play before the season is too old.
With Tyler Hansen, going into his third season at 18, rounding out the top six, freshmen Landon Cross, from Brandon, and Tyler Bell, from Regina, will be hard-pressed to earn playing time. Both are 17.
Or perhaps Josh Connolly, a 16-year-old who was taken in the third round of the 2010 draft, will show enough flash and dance that the Blazers have to keep him. From Prince George, he is the younger brother of Cougars captain Brett Connolly, who was picked sixth overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL’s 2010 draft.
——————
FORWARDS
The first thing that must be solved is the enigma that is left-winger Brendan Ranford.
At Christmas, he looked as though he might take a run at leading the WHL in goals and points. But it all came apart like a cardboard box in the rain.
Ranford finished with 86 points, including 33 goals, in 68 games, but scored only three times, and added 21 assists, in his last 29 games.
And it all boiled over on March 11 when he cross-checked a linesman, a move that ultimately drew a six-game suspension. He will miss the season’s first three games as he completes that sentence.
According to Ranford, he lost his conditioning after Christmas and that was a big factor in his play.
"Hey, I'm not going to make any excuses, but I live with an Italian family in Kamloops, and they feed me a lot of pasta," Ranford told Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia News earlier this summer.
"The biggest thing I learned is that I've got to stay in good condition through the whole year. I got a really fast start. Everything was going in for me. I started the season in really good shape. Then, probably halfway through the (season), I just got out of condition, and it caught up to me."
Ranford spent time at the Philadelphia Flyers’ development camp where veteran NHLer Ian Laperriere took him under his wing.
Of course, Ranford was not alone in bottoming out in last season’s second half.
“From my conversations with (the players), I believe that most, if not all of them, have come to realize that we can’t put ourselves in a position like that any more,” Charron says.
One of his messages to the players, he says, has been: “Is that what this franchise is about?”
With 10 returning forwards, the Blazers are going to need the likes of Colin Smith, Jordan DePape, J.T. Barnett, Logan McVeigh and Ryan Hanes to find more offence in their games while also improving on the defensive side of the puck.
Charron hopes that with another year under their belts, the forwards show a new level of maturity. With experience, he says, comes better leadership.
“We have to teach them that and each guy has to learn,” Charron says. “I have had discussions with some of those older players and it appears to me that they’ve grasped it, that whatever we did wasn’t good enough.”
The Blazers will get a full season out of freshman Matt Needham, the eighth overall selection in the 2010 bantam draft, who had seven points in 13 games last season. However, he’s only 16 and players of that age rarely have huge impacts in a league in which goals have become tougher to come by.
Aspen Sterzer, from Canal Flats, Dallas Calvin of Trail and Calgarian Cole Ully should get decent looks. Sterzer, 17, was pointless in 10 games last season, while the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Calvin, 17, had 40 points in 40 games with the KIJHL’s Beaver Valley Nitehawks, before adding 17 points in 12 playoff games. Ully was a second-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft.
——————
COACHING
Charron readily admits that it has taken him longer to adapt to junior hockey than he thought it would. Before joining the Blazers on Nov. 23, 2009, Charron had spent more than 20 seasons coaching in the professional ranks.
Now, though, he is adamant that he will be more involved in all aspects of this team than he has been to this point. He will, he says, be holding players more accountable than has been the case.
He also says he is looking forward to working with Hunchak, who brings seven years of WHL coaching experience to the Blazers. He spent the last four as head coach of the Moose Jaw Warriors, who didn’t renew his contract after last season when they won 40 games.
“I’ve got an experienced guy with me,” Charron says. “I’ve got players I’ve coached in the past . . . I know them, they know me. I’m excited about it. But there is going to be an onus on the players . . . let’s see how they react.”
Charron is into the last year of his contract, with no extension in sight. The Blazers didn’t announce the length of Hunchak’s deal when he signed, but it’s safe to assume it is longer than one season.
Charron says none of that matters, that he is most comfortable with Hunchak.
“Very much so . . . very much so,” Charron says. “He’s got that experience. He’s been in the league for seven years. He’s coached a team to some success. In most cases, guys don’t get fired when they have that kind of success with a team. I do have a good rapport with him. We’ve had numerous conversations. We are becoming familiar with each other.
“His experience at this level is going to help me be a better coach.”

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Taking Note on Twitter

Veteran wanting more work ethic from Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Work ethic.
In a pre-training camp conversation, veteran defenceman Bronson Maschmeyer of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers repeatedly refers to those two words.
Work ethic.
It is something he says the Blazers didn’t have on a consistent basis last season when they lost their last eight games, finished 29-37-6, and missed the playoffs by three points.
“Work ethic . . . that is a team effort,” Maschmeyer, 20, says. “Work ethic always prevails. Going through practices, going through games . . . it has to start right at the very beginning.”
The beginning for the 2011-12 edition of the Blazers is today.
Players will register for training camp today at Interior Savings Centre, with rookie camp running Friday and Saturday. Main camp attendees will skate both days as well; main camp gets really serious Sunday and runs through Tuesday.
It all ends with the annual intrasquad game on Tuesday, 7 p.m., at ISC.
As the season approaches, Maschmeyer, who is from Bruderheim, Alta., says the Blazers badly need to change how they approach practices.
“Work ethic going into practices should be harder than the games,” he reasons. “When we get to the games, they should be easier because we’re working so hard.
“We should be practising like that every day.”
As he looks back at last season, Maschmeyer feels the Blazers “were a team that could have done more than what we did. We underachieved for what I thought we could have done with the people we had. It’s not like we didn’t try . . . but there was something missing. Not something skillwise, but something mentally . . . we didn’t all click.”
A look at the Blazers’ depth chart reveals 16 of the players off that roster are expected in camp.
“We have an older group of guys,” Maschmeyer continues, “but somewhere along the line it has to change here and it has to click together as a team and as individuals.
“But work ethic will prevail and we have to do that every night, not just every once in a while.”
Maschmeyer pointed to games with the Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs as evidence of last season’s inconsistencies.
In Kamloops, the Blazers split 4-3 shootout decisions with the Chiefs; on the road, the Blazers were beaten, 10-1 and 10-5. The Blazers beat the Americans 3-2 in a shootout and lost 5-4 here, but dropped 7-3 and 5-0 decisions in Kennewick, Wash.
“We played them hard at home and then go there and lose like that,” Maschmeyer says. “It just didn’t make sense.”
Head coach Guy Charron agrees with his veteran defenceman.
“Absolutely,” Charron says. “I don’t mind exposing some of the areas that need to be better.”
It is something he badly wants to change as he heads into his final WHL season.
Maschmeyer played 48 games with the Vancouver Giants in 2008-09 before being dealt to the Blazers prior to the start of the 2009-10 season. Despite being undersized at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, he has proved durable, playing all 72 games in each of his two seasons here. He also has put up 73 points in those 144 games.
But he fully understands this will be his last season in the WHL and he doesn’t want it to end like the previous two — the Blazers were swept from a first-round series by the Giants in the spring of 2010.
“Each year as you go along, you realize you’re getting closer and closer to the end . . . not to the end of your hockey career but you kind of feel as if this is your last go at it,” he says. “Personally, you want to do well. Guy has often said that a successful team does more for personal goals . . . if you win as a team you’re going to win as a player.”
Maschmeyer hasn’t been treated to so much as a professional tryout during his WHL career, so he and his agent, Gerry Johannson, will explore all options for next season. That will include going to school — Maschmeyer will be owed five years books and tuition when his WHL career ends — and opportunities in Europe.
“I want to continue my hockey career,” he says. “I love the game. I love being around the guys, love being around the sport.”
First, he says “I want to do something good here.”
He got a taste of the work ethic of which he speaks with the Giants under head coach Don Hay. So, Maschmeyer says, he knows what it’s like.
“I didn’t always get along with Don Hay but I really admire the guy,” Maschmeyer recalls. “As a cocach, he was a tough coach. But he had his practices really, really hard.”
The result was that “when it came to games, we were excited . . . at that time of my career I wasn’t playing a whole lot but games were fun times.
“Practices . . . we knew we were going to get worked.”
The Giants went 57-10-5 that season and reached the Western Conference final.
“We knew coming into games that we were going to win,” he says.
A lot of that feeling was due to the work put in during practices.
“It does go a long ways,” Maschmeyer says. “Everybody says it but it’s hard to do.”
JUST NOTES: Maschmeyer will be one of three 20-year-olds on the Blazers’ roster as camp opens, the others being C Chase Schaber and D Josh Caron. . . . Maschmeyer says he doesn’t feel old until he sees the 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds arriving for camp. “Then you think, ‘Oh my gawd, I’m getting old.’ ” Then, with a laugh, he adds that Charron “told me to shave so I could look younger.” . . . Maschmeyer’s brother Brock, 19, is with the AJHL’s Fort McMurray Oil Barons, who left Tuesday for Moscow where they will play in the World Junior Club Cup. Brock played two seasons with the Lloydminster Bobcats, before spending last season in Fort McMurray. . . . The Blazers will play the Victoria Royals in an exhibition game at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre on Sept. 2. Game time will be 7 p.m.
———
CAMP NOTES: Players attending the rookie and main camps will register today, 5 p.m., at the Sports Action Lounge in the Interior Savings Centre. . . . The first rookie camp practice hits the ice Friday, 9 a.m., with others to follow at 10:15 and 11:30 a.m., and 12:45 p.m. Main campers will practice at 2:15 and 3:45 p.m., with rookie games set for 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. . . . The Blazers expect 71 players for rookie camp. That doesn’t include F Rylan Freed of Melfort, Sask., and D Riley Hummitsch of Chino Hills, Calif., both of whom are out with injuries. Both were 2011 bantam draft picks. . . . The Blazers anticipate having all nine of their 2010 bantam picks and nine of the 2011 selections in camp. . . . As well, five of the 10 players selected in 2009 are on the main camp roster. . . . F Tyson McLellan of San Jose is expected at rookie camp. McLellan, 15, is the son of Todd McLellan, the head coach of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. . . . Six local products are on the rookie camp roster — F Diego Cuglietta, F Nick Fidanza, G Ty Hamer-Jackson, D Wes Matsuda, G Austin Piquette and G Liam McLeod. McLeod was a ninth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft. . . . Fidanza, Matsuda and McLeod played for the bantam tier 1 Jardine’s Blazers. . . . Piquette spent the season with the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna. . . . D Connor Clouston, a third-round selection in 2011, is the son of Medicine Hat Tigers head coach Shaun Clouston. . . . D Josh Connolly, a third-round pick in 2010, is the younger brother of Prince George Cougars F Brett Connolly. . . . D Mackenzie Ferner, an eighth-round pick in 2010, missed much of last season with an injury. His father, Mark, is a former Kamloops Jr. Oilers defenceman who once coached the Blazers and now is the head coach of the Everett Silvertips. . . . F Cooper Holick of Cranbrook is the son of former Kootenay Ice head coach Mark Holick, who now is head coach of the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. . . . F Cole Souto, who won’t turn 16 until Dec. 27, is on the rookie camp roster. His brother Chase is heading into his second season with the Blazers. They are from Yorba Linda, Calif. . . . The training camp rosters are available at www.blazerhockey.com.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
     
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Taking Note on Twitter

Ferguson: It's just one of those things . . .

The Kamloops Blazers' bench will have a new look next season,
now that the WHL team has decided not to bring back assistant
coaches Geoff Smith (left) and Scott Ferguson (right) to work
alongside head coach Guy Charron.
(Photo courtesy Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It was one day in January when the writing on the wall started to become larger and more legible.
That was the day when Scott Ferguson, the Kamloops Blazers’ fulltime assistant coach, went home and talked with his wife, Val, with whom he has three children.
“You know what?” Ferguson told her. “We better start preparing just in case. Because if the team doesn’t make the playoffs . . . potentially there could be changes.”
Well, the Blazers didn’t make the WHL playoffs and Ferguson now is out of work after the Blazers announced Saturday that neither he nor part-time assistant Geoff Smith would be back for a fourth season. Both men are former Blazers defencemen.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me. . . . I could see the writing on the wall,” Ferguson said late Sunday morning. “Now I’m just letting it all sink in.
“It’s just one of those things. You don’t make the playoffs and everybody’s accountable and I’m no different.”
Ferguson, a 38-year-old native of Camrose, Alta., played three seasons with the Blazers (1991-94) and was part of two Memorial Cup winners. During a lengthy professional career, he split 218 NHL games between the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Minnesota Wild. Ferguson played in Germany in 2007-08, and joined the Blazers’ coaching staff the following season.
Ferguson said his three seasons here could best be described by one word.
“It was really disappointing,” he said. “Not just this season, but when I came here I had high hopes. To lose eight straight (playoff games over) the first two years and then not make the playoffs this year, I was really frustrated.
“I think we had a really good team and we just underachieved.”
Asked if that represented failure by the coaching staff under head coach Guy Charron, Ferguson replied: “From my point, I always think I could have done more. We couldn’t get the players to understand or buy in with what we were trying to get them to do.
“Dealing with young players, it’s our responsibility to get them to buy in. We’re telling them, we’re showing them, but obviously something wasn’t working. So it’s a matter of finding a way for them to understand . . . so they can have success.”
When Ferguson and Smith were hired, they worked under head coach Barry Smith. When Smith was fired on Oct. 26, 2009, Ferguson was installed as interim head coach.
At that point, general manager Craig Bonner said the plan was to finish that season with Ferguson and Geoff Smith at the controls. However, majority owner Tom Gaglardi and Bonner travelled to Calgary where they met with Charron, who shortly thereafter was signed as head coach for the remainder of the season. Charron later signed a two-year deal that runs through 2011-12.
The Blazers went 3-6-1 under Ferguson, who feels he and Smith did a good job of getting
“I learned a lot in that month,” Ferguson said. “It was quite a different team. When they let Barry go, there was a lot of uncertainty. It was a matter of getting the guys back believing they were a team. I thought Smitty and I did a pretty good job for the 10 games we had. I would have liked to have gone a little bit further but it wasn’t meant to be.”
One thing Ferguson and Smith did was get defenceman Josh Caron turned around. Caron was ready to walk away from the team, when Ferguson sat down with him and told him, among other things, to relax and have fun with the game.
“It was really nice to see where he went to from that point on,” Ferguson said. “He was a force and he earned his chance with Minnesota.”
Caron went to camp with the Minnesota Wild as a free agent and signed an NHL contract.
This season, Ferguson and Smith got to work with defenceman Brady Gaudet, the 10th pick in the WHL’s 2009 bantam draft.
“Gaudet improved by leaps and bounds. He’s a great talent . . . it was fun working with those young guys,” Ferguson said. “I’m definitely going to miss working with the Blazers. There’s a lot of good people in the organization. I had fun going to the rink every day.
“Obviously, I would have liked to have been able to produce more on the ice. It’s too bad it didn’t work out.”
His stint as an interim head coach gave Ferguson enough of a taste that he would love an opportunity to run his own show at some level. And if that level is the WHL, that would be great.
“I would like to try coaching in this league,” he said. “That’s why I came here, to hopefully get a chance to be a head coach. It didn’t work out. It’s something that definitely interests me but it’s something as a family we’ll have to sit down and discuss.
“With a wife and three young kids, it’s only fair to sit back as a family and try and figure out where we want to go. If that means coaching minor hockey, then so be it. I’d love to help kids that way.
“There’s always an avenue to try and help people out through hockey. Now it’s just a matter of seeing what’s in my heart and what my family wants to do and kind of go on from there.”

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Taking Note on Twitter

Short on defenders, Blazers doing fine on road

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
When the Kamloops Blazers headed into the WHL’s Central Division a week ago, their defensive brigade had more holes in it than a pair of old work socks.
Austin Madaisky and Brandon Underwood, who had evolved into their shutdown defensive pairing, both were gone with long-term injuries.
And while they were in sole possession of the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot, they only had a one-point lead on the Chilliwack Bruins and were six back of the Prince George Cougars.
Tonight, as the Blazers (27-31-4) prepare to face the Tigers (38-17-6) in Medicine Hat, they still are eighth, but now they are five points ahead of Chilliwack and the Seattle Thunderbirds. Not only that — Kamloops is just one point in arrears of the seventh-place Cougars.
That’s what happens when you go on the road and earn five of a possible six points in three games.
The Blazers won in Edmonton, beating the Oil Kings 4-3 in overtime, then lost 4-3 in OT to the Rebels in Red Deer. And, on Wednesday night, the Blazers surrendered 3-0 and 4-1 leads before beating the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-4 in OT.
Kamloops played in Lethbridge without another veteran defenceman, Josh Caron having been hit with a three-game suspension for a hit from behind on Red Deer forward Josh Cowen, who suffered a broken hand and will miss at least three weeks.
So, you’re wondering, what’s been going on?
“Corey Fienhage has really stepped up his game,” offered assistant coach Scott Ferguson from Medicine Hat on Thursday. “He’s been playing really well.”
Fienhage, a 20-year-old in his first WHL season, was plus-3 in Lethbridge. He is plus-7 in nine February games, after going into the month at minus-15.
Fienhage has been partnered a lot with Brady Gaudet, 16, who is deep into his freshman season.  Gaudet was the 10th overall selection in the WHL’s 2010 bantam draft.
“Gaudet has really benefited from the icetime,” Ferguson said. “He’s playing beyond his years right now.”
Gaudet, from Redvers, Sask., had a Gordie Howe hat trick in Lethbridge, scoring his fourth goal, picking up his sixth assist, and getting into his third scrap of the season.
Ferguson also pointed to veteran Bronson Maschmeyer, 19, as a guy “who has always been back there for us.”
“Those three guys,” Ferguson stated, “have really stepped up their games, and that isn’t taking anything away from (Tyler) Hansen and Caron. All of them have really stepped up their games.”
Ferguson played three seasons with the Blazers before going on to a pro career that included 218 NHL games. He remembers being forced to play extra minutes.
“There were times when I had to play every other shift,” Ferguson recalled. “I didn’t mind it. When you’re doing it, you keep it simple. You know you’re going to get out there and you try to limit your mistakes. But you’re not worried about making mistakes because you know you have to play.
“It was just a matter of knowing you’re going to get back out there, so keep it simple and keep your shifts short. You tend to get into a game a little bit quicker that way. Sometimes it can be beneficial.”
And that, he thinks, is pretty much what is happening with the Blazers right now.
That, along with forwards who have become more conscious of their defensive play and goaltender Jeff Bosch, who has been more than solid. Bosch is expected to make his 15th straight start tonight.
“I really believe defence is a five-man unit,” he said. “As a team we’re really focused on the defensive side of it to help out the back end. The forwards are doing a good job of coming back, and Bosch has been playing really well.
“That’s why I love hockey. It’s a team game . . . it’s all six guys on the ice.”
And it’s also special teams.
The Blazers’ much-maligned penalty killers, who have had the WHL’s worst success rate through most of the season, haven’t been torched once on this road trip. They are 16-for-16, the second time this season they have been perfect for three games in a row. (Coincidentally, the first time they had this success also was in the Central Division, in October.)
Of course, they’ll need all they help they can get again tonight as they play the Tigers and again Saturday when this swing wraps up in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice (39-18-4). The Ice and Tigers are tied for third in the Eastern Conference.
The suspended Caron won’t be available for either game, which means right-winger Jordan DePape will be back on defence. He spent most of Wednesday’s game there, moving up only on the power play and in OT, when he scored the winning goal.
DePape, who is from Winnipeg, played some on the back end during his minor hockey days. And when the Blazers ran into penalty problems during an exhibition game, they moved him back.
“It has been a good challenge for him,” Ferguson said. “He’s a smart player. I think he has learned to appreciate the defensive responsibilities.
“He looks fairly strong. He skates backwards well, he reads the ice well, he’s not shy to go back for pucks and take a hit to make a play. He’s a big, physical guy who skates well and sees the ice well.
“He’s done a good job.”
JUST NOTES: The Blazers continue to be without F Chase Schaber (leg), who now has missed 17 games in a row and 19 of the last 21. . . . The Tigers are showing four players as being out with concussions — D Jace Coyle, D Matt Konan, D Scott Ramsay and F Sam Dezman — while D Patrick Parkkonen (shoulder) also is out. . . . Coyle and Konan are day-to-day, Dezman is indefinite, and Parkkonen and Ramsay will be out another week. . . . The Blazers are at home Wednesday when the Kelowna Rockets are scheduled to pay a visit. . . . F Cole Ully, who made his WHL debut with the Blazers on Wednesday, has returned to the midget AAA Calgary Flames. A post-game scoring change Wednesday gave him his first point, an assist on the Blazers’ fourth goal.

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Taking Note on Twitter