Crazy night in 'Toontown . . . Brandon best of Kings . . . Winterhawks sweep Rockets

There were 30,715 fans in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on Saturday to watch the Crunch beat the Utica Comets 2-1 in an AHL game. That is the largest crowd ever to watch an indoor hockey game in North America. The previous record of 28,138 was set in 1996 when the Philadelphia Flyers played the Tampa Bay Lightning in the ThunderDome in St. Petersburg, Fla. . . . Former Portland Winterhawks assistant GM/assistant coach Travis Green is the Comets' head coach. They are the AHL affiliate of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. . . . The Comets are 12-4-2 and hold a three-point lead over the Adirondack Flames atop the North Division.
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The Adirondack Flames beat the Rochester Americans 2-1 on Saturday night. The Flames, the Calgary Flames' AHL affiliate, now have won eight straight games. Former Kelowna Rockets head coach Ryan Huska is in his first season running Adirondack's bench. Adirondack is 11-6-1.
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SATURDAY’S GAMES:

In Saskatoon, F Coda Gordon scored at 2:56 of OT to give the Swift Current Broncos an 8-7 victory over the Blades. . . . With 15 goals, it obviously was something of a bizarre evening. It also was Pucks 'N Paws Night, so there were lots of dogs in the house, and the game included about a 20-minute delay in the third period because of a hole in the ice. . . . Saskatoon F Nikita Soshnin had forced OT with his first WHL goal at 18:04 of the third period. . . . The Broncos led this one 3-0 in the first period, only to have the Blades scored the next three goals. . . . Swift Current went on to lead 5-3, 5-4, 6-4 and 6-5. . . . Saskatoon F Austin Adamson tied it at 13:19 of the third, with Broncos F Andreas Schumacher giving his guys a 7-6 lead at 16:51. . . . Schumacher finished with two goals, giving him five, and added two assists. . . . Broncos D Brent Lernout recorded his first WHL three-goal game. Lernout, a third-round pick by the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL's 2014 draft, went into last night with three goals in 26 games. . . . Lernout played the first 20 games of his WHL career with the Blades. He went into last night with 12 goals in his previous 139 regular-season games with the Broncos. . . . According to the Broncos, Eric Doyle was the last Swift Current defenceman to score three times in one game. He did it Nov. 18, 2007, against the Blades. . . . Broncos F Glenn Gawdin scored his eighth goal and added three assists, while D Dillon Heatherington also had three assists. . . . The Blades got two goals from F Josh Uhrich, who has four, and three assists from each of D Amil Krupic and F Nick Zajac. . . . Gawdin has 22 points in 27 games this season, after finishing last season with 22 points in 66 games. . . . Saskatoon G Nik Amundrud, who had missed seven games with an undisclosed injury, stopped two of five shots and left at 10:38 of the first period. . . . Saskatoon D Ryan Coghlan returned after missing 11 games with a shoulder injury. . . . The Broncos are 14-9-4. . . . The Blades (6-16-1) have lost four straight. . . .

In Brandon, F Tim McGauley scored at 1:46 of OT to give the Wheat Kings a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . One night earlier, the Wheat Kings (19-5-1) beat the Oil Kings, 7-4. . . . McGauley finished with two goals, giving him 11, and an assist. HE also had three points in Friday‘s victory. . . . Brandon overcame a 4-2 third-period deficit when F Jesse Gabrielle scored at 1:36 and F Jayce Hawryluk tied it at 15:18. . . . Gabrielle and Hawryluk each has 13 goals. . . . Brandon F Nolan Patrick, who had two goals on Friday, added a goal, his seventh, and an assist in this one. . . . F Lane Bauer had two goals, giving him eight, and an assist for the Oil Kings (12-10-3). . . . Edmonton F Brett Pollock ran his point streak to seven games with one assist. . . . This was the third time in four games that the Oil Kings went to OT. They went 1-0-2 in those games. . . . Edmonton F Cole Benson scored his fifth goal of the season. He has 14 points in 25 games. Last season, he finished with 13 points in 59 games. . . . Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun has a game story right here. . . .

In Lethbridge, G Justin Paulic stopped 26 shots to help the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 5-1 victory over the Hurricanes. . . . The Warriors (10-11-3) are 1-1-1 in their last three outings. . . . The Hurricanes (5-14-4) have lost eight in a row (0-5-3). . . . Moose Jaw G Zach Sawchenko wasn't dressed for the Warriors. He turned from an injury-forced absence on Friday night but left after one period having apparently re-injured himself. . . . F Tanner Jeannot, F Kolten Olynek and F Brayden Point each had two assists for the Warriors, who broke open a scoreless game with three goals in 5:55 in the second period. . . . F Jaimen Yakubowski, who like Olynek once played for the Hurricanes, got the game's first goal, his fourth. . . . Warriors F Tanner Eberle scored his 12th goal, while D Austin Adam got his first. . . . F Carter Folk was among Lethbridge's scratches. He has been suspended under supplemental discipline for something that happened during Friday's game in Cranbrook. . . . The Hurricanes entertain the Prince Albert Raiders late this afternoon. . . . The Warriors are in Cranbrook tonight to meet the Kootenay Ice. . . .

In Red Deer, G Rylan Toth posted his first WHL shutout as the Rebels beat the Calgary Hitmen, 4-0. . . . Toth, an 18-year-old from Saskatoon, finished with 23 saves. . . . Red Deer F Scott Feser scored his eighth goal and added three assists. . . . F Wyatt Johnson helped out with his 12th goal and F Evan Polei notched his 11th. . . . The Rebels broke a scoreless tie with three goals in 7:12 in the second half of the second period. . . . Red Deer (13-9-3) had won two straight. . . . The Hitmen (12-9-3) were 5-0-2 in their previous seven games. . . . The same two teams meet this evening in Calgary. . . .

In Medicine Hat, G Wyatt Hoflin turned aside 48 shots as the Kootenay Ice beat the Tigers, 3-0. . . . Hoflin has one shutout this season and two in his career. . . . As WHL Facts pointed out on Twitter, that is the most saves by a goaltender in a shutout this season. . . . The Tigers held a 20-10 edge in shots in the first period and 21-6 in the third. . . . Ice F Jaedon Descheneau scored the game's first goal, on a PP, at 13:49 of the first period. . . . He's got 12 goals. . . . Ice F Sam Reinhart drew an assist on that goal to run his point streak to seven games. . . . The Ice (10-14-0) has won two in a row, while the Tigers (16-6-2) have dropped two straight. . . . The Ice is at home to the Moose Jaw Warriors tonight. . . .

In Vancouver, F Zach Pochiro broke a 3-3 tie at 18:48 of the third period to give the Prince George Cougars a 4-3 victory over the Giants. . . . Pochiro scored his first two goals of the season in this one. . . . According to a story on the Cougars’ website, written by radio voice Dan O’Connor, the winner came after “a Giants clearing attempt took a weird bounce off of an official and bounced out in front of the Giants goal. The first player to arrive at the loose puck was Zach Pochiro who snuck a shot past (G Cody) Porter.” . . . The Cougars held 2-0 and 3-1 leads before the Giants tied it on third-period goals by F Carter Popoff, his 13th, at 3:48, and F Matt Bellerive, his second of the game and ninth of the season, at 15:34. . . . Cougars F Aaron Macklin and Vancouver F Dakota Odgers were ejected after fighting 12 seconds into the first period. . . . Prince George G Tavin Grant, who is from Burnaby and had family in the crowd, stopped 19 shots for his second WHL victory. . . . The Cougars were without F Chase Witala, who suffered a leg injury on a knee-on-knee hit by Kamloops Blazers F Matthew Campese on Friday night. Campese was hit with one of those 'tbd' suspensions on Saturday. . . . The Cougars are 13-13-0, while the Giants, who have lost three in a row, are 9-15-0. . . . Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province wonders right here just where the Giants’ season is headed.

In Victoria, G Jayden Sittler stopped 33 shots as the Royals blanked the Regina Pats, 5-0. . . . Sittler has two straight victories and his first career shutout. . . . D Travis Brown scored twice for the Royals, giving him nine goals. . . . Brown got the game's first goal, via the PP, at 9:08 of the first period. . . . The Pats are 1-1-0 on their B.C. Division trek. . . . Regina (13-10-1) had won its previous five games. . . . The Royals (14-11-2) have won two straight. . . . G Jordan Hollett, a first-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft, made his WHL debut for Regina with 21 saves. Hollett, 15, is from Langley, B.C. . . . Victoria F Austin Carroll scored his 17th goal. . . .

In Kent, Wash., D Carter Cochrane scored the only goal of a five-round shootout as the Everett Silvertips got past the host Seattle Thunderbirds, 3-2. . . . Cochrane, who is pointless in 12 games this season, also scored a shootout goal during a 15-round victory over the Kamloops Blazers last weekend. . . . Everett F Graham Millar forced OT with a PP goal at 17:20 of the third period. He has eight goals. . . . F Patrick Bajkov of Everett scored the game's first goal at 14:02 of the first period. . . . Seattle F Keegan Kolesar tied it on a PP at 6:12 of the second. He's got seven goals in 23 games this season, after scoring two in 60 games last season. . . . Seattle F Justin Hickman gave his side a 2-1 lead with his seventh goal 17 seconds into the third. . . . Everett G Austin Lotz stopped 31 shots through OT. . . . Seattle G Taran Kozun made 29 saves. . . . The Silvertips (15-4-3) snapped a two-game losing skid. . . . The Thunderbirds (9-11-4) have lost four in a row. . . . "I just think we've forgotten how to win," Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk told reporters after the game. . . . Everett and Seattle each has gone to OT eight times already this season. . . . The game was delayed for about 10 minutes in the second period after Everett D Nikita Scherbak went down after a hit from Kolesar. No penalty was issued on the play. Scherback was placed in a neck brace and removed from the ice on a stretcher. Late last night, the Silvertips tweeted that Scherbak has “movement in all his extremities and his head/neck are okay. Undergoing tests for a potential back injury.” . . . Prior to the game, the Silvertips contributed $250 to the WHL's Christmas shopping fund, the result of a warmup violation in Victoria on Friday night. . . . The Thunderbirds honoured the 1981-82 Seattle Breakers prior to the game, including head coach Jack Sangster and former player Mitch Wilson. The latter is battling ALS and there is a GoFundMe page working on his behalf. That page is right here. . . .

In Kelowna, the Portland Winterhawks scored the game's first three goals and went on to a 4-3 victory over the Rockets. . . . The Winterhawks, who beat Kelowna 4-3 in OT on Friday, won three of four games with the Rockets this season. They won't meet again unless it's in the playoffs. . . . F Rourke Chartier scored twice for Kelowna, upping his WHL-leading total to 26. His first goal, shorthanded at 13:00 of the third, cut Portland's lead to 3-2. . . . Portland F Miles Koules got his eighth, on a PP, just 37 seconds later. . . . Chartier got his second goal at 19:25. . . . Chartier also had an assist, while F Nick Merkley drew two assists. . . . Chartier and Merkley are tied for the WHL scoring lead, each with 45 points. . . . F Chase De Leo got his 15th goal for Portland and F Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 13th. . . . Winterhawks G Aden Hill stopped 34 shots, six more than Kelowna's Jackson Whistle. . . . The Winterhawks (11-12-3) have won two in a row. . . . The Rockets (21-2-3) were 11-0-3 in their last 14 outings. . . . Kelowna, with seven players injured, was playing its fourth game in five nights. . . . F Paul Bittner was among Portland's scratches after he suffered a leg injury in the second period of Friday's game. . . .

In Kennewick, Wash., F Calder Brooks broke a 1-1 tie at 2:31 of the second period and the Spokane Chiefs went on to beat the Tri-City Americans, 2-1. . . . F Beau McCue gave the Americans a 1-0 lead at 3:09 of the first period on a PP. He's got 10 goals. . . . Spokane F Riley Whittingham tied it with his fifth goal at 2:22 of the second. . . . Brooks got his eighth just nine seconds later. . . . The Chiefs held a 57-39 edge in shots. Spokane G Garret Hughson stopped 38 shots, while Tri-City's Eric Comrie turned aside 55. . . . The Chiefs (11-7-3) have won two in a row. They are at home to the Kamloops Blazers tonight. . . . The Americans (14-10-0) had won their previous two. They also had won four in a row at home.
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Jackson Whistle just won a $1,000 suit for being #Kelowna's player of the month of November. 1. its still November 2. not a plane ticket
— CellPhones&PlaneTix (@hawkeyblog) November 23, 2014

A mother talks about her son and mental illness . . . Lambert takes over in Kelowna

D Jonathan Harty (Everett, 2004-08) has signed a one-year contract with Björklöven Umeå (Sweden, Allsvenskan). Last season, with Mora (Sweden, Allsvenskan), he had nine points, including three goals, in 46 games.
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After writing a bit about hockey and mental illness in this space yesterday, I heard from a mother.
It was heart-wrenching. It’s one thing to deal with mental illness in a parent; I can’t imaging what it must be like when one of your children is affected.
This mother has a teenage son who is a hockey player and who “suffers from depression and anxiety.“
“He has always had anxiety disorder and this year it crept into the dark side of depression,” she wrote. “The sad truth is no one wants to talk about it. When I spoke to his coaches about it and what was happening, it almost seemed as though they thought he was just mentally weak. I feel like coaches/teachers and such need to learn more and realize this is an illness, not a sign of weakness.
“It makes me mad,” she continued. “If you were diagnosed with cancer your employer . . . would rally around you.”
Yes, mental illness is just that . . . an illness, and the sooner people realize it is,  the better off we all will be. Unfortunately, when it comes to mental illness, there are employers in the hockey world who prefer to look the other way.
When we are ill, we take medication. I have had open-heart surgery and take medication. My wife has had a kidney transplant and takes medication. When someone has a mental illness, of course there is medication involved.
“Our son is on medication right now and is doing so much better,” the mother wrote, adding that there are times when he wants to go off his meds.
“We just say to him when he wants to stop taking meds that a diabetic doesn't stop his insulin when he is feeling good,” she wrote. “I take meds and am not afraid to admit they help me.”
A couple of other notes . . .
Her husband is involved in hockey and she noted that because of his experience at home he “is very aware of little changes in his own players now and is not afraid to ask questions and investigate when he thinks something is a little off.”
This family has a history in hockey, something she said led to her son facing “unreal” expectations.
Unfortunately, I’m guessing that there are a lot of stories out there that are just like this one, and the thought that there are people out there who may not get the help they need is terrifying.
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Dan Lambert is the new head coach of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. His promotion from assistant coach was announced Monday afternoon, about three hours after the NHL’s Calgary Flames announced that they had signed Rockets head coach Ryan Huska as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Flames.
In time, observers will recognize Huska as one of the best coaches in WHL history.
With 295 regular-season victories, he is the winningest coach in franchise history. Only once, in 2011-12, did one of his teams not finish above .500; that team went 31-31-10. The Rockets followed that up with 52- and 57-victory seasons, both of which were franchise records.
Huska was never one to promote himself, so he hadn’t pursued other positions. In the end, the Flames came calling. He was in Calgary on Thursday and a contract offer arrive on Friday.
"I felt really good about the meetings I had and told my wife, Denise, when I got home that I hoped things would work out," Huska told the Kelowna Capital News. "What they stand for just feels right. . . . It's a great opportunity that I'm looking forward to."
No one has won more Memorial Cup championships than Huska, who won three with the Kamloops Blazers (1992, 1994, 1995) and one (2004) as an assistant coach with the Rockets.
A native of Cranbrook, Huska, who turns 39 on July 2, understands how important it is to surround yourself with good people.
"If you don't have good people who aren't passionate about what they do, then you don't get to have individual success," Huska told the Capital News. "Reflecting back, we're proud of the records we've had and the banners we've had, but I'm going to be remembering the team, and all the people that allowed us to get to that point, and allowed me the opportunity to move on. That's what's really special about this organization."
The Flames’ AHL affiliate, which is relocating from Abbotsford, B.C., where it was the Heat, will play out of Glens Falls, N.Y. Huska will replace Troy Ward, whose contract wasn’t renewed.
The 44-year-old Lambert, meanwhile, is a former all-star defenceman with the Swift Current Broncos, who had been an assistant coach with the Rockets for five seasons. He won a Memorial Cup with the 1989 Broncos.
"We spent a lot of time together over the last five years,” Lambert told the Capital News, “and it is sad to see him go but there's no doubt Ryan was ready to move on.
“Him being successful has allowed me to grow as a young coach and now to get this opportunity, I'm very grateful to the Hamilton family and that they trust in me that I can follow in Ryan's footsteps."
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1. That’s quite the Medicine Hat Mafia that the Vancouver Canucks are putting together. . . . Willie Desjardins, signed to a four-year deal as head coach, is, of course, a former Tigers GM and head coach. Canucks president Trevor Linden played for the Tigers and is from Medicine Hat. . . . It’s also expected that Doug Lidster, an assistant coach under Desjardins with the AHL’s Texas Stars, will be on the Vancouver coaching staff. Lidster, a native of Kamloops, is a former Tigers coach. He was on Desjardins’ staff with the Tigers in 2002-03; that was Desjardins’ first season as head coach. Lidster also is a former Canucks captain; in fact, Linden followed Lidster in that role.

2. With Vancouver, the Nashville Predators (Peter Laviolette), Washington Capitals (Barry Trotz), Florida Panthers (Gerard Gallant) and Carolina Hurricanes (Bill Peters) having signed head coaches, all eyes turn to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They lost out on Peters and Desjardins, and now GM Jimmy Rutherford will be going back on the interview circuit. It’s believed that one person he wants to chat with is Mike Johnston, the GM and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks. . . . Darren Dreger of TSN tweeted Monday evening that Johnston “is considered a strong candidate.”

3. Steve Smith has left the Edmonton Oilers after four seasons as an assistant coach. He has signed on as an assistant with the Carolina Hurricanes. That will lead to speculation involving Derek Laxdal, the head coach of the Memorial Cup-champion Edmonton Oil Kings. . . . Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins wanted Smith to move from behind the bench to the press box as an eye in the sky during games. Smith chose to leave for Carolina. . . . You wonder if Laxdal would want to make such a move if it means being the eye in the sky and being that far from the game action.

4. Of course, the Oilers own the Oil Kings. So if Laxdal were to end up on Eakins’ staff, one has to surmise that Oil Kings assistant coach Steve Hamilton, who is highly thought of, would be promoted to head coach.

5. The AHL’s Texas Stars now need a head coach, with Desjardins having moved to the Canucks. Perhaps Laxdal ends up there. . . . Don’t you just love the coaching game of musical chairs?

6. Elliotte Friedman, who is leaving Hockey Night in Canada (RIP) for Sportsnet and its NHL coverage team, has filed his latest 30 Thoughts and it’s right here. Among the news: The Vancouver Canucks, in pursuit of the No. 1 selection in this weekend’s NHL draft, may have offered Medicine Hat Tigers F Hunter Shinkaruk to the Florida Panthers.

7. The Vancouver Giants are the lone WHL team without a head coach. I’m thinking the best candidate is Jim Hiller, who has had success as a WHL head coach with the Chilliwack Bruins (remember them?) and Tri-City Americans. . . . Of course, perhaps he is shopping for a pro job, and maybe that’s holding things up in Vancouver.

8. "Back when we were young, we thought it (smokeless tobacco) was a safe alternative to smoking,” San Diego Padres manager Bruce Bochy told Richard Justice of MLB.com. "We didn't realize how dangerous it was. It's one of the hardest habits to break."
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THE COACHING GAME:
If you are a coach with junior/high performance experience, you may be interested in stepping behind the bench with the major midget Okanagan Rockets, who are based in Kelowna. . . . Mack O’Rourke, who led the Rockets to a league championship, a Pacific Regional title and a third-place finish at the TELUS Cup, is leaving for a job in the oil and gas field. . . . That means that GM David Michaud is searching for a successor. . . . “Our program,” Michaud tells me, “has pushed itself to the point where we need a high-level coach.”
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The BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks have added Misko Antisin to their coaching staff as an assistant under head coach Brandon West. Antisin (Victoria Cougars, 1983-85) had a lengthy playing career in Europe before getting into coaching. From Vancouver, Antisin has coached in the BCHL, as an assistant coach with the Westside Warriors, and also in the B.C. Major Midget League, as well as in Switzerland.
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The NHL’s Anaheim Ducks have signed Trent Yawney as an assistant coach. Yawney had been the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals. . . . In Anaheim, Yawney will work under head coach Bruce Boudreau and alongside assistants Brad Lauer and Scott Niedermayer, and video co-ordinator Joe Piscotty. . . . Yawney (Saskatoon, 1982-85) is no stranger to the Ducks, having been an associate coach with their AHL team when it was in Syracuse. He also has scouted for the Ducks. . . . Jim Hodges, in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot, reported last night that Admirals assistant coach Jarrod Skaldi is expected to move up as Norfolk’s head coach.
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According to a Monday morning tweet from News1130 Sports, the Vancouver Giants “won't name Don Hay's replacement as head coach till after the NHL draft.” . . . The Lethbridge Hurricanes and Rock 106, which is owned by Rogers Media, have signed a three-year contract involving broadcast rights. They haven’t haven’t yet named a play-by-play voice. The Hurricanes had been heard on 94.1 CJOC for the past seven seasons. . . .
The Seattle Thunderbirds have signed D Sahvan Khaira, who was selected in the ninth round of the WHL’s 2013 bantam draft. Last season, with the Penticton, B.C.-based Okanagan Hockey Academy midget prep team, the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder had 22 points, two of them goals, in 28 games. A native of Cloverdale, B.C., he is the younger brother of F Jujhar Khaira, who played last season with the Everett Silvertips after being a third-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL’s 2012 draft. . . . The Vancouver Giants have signed F James Malm, a second-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft, to a WHL contract. Malm, from Langley, B.C., had 144 points, including 70 goals, in 56 games with the Burnaby Winter Club’s Bantam A1 Tier 1 team. . . . The Saskatoon Blades have signed D Schael Higson, a Grande Prairie, Alta., native they listed after he wasn’t selected in the 2013 bantam draft. Higson attended the Blades’ camp prior to last season, then spent the season with the midget AAA Grande Prairie Storm, putting up 20 points, including eight goals, in 33 games.
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Thank you to the @HockeyHallFame @DallasStars @DetroitRedWings @PARaidersHockey what a humbling honor. Words don't do it justice.
— Mike Modano (@9modano) June 23, 2014

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Rockets post up on Blazers

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
It took 57 minutes Friday, but the Kelowna Rockets finally found a way to use a goalpost to their advantage.
Tyson Baillie banked in the winning goal with 2:40 remaining in the third period as the Rockets defeated the Kamloops Blazers 3-2 in a WHL game at Interior Savings Centre. The Rockets (18-3-2), still sitting second in the Western Conference, will play host to the last-place Blazers (6-18-3) tonight.
It was Kamloops’ ninth straight loss, and the one it deserved to lose the least. The Blazers outshot the Rockets 39-36 and clawed back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the third period.
But Baillie ended any thoughts of a Kamloops upset when he bounced a shot off the goalpost to the right of goaltender Taran Kozun, off Blazers defenceman Sam Grist, and into the Kamloops goal.
Dave Hunchak, the head coach of the Blazers, could only shake his head.
“When you’re going through this, that tends to happen,” he said. “They hit the post and it goes off of Sam’s back and into the net. It’s unfortunate, because at that stage we were feeling like we were going to push.”
It certainly wasn’t the first post the Rockets had hit — Colton Heffley hit the cross-bar in the first minute and Kelowna players struck iron four other times before Baillie’s bouncer.
“I think we maybe hit six (posts),” said Rockets head coach Ryan Huska. “I think you make your breaks a lot of the time. . . .
“When you’re working and playing your way, the shots maybe go post and in. When you’re shortcutting things a little like tonight, that’s kind of the way the game’s going to end up.”
The Blazers haven’t won a game since Nov. 5, and looked hungry last night. They played a solid first period, but came out of it down 1-0. They followed with an even better second period, but still trailed 2-1.
“I thought we did a lot of good things here tonight,” Hunchak said. “That’s a hell of a hockey team on the other side and at times we had them on the ropes.
“I know where we’re at as far as our wins or losses are concerned, but it’s about the process right now and I thought for the better part of the game our process was pretty good.”
The Blazers simply couldn’t put the puck in the net. Matt Needham and Josh Connolly did, the latter on a power play, but Kamloops players couldn’t beat Rockets goaltender Jordon Cooke or simply shot wide.
“(The puck) has got to start going in at some point here,” Hunchak said. “Scoring chances, I know we outchanced them tonight. We missed some glorious scoring chances — at some point, it has to start going in.”
Zach Franko opened the scoring for the Rockets on a first-period power play, before Ryan Olsen made it 2-0 halfway through the second period. Needham banged in a rebound later in the second, before Connolly tied it on a power play around the midway point of the third period.
Cooke brought it home for the Rockets, stopping 37 shots.
“I thought Kamloops played a very good game,” Huska said. “When you look at our group, our goaltender was good for us, but you stretch to find too many other guys that I could include in that category.”
Kozun also was solid for the Blazers, stopping 33 shots. He stands to get more starts as Bolton Pouliot injured his right hand in practice on Thursday and is out until after Christmas.
The Blazers have called up Cole Kehler from the Okanagan Hockey Academy.
Whoever starts in goal, the Blazers are feeling a little more confident after last night.
“We aren’t too worried about the results right now, more the process,” said Blazers forward Cole Ully, who had two assists. “Hopefully the results will come, hopefully (tonight).”
JUST NOTES: Attendance was 4,227. . . . Kamloops scratched F Carson Bolduc, whom it acquired from the Prince George Cougars on Tuesday. Bolduc is out due to illness. . . . The Daily News’ Three Stars: 1. Franko: Kept buzzing all game; 2. Ully: Had two assists, two big hits and should have had two goals; 3. Cooke: There’s a reason he’s 14-1-2 this season. . . . The Blazers’ next home game is Friday, 7 p.m., against the Kootenay Ice. . . . G Liam McLeod, who is from Kamloops, is no longer with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers. The 17-year-old posted on his Twitter feed: “Thanks a lot to the @ClippersHockey for the time I spent with the team, best of luck the rest of the season.” McLeod, whom the Blazers selected in the 2011 bantam draft and who attended main camp this summer, no longer is on Kamloops’ list. 

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Tragedy on Shuswap Lake

The Saskatoon Blades have signed three of their 2013 bantam draft picks. . . . D Nolan Reid, the 41st overall selection, is from Deer Valley, Sask. He had 27 points in 30 games with a bantam team at Notre Dame last season. . . . F Parker Smyth, the 44th selection, had 32 points in 31 games with his hometown bantam AAA Red Deer Rebels Black. . . . F Luke Gingras, from Langley, B.C., was taken in the third round, 67th overall. He played for the bantam AAA Langley Eagles last season. . . . The Blades also trimmed two players with WHL experience from their camp roster — G Spencer Tremblay and F Daniel Wray. Tremblay, who turns 19 on Sept. 20, got into 20 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2011-12. Last season, he played just five games — one with the MJHL’s Waywayseecappo Wolverines, three with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats and one with the Red Deer Rebels. Wray, 18, had had one assist in 31 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds last season.
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The Kelowna Rockets have signed head coach Ryan Huska, 38, to a three-year contract extension that will kick in following the completion of the 2013-14 season. That means that Huska, who is going into his seventh season as the team’s head coach, is signed through 2016-17. He also served as an assistant coach with the Rockets, so is entering his 12th season with the organization.
———

The OHL’s North Bay Battalion has signed Stan Butler, the director of hockey operations and head coach, to a five-year extension. Butler, 57, has been with the franchise since 1998-99. The Battalion is in its first season in North Bay, after 15 winters in Brampton. . . . Butler spent one season (1996-97) as head coach of the WHL’s Prince George Cougars.
———

The Tri-City Americans have signed D Brendan O’Reilly, a 16-year-old training camp invitee from Southlake, Texas. O’Reilly, 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, was one of a team-record 14 American players to attend Tri-City’s training camp. . . . O’Reilly spent last season with the Victory Honda U-16 team in the Tier 1 Elite League. In 47 games, he had 20 points.
———

The Regina Pats have signed F Sam Steel, the second overall pick in the 2013 bantam draft, to a WHL contract. Steel had a team-high 104 points, including 52 goals, in 31 games for the bantam AAA Sherwood Park, Alta., Flyers last season.
———

F Ryan Harrison, who completed a five-year WHL career last season, has signed with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. Harrison, 21, is from Kelowna. He played 325 WHL games, split between the Prince Albert Raiders, Medicine Hat Tigers and Everett Silvertips. Last season, he had 32 points in 51 games with Everett.
———

The Saskatoon Blades are working to get clearance to add Russian F Nikita Sherbak to their roster. While that goes on, all Sherbak can do is watch training camp and ride a stationary bike. Daniel Nugent-Bowman of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix has more right here.
———
What follows is a corrected version of something that appeared here yesterday. Mike Dyck won’t be running the bench when he joins the Kootenay Ice in December. Assistant coach Jay Henderson will be in charge, with Dyck assisting him. . . .
The Kootenay Ice has added Mike Dyck to its coaching staff. Dyck, a former head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, will attend training camp and will return to the team to help first-year assistant Jay Henderson on the bench when head coach Ryan McGill serves as an assistant coach with Canada’s national junior team in December. . . . “With Ryan going to the World Juniors and this being Jay's first year coaching in the WHL,” Chynoweth said in a news release, “we felt another coach was needed during this time frame. We feel very fortunate to be able to add a coach with the experience that Mike has in the WHL." . . . Dyck spent five seasons as Lethbridge’s head coach, going 132-120-16 and reaching the WHL’s championship final in 2008. He also worked as an assistant coach with Lethbridge and the Vancouver Giants.
———
Earlier this week, the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers revealed that they had made a profit of $22,165 for the 2012-13 season. That may not seem like much, but check out Josh Brown’s story from the Guelph Mercury right here for some of the details. . . . It’s the 18th season in a row in which the Rangers have shown a profit.
———

Kevin Boutilier, a defenceman who played parts of two seasons with the Chilliwack Bruins, is missing and presumed drowned in the Narrows area of Shuswap Lake near Sicamous, B.C.
From the Kamloops Daily News:
Search and rescue crews were not able to find Kevin Boutilier, 25, after an incident Saturday afternoon.
A group of people were on a houseboat when one person's hat blew off, witnesses told police.
Some of them dove in to try to retrieve it, but ran into trouble as inclement weather pushed the boat away. More people jumped off the boat to come to their aid.
"Of the group in the water, one individual was last seen in distress and seen going under the surface several times and did not resurface in spite of one of his friends being alongside him who was attempting to assist him," Sgt. Dave Dubnyk of the Sicamous RCMP said.
Police are now looking at recovery efforts, but note that this area of the lake is very deep and the terrain at the bottom creates challenges for divers using sonar equipment.
The Calgary Sun has more right here.
———
Wayne Chernecki (Winnipeg Jr. Jets, 1969-71) was one of the great players in the early days of the WHL. In 1970-71, he had 123 points, including 50 goals. . . . Chernecki died on Feb. 11 in Winnipeg of cancer. Paul Brett, a friend, remembers Chernecki right here.
———






From Lukas Walter (@Lukaswalter9): “Would like to thank the @pdxwinterhawks for everything and wishing the team goodluck this year”
———
From Scott Sepich (@SSepich): “Winterhawks players are tweeting farewells to Lukas Walter and Eric Walker, so it appears those 2 are out as 20-year-old options.”

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Blazers get down to two goaltenders

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

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

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Rest won't hurt Kamloops

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

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Blazers looking to Portland

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

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Brendan Ranford set up two goals Sunday as the
Kamloops Blazers beat the visiting Kelowna
Rockets in what was his 343rd regular-season
WHL game.
(Keith Anderson / Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Brendan Ranford is glad that he stayed in Kamloops, after all.
Ranford now has played in more games than anyone in the history of the city’s WHL franchise. However, he may well have left over the summer when the Blazers let other teams know they were willing to trade him.
They didn’t, and now Ranford, a left winger, has played in 343 regular-season games, two more than centre C.J. Stretch (2005-10), who now is with the ECHL’s Ontario Reign.
Ranford broke the record Saturday as he scored once in a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants at Interior Savings Centre. He extended the record Sunday, as the Blazers, getting three goals from right-winger JC Lipon, two assists from Ranford, and 25 saves from goaltender Cole Cheveldave, dismissed the visiting Kelowna Rockets, 3-0.
The Blazers (44-18-5) swept their three-game weekend — they started with a 4-1 victory over the Cougars in Prince George on Friday — and are within three points of the B.C. Division-leading Rockets (46-16-4), who hold a game in hand. The Blazers are at home to the Victoria Royals, who have lost nine straight, on Tuesday, then will play the Rockets here on Friday and in Kelowna on Saturday.
“Definitely, it was a good decision, but I don’t know that I really had any thoughts of leaving,” Ranford said, adding that it was all part of the game that plays out every summer and early each season as teams and players try to sort out which 20-year-olds will stay.
“Yeah, definitely, that was the biggest thing,” the Edmonton native said. “It is (part of) the game.”
Ranford has missed only 15 games in five seasons, something for which he was quick to credit veteran trainer Colin (Toledo) Robinson.
“I have to to thank Toledo,” Ranford said. “He’s done an unbelieveable job of keeping me healthy.”
Last night, the Blazers were in complete control pretty much from the drop of the puck as they shut down the WHL’s second-highest scoring team.
“We didn’t compete tonight,” offered Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska. “That petty much sums it up. They worked much harder than we did. . . . At the end of the day, we didn’t compete the way we need to compete. It’s plain and simple.”
Ranford figured in Lipon’s first two goals, the initial one coming on a rebound. Ranford drilled goaltender Jordon Cooke in the logo and Lipon deposited the rebound, at 4:58 of the first period.
They were back for more five minutes later, this time Lipon whipping home a wrist shot from the slot.
Lipon completed his second career hat trick — three or four hats and one fedora hit the ice in response — at 1:48 of the third with a one-timer from the slot that zipped past Cooke catching mitt.
“He’s got an unbelieveable one-timer,” Ranford said of Lipon. “He’s one of the top two guys in the league with the one-timer. Bell from Kelowna has a pretty good one, too.”
That would be forward Myles Bell, who leads the Rockets in goals (36), assists (51) and points (87). He left the game at 17:50 of the first period after suffering a leg injury when he went knee-to-knee with Kamloops defenceman Sam Grist in a collision that was more accidental than anything.
Asked how badly Bell is injured, Huska replied: “I don’t know.”
Cheveldave, meanwhile, was rarely pressured as he record his fifth shutout this season and the ninth of his career.
As for Ranford, he has 347 points in his 343 regular-season games. Only six players in franchise history have put up more points than that and one of them — Hnat Domenichelli — is at 349.
Ranford was selected by Philadelphia in the seventh round of the 2009 NHL draft, but wasn’t able to cut a deal with the Flyers. Prior to the start of this season, he went to camp with the Hamilton Bulldogs, the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. However, he returned to the Blazers and is again a free agent.
He said he hasn’t heard anything about a pro contract.
“I’m just hoping for a really good playoff run,” he said. “NHL teams want winners. . . and I think we have the team that can do it.”
On Saturday, the Blazers also got goals from Marek Hrbas, Dylan Willick and Kale Kessy (shorthanded), while Brett Kulak and Cain Franson replied for the Giants, who had a 26-22 edge in shots.
JUST NOTES: The attendances were 4,542 on Saturday and 5,756 on Sunday, the latter being a Rain Check Night. . . . Lipon also scored three goals in a 5-1 victory over the visiting Spokane Chiefs on Dec. 5. . . . The Daily News Three Stars for Sunday: 1. Lipon: Hot trigger finger; 2. Cheveldave: Made the saves; 3. F Chase Souto, Kamloops: Hard work and good decisions. . . . The Daily News Three Stars for Saturday: 1. Grist, Kamloops: Two assists and physical; 2. Willick: Getting close to where he was before injury; 3. F Colin Smith, Kamloops: 100 points no small feat. . . . Vancouver D Reid Zalitach, who left Wednesday’s game here with a knee injury, has returned home to Winnipeg. He apparently won’t need surgery but his season is over.

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