By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers are excited about this weekend’s visit to Whitehorse, Yukon, where they are to play a ‘home’ WHL game against the Vancouver Giants.
But, at the same time, they know they have to approach this as a business trip.
“It’s going to be a unique experience, going up to Whitehorse and playing,” said Chase Schaber, the Blazers’ captain. “But we’re not going to lose sight of the fact we need the two points up there.
“At the same time, we’re going to take the unique experience that has been placed in front of us and we’re just going to run with it.”
Unfortunately for Schaber, he will make the trip but won’t play. He has missed 14 of the team’s last 16 games with leg injuries. There had been some hope that he would have played in Wednesday’s 6-1 victory over the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds, but now there apparently are concerns about calcification and he is out indefinitely.
Both teams, along with WHL officials, are to fly to Whitehorse today where they will become part of a Hockey Day in Canada party that has been taking place all week.
There will be hockey clinics and school visits. Scott Morrison of Hockey Night in Canada is to emcee a banquet tonight that will be attended by team officials.
Whitehorse has been wrapped up in a week-long celebration that has included visits from former NHLers like Wendel Clark, Kelly Hrudey, Reggie Leach, Trevor Linden, Brad May, Pat Quinn, Tim Taylor and Kevin Weekes.
As well, the Stanley Cup and Memorial Cup are both in town.
“I think it’s going to be a great experience,” Kamloops left-winger Brendan Ranford said. “Not a lot of guys have played up there. You hardly ever go up there, obviously. It’s going to be my first time and it’s going to be a great experience.”
It is easy to forget that these players, for the most part, are teenagers who savour new places, new people and new experiences.
“I’m pretty excited for it,” said defenceman Brady Gaudet, 16, who is from Redvers, Sask. “It’s going to be a fun experience. Not everyone gets to do something like that. I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be cool. It’ll be something different.”
Ranford is looking forward to being part of Hockey Day in Canada, but said he is going into the experience with his eyes open.
“These last (15) games, we have to play playoff kind of hockey,” Ranford offered. “It’s kind of like a mini-playoff for us. If we do make the playoffs, and hopefully we do, we should have that experience.”
Ranford’s point being that every game his club plays these days is just like a playoff game, simply because the Blazers have been involved for weeks in a five-team race for the Western Conference’s last three playoff spots.
The Blazers are 3-4-0 in the season series with the Giants, who lead the B.C. Division and haven’t played since ending a four-game Central Division swing with a 5-2 loss to the Kootenay Ice on Feb. 4.
Schaber, who has never been to Whitehorse, said that his teammates really haven’t been talking about the trip, simply because they’ve had other things on their minds.
“Actually, we’re focusing on taking things game by game,” he said. “We’re going to work towards a playoff spot and we’re going to get it. We’re just going to keep plucking away and we’re going to take it game by game.”
Following Wednesday’s victory, a smiling Willick admitted that he and his teammates finally would be able to talk about the Whitehorse trip now that Saturday’s game was next up on the schedule.
“I’m very excited,” Willick said. “Everyone is excited about it.”
And, as head coach Guy Charron pointed out, “This will be an experience they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.”
JUST NOTES: Game time for the Giants and Blazers on Saturday is scheduled for 4 p.m. But the WHL, in an attempt to gain maximum TV exposure, has told HNIC that it is prepared to delay the opening faceoff for as long as 30 minutes. . . . The game will be available for viewing online at cbc.ca and whl.ca. . . . One member of the Blazers’ off-ice officials crew will be in Whitehorse. Dan Cournoyea will serve as the on-line scorekeeper. . . . The referees are scheduled to be Steve Papp and Trevor Hanson, while Chris Sweeting and Nathan Van Oosten are to work the lines. . . . Highlights of the Vancouver-Kamloops game will be shown on Hockey Night in Canada, which begins with Ottawa at Edmonton (11 a.m.), continues with Montreal at Toronto (4 p.m.), and concludes with Calgary at Vancouver (7 p.m.). . . . The Blazers return home Sunday morning and will face the visiting Tri-City Americans on Tuesday.

Robinson planning for trek to Yukon

COLIN ROBINSON

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

While most of us are planning for Christmas, Colin Robinson already is looking past that and to Feb. 12.
That is when Robinson’s Kamloops Blazers are scheduled to meet the Vancouver Giants in a WHL game in Whitehorse, Yukon.
“It’s a unique opportunity,” he said Thursday. “There’s going to be lots of hoopla. It’s a part of the world I’ve never been to and probably never would.”
Robinson wears two hats with the Blazers — athletic trainer and equipment manager — and he will be the first to tell you that this won’t be your ordinary WHL road trip.
Robinson admitted to having two thoughts when he first heard about the game.
“I was nervous at first,” he said, “because it’s a neutral-site game and we might not have the usual tools.”
His second thought, which he expressed to general manager Craig Bonner, was that “I guess we better get bigger winter coats.”
Robinson’s first concern is being addressed to the point where he no longer worries about it. He has spoken with WHL commissioner Ron Robison and with Dallas Kitt, the WHL’s manager of marketing and events, and has been assured that everything will be fine.
“The host committee is organized,” the veteran trainer said, “and we will have everything we need to do our jobs and look after the guys. There will be two dressing rooms per team. We’ll have a place to hang our suits. There’ll be room for the coaches and me to work. It’ll be good.”
Travel arrangements still are being finalized, but the Blazers either will take their bus to Vancouver on Feb. 10 and then fly to Whitehorse on Feb. 11, or they will fly direct from Kamloops on Feb. 11.
“We’re still working through all of that,” Bonner said. “But they’re trying to make it work direct from here.”
Either way, the Blazers will hold a practice in Whitehorse the afternoon of Feb. 11 and will spend the evening at a banquet in honour of the event, which is being held in conjunction with 11th annual Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada.
They will hold their usual pregame skate on Feb. 12 at 10 a.m., with game time set for 4 p.m. The Blazers will spend that night in Whitehorse and return to Kamloops on Feb. 13. The Tri-City Americans will play here on Feb. 15.
Robinson stresses that “this is not just another trip.”
Because the team will be flying, he said he has to better prepared than when he’s packing for a bus trip.
“This won’t be like taking the bus and having everything underneath,” he said.
And because they won’t be playing in an arena that is home to a WHL team, there won’t be gear already there that can be shared.
“We share a lot of things,” Robinson said of the bond between the WHL’s trainers, equipment managers and athletic therapists. “We share tape . . . a ton of stuff.”
The bottom line is that Robinson is looking forward to the trek because, as he put it, “life is about experiences and this will be another one.”
Yes, he said, he is taking notes for the book will write when the time comes.
The Blazers, meanwhile, will try tonight to get their game back on track.
They dropped a 3-0 decision to the Giants in Vancouver on Tuesday, after which they felt the wrath of head coach Guy Charron, who was scathing in postgame interviews and made their lives miserable at practice Wednesday.
Spirits were high Thursday, however, as they went through their paces in the chilly confines of Memorial Arena.
Defenceman Josh Caron, who has been out with a broken collarbone since Sept. 25, won’t play tonight, but he is close to returning. Caron, who is back practising, is to see a doctor Monday at which point he expects to be cleared to play. Should that happen, he could play Wednesday against the Winterhawks in Portland or, more likely, in a weekend doubleheder in Prince George against the Cougars.
Defenceman Brady Gaudet, who picked up a 13-stitch cut on his chin when he was struck by Vancouver goaltender Mark Segal’s stick on Tuesday, will play tonight.
The Blazers know that the Broncos won’t be an easy touch. Already on this B.C. Division swing, they have won in Chilliwack (5-4 over the Bruins) and Kelowna (4-1 over the Rockets).
And centre Cody Eakin has been on fire. He has seven points, including four goals, in the two games. Two of his goals have been game-winners.
Eakin, a 19-year-old from Winnipeg, is the son of Grant Eakin (Winnipeg, Lethbridge, 1973-78) and the nephew of Bruce Eakin (Saskatoon, 1980-82).
Cody will fly out of Kamloops for Toronto on Saturday where he will take part in the selection camp for Canada’s national junior team.
JUST NOTES: The Blazers and Zimmer Autosport are playing host to the annual Teddy Bear/Tuque Toss tonight. Fans are encouraged to bring a new stuffed animal, tuque, scarf or pair of gloves and toss it onto the ice when the Blazers score their first goal. . . . The Blazers Booster Club is handling distribution with the Royal Inland Hospital and more than 20 other organizations to benefit. . . . The Broncos were last here on Dec. 13, 2008, when they blanked the Blazers, 2-0. Yes, that was a Teddy Bear game. . . . The Blazers will have three players off their protected list playing in the Canada Winter Games in Halifax, Feb. 10-18. F Matthew Needham of Penticton and D Joshua Connolly of Prince George will play for B.C., while F Cole Ully of Calgary is to play for Alberta. All three were selected in the 2010 bantam draft.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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