Oilers fire scouts . . . Kennedy: No fixing pedophiles . . . Dom's in the picture

There’s nothing like the off-season for cooling in-season rivalries . . .

Thank you Gravelbourg for inviting @SCBroncos Charlie Horse to #SummerSolsticeFestival. Even ran into an old friend. pic.twitter.com/WyS2UB17tb

— Leigh Duquette (@LeighADuquette) June 21, 2015

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F Jordan Peddle (Swift Current, Edmonton, 2008-12) signed a contract for the rest of this season with CBR Brave Canberra (Australia, AIHL). Last season, with the Mississippi Surge (SPHL), he had 10 goals and 18 assists in 56 games. . . .
F Myles Bell (Regina, Kelowna, 2008-14) signed a one-year contract with Stjernen Fredrikstad (Norway, GET-Ligaen). Last season, with the Albany Devils (AHL), he was pointless in two games and had 10 goals and nine assists in 41 games with the Evansville Icemen (ECHL).
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With the NHL draft scheduled to start Friday in Sunrise, Fla., the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers dropped the axe on a few of their scouts on Saturday evening. Morey Gare, the head of their pro scouting department, was fired, as was head amateur scout Stu MacGregor. . . . Two other amateur scouts also were dropped, although their names weren’t available last night. . . . MacGregor, who I am told had one year left on his contract, once scouted for the Kamloops Blazers, and then was the team’s general manager for three seasons (1995-98). He left the Blazers to scout for the Dallas Stars, then joined the Oilers’ scouting staff in 2000. On Sept. 10, 2007, he was named the team’s director of amateur scouting.
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Graham James, the former general manager and head coach of the Swift Current Broncos, had two years added to the jail sentence he already is serving when he pleaded guilty to more sexual abuse-related charges on Friday. During the proceedings, Barb Pacholik of the Regina Leader-Post reported, “Defence lawyer Robert Skinner told court that when the 62-year-old offender is one day released, he intends to find a job ‘but he would also like to consider something in the education field, dealing with counsellors and coaches and teachers to tell them about his experience, so as they don’t make the same serious mistakes.’ ” . . . Pacholik continued: “At that comment, former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy, another victim of James who came to support the latest complainant, raised his eyebrows and looked incredulous.” . . . Kennedy later told Pacholik: “There is no fixing (pedophiles.) There’s managing.” . . . Pacholik’s story is right here.
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During the NBA Finals, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers felt the urge to tell the world that he is “the best player in the world.” . . . Right here, William C. Rhoden of The New York Times takes a look at the reaction resulting from that statement.
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If you are familiar with Dom’s story, you know how special this picture is . . .

Our good luck charm. Come back anytime, champ. #PlaidForDad #GoDomGo pic.twitter.com/uZ7vMesVzk

— MedHat Mavericks (@mhmavericks) June 20, 2015

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Kessy a load for Blazers in playoffs

Kale Kessy has been a force for the Kamloops Blazers.
(Murray Mitchell / Kamloops Daily News)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Kale Kessy is standing in a hallway at Interior Savings Centre. It is Friday afternoon and the Kamloops Blazers’ practice has just concluded.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Kessy ponders the question for a moment and a grin begins to appear on his countenance.
“Never,” he says, and then he heads for the WHL team’s dressing room.
It’s true. Until now, Kessy never has led a league in goals at any point in a season.
And yet that’s where he finds himself tonight as the Blazers and Kelowna Rockets open a best-of-seven second-round series at Prospera Place in the Little Apple.
Going into Friday's playoff games, Kessy, who has played six games, and Kelowna forward Tyson Baillie, who has played seven, had seven goals apiece, and that’s tops in the WHL.
“It’s a a nice feeling,” Kessy said, “but I have to give credit for all of them . . . I’ve probably had close to seven wide-open nets. I just try to play in front of the goalie and work in the dirty areas. (Colin) Smith and my linemates have been doing a really good job of finding me there.”
The Blazers eliminated the Victoria Royals from a first-round series in six games, winning the last game 6-2 on Monday night. Kessy scored three times in that one, as he did in Game 4, a 5-4 overtime victory by the visiting Blazers. Those were the first hat tricks of his WHL career, which now is 287 games old.
“I’m just trying to make the most of my opportunities right now,” Kessy offered. “I’m playing with a lot of good players. I’ve been playing with Smith for the last half of the season and the playoffs and he’s a really good player.”
Yes, there definitely seems to be some chemistry between Smith and Kessy, kind of like their is between Smith and Wesson — one loads and the other fires.
But perhaps we should have seen Kessy’s hot first round coming. After all, he finished the regular season with 11 points, five of them goals, in his last nine games. That allowed him to finish with 43 points, including 21 goals, in   60 games.
With the Blazers, who acquired him from the Vancouver Giants on ???? for forward Rob Trzonkowski, 18, and a 2015 fifth-round draft pick, he put up 25 points, 12 of them goals, in 31 games.
“There are some really talented players on this team,” Kessy said. “I’m more of a physical, energy guy. I’ll just work hard on my game this summer and try to improve the different aspects like stickhandling and shooting. I worked a lot on that last summer.
“I know I can play with those types of players — Smith and (JC) Lipon and (Brendan) Ranford and (Tim) Bozon and those guys.”
All of which is pretty good for a guy who, as a first-year bantam, was cut from a team in Swift Current. Kessy, who is from Shaunavon, promptly moved to Medicine Hat, where he played bantam and midget. In his final minor hockey season, he had 17 goals and 12 assists in 33 games with Medicine Hat’s midget AAA team.
While he was in The Hat, the Tigers placed him on their list. He would go on to play 195 games with the Tigers, before they dealt him to the Giants early this season.
When the Blazers acquired Kessy, he brought with him baggage that included seven separate suspensions, including a 12-game sentence that ended his days with the Tigers.
With the Blazers, however, he has keep his nose more than clean.
“I’m just trying to make the most of my opportunities,” he reiterated. “I don’t think I have to prove myself fighting, but I’ll stick up for my teammates whenever I have to.”
While Kessy has turned into that most valuable of hockey commodities — a power forward who looks like he has some touch — NHL scouts were watching. Obviously, former Blazers general manager Stu MacGregor, who is the Edmonton Oilers’ head scout and who lives in Kamloops, was paying attention. Last week, the Oilers dealt forward Tobias Rieder to the Phoenix Coyotes for Kessy, who had been a fourth-round pick in the 2011 NHL draft. It was a classic case of teams swapping hustle for muscle.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Kessy said of now being Edmonton property. “The Oilers have a lot of young, talented, skilled players. I’ll work hard this summer and go into camp and try to do my best and see what happens.”
Before then, though, there are the Rockets. The Blazers left for the Little Apple shortly after practice yesterday.
“We just have to play Blazers hockey,” Kessy said. “We can’t get away from that. If we are playing our own game and our own style, we’ll be all right.”
And what is Blazers hockey?
“It’s good execution of our game plan,” he added. “Play with a lot of pace and keep pushing. We have to play a full 60 minutes. We have to get a lot of pucks behind their (defence). They’re missing some bodies so we have to forecheck them and play smart.”
Some teams — hello, there, Victoria — have made attempts to run at Kessy and get him off his game. Kessy said that kind of stuff doesn’t bother him.
“I don’t go into a game worrying about any other player,” he said. “I’d rather have them worrying about me.”
If he keeps scoring the way he has been, he will definitely be causing the opposition to sweat.
JUST NOTES: Game 2 in this series will be played in Kelowna on Sunday, 5 p.m., with Games 3 and 4 at Interior Savings Centre. Game time both nights will be 7 o’clock. . . . The entire series will be televised by Shaw. . . . Kamloops C Joe Kornelsen (leg) is expected to return tonight after missing 12 games. . . . Bozon (hand), however, is out long-term.


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Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry handles the ceremonial faceoff at the Seattle
Thunderbirds’ home-opener, dropping the puck between Troy Rutkowski
of the Portland Winterhawks and Luke Lockhart. Petry’s daughter and son,
Megan and Austin, look on at left.(Photo by Kyle Scholzen/Seattle Thunderbirds)

The Seattle Thunderbirds had Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry do the honours for the ceremonial faceoff as they opened at home against the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday night.
Sergeant First Class Petry is a Medal of Honor recipient and it’s more than worth your while to click on right here and read about how he earned such an honour.
Petry, who received the Medal of Honour on July 12, now is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
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Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president of hockey who handles discipline, dropped the hammer on Saturday.
Now we will have to see how clearly the message was received.
Doerksen has suspended F Cody Beach of the Moose Jaw Warriors for seven games after he incurred a checking to the head major and game misconduct.
The penalty was assessed Thursday night in the WHL’s regular-season opener after Beach hit Brandon Wheat Kings F Bruno Mraz, who wasn’t injured on the play.
Beach was playing his first game with the Warriors after having returned from the camp of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues. He was a repeat offender, having been suspended twice earlier in his WHL career.
Matthew Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reported:
“Beach had previously been suspended twice for two games with the Calgary Hitmen in 2009 — once for instigating fight on line change and the other came after he picked up an elbowing major.”
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The NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned F Oliver Gabriel, 20, to the AHL’s Springfield Falcons. Gabriel has signed an NHL contract and is a 20-year-old, so is eligible to play anywhere in the Columbus organization or, at some point, he could be returned to the Portland Winterhawks. . . .
F J.T. Barnett of the Kamloops Blazers has been returned by the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Barnett played for Devils — he scored the game’s first goal at 1:26 of the first period — in a 5-4 OT victory over te New York Rangers on Friday afternoon. Later in the first period, Barnett tweaked a knee and now is expected to miss between two and four weeks. . . .
The Devils also returned D Reece Scarlett to the Swift Current Broncos. . . . He got back in time to play for the Broncos in their home-opener against the Regina Pats on Saturday night. . . .
The St. Louis Blues have returned F Ty Rattie to the Portland Winterhawks. . . . He was in the Winterhawks’ lineup on Saturday, scoring twice in a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash.
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Gerry Bell, who worked as the CEO of the Kamloops Blazers in 2005-06, has died. Bell, 68, passed away Thursday after a five-year battle with cancer.
Bell was a long-time labour negotiator who worked to help the Blazers get back on track after the franchise was torn apart by financial scandal in the early 2000s.
After the Blazers, then owned by community shareholders, were hit by a scandal that included the office manager having taken more than $900,000 over a number of years, the team’s board of directors hired Bell in late 2003 to take a long, hard look inside the organization. Shortly thereafter, the team began restructuring. Bell later was hired as the team’s CEO.
A celebration of Bell’s life will be held Wednesday in Kamloops.
There is more right here.
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JUST NOTES: When Saskatoon beat the visiting Prince Albert Raiders 4-3 on Friday night, it marked the 1,500th regular-season victory in the Blades’ WHL history. . . . The Blades made it 1,501 by beating the Raiders 5-3 in Prince Albert on Saturday night. . . . Seen huddling before the Prince George Cougars met the Blazers in Kamloops last night: Rick Brodsky, who owns the Cougars, and Stu MacGregor, the head scout for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. You don’t suppose they were chatting about Martin Marincin, the Slovakian defenceman who played with the Cougars last season and now is in the Oilers’ camp, do you? . . . The Oilers selected Marincin out of Europe in the 2010 draft, so he is eligible to play in their organization even though he is only 19.
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SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:
The Prince George Cougars beat the Blazers 1-0 as F Charles Inglis scored with eight-10ths of a second left in the second period. Prince George goaltender Drew Owsley was terrific, stopping 32 shots for his 10th career shutout and the second by a 1-0 count. While with the Tri-City Americans, he beat the visiting Kelowna Rockets 1-0 on Oct. 1. . . . The Blazers’ home-opener drew 4,069 fans, the smallest opening night crowd in the 20 openers that have been played in what now is the Interior Savings Centre. The previous smallest opening-night crowd (4,583) showed up last season as the Blazers beat the Cougars, 5-2. . . . F Brock Montgomery, who had played 114 regular-seasons without drawing more than one assist, set up four goals as the Kootenay Ice opened defence of its championship with a 5-1 victory over the visiting Calgary Hitmen. Attendance was 3,253. . . .
Slovakian F Filip Vasko, the 14th shooter, notched the winner as the visiting Kelowna Rockets beat the Everett Silvertips 5-4 in a shootout. . . . In Medicine Hat, F Cam Braes, Lethbridge’s new captain, had two goals as the Hurricanes stunned the Tigers, 4-2. Yes, attendance was 4,006. The game included 19 power plays, with Lethbridge going 2-for-10 and the Tigers 0-for-9. . . . Russian G Andrey Makarov stopped 33 shots in his first WHL start as the Saskatoon Blades beat the Raiders 5-3 in Prince Albert. Makarov, 18, was selected in the 2010 import draft. . . .
In Kent, Wash., D Derrick Pouliot enjoyed his first career four-point game — he drew four assists — in leading the Portland Winterhawks to a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Pouliot, a highly touted 17-year-old from Weyburn, Sask., had three two-point games last season. Seattle G Calvin Pickard stopped 40 shots. . . . In Swift Current, D Brandon Underwood scored his third career goal — it was his 151st regular-season game, to help the Regina Pats to a 4-2 victory over the Broncos. The Pats acquired Underwood, 19, from Kamloops over the summer. He didn’t score in 58 games last season, after counting once in 56 games in 2009-10 and once in 35 games in 2008-09. . . . Attendance was 2,023. . . . The Pats had beaten the visiting Broncos 5-1 on Friday night. . . .
In Kennewick, Wash., the Tri-City Americans went 3-for-6 on the PP and beat the Spokane Chiefs, 4-1. F Adam Hughesman had a goal and two assists. . . . The Americans have won their last 11 home-openers. . . . Spokane G Mac Engel stopped F Patrick Holland on a second-period penalty shot. . . . Attendance was 5,599. . . . Spokane F Dominik Uher took a checking-from-behind major and game misconduct in the second period. . . . The WHL returned to Victoria and there were 7,006 fans on hand as the Royals beat the Vancouver Giants 5-3. F Kevin Sundher had a goal and two assists for the Royals but the star was G Keith Hamilton, who stopped 48 shots. . . . It was the first WHL regular-season game in Victoria since the end of the 1993-94 season, after which the Cougars moved to Prince George.

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

Tuesday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT:
D Chris Schmidt (Seattle, 1992-96) signed a one-year contract with the Schwenninger Wild Wings (Germany, 2.Bundesliga). He had one goal and one assist in 33 games this season for Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (Germany, DEL). . . .
F Nigel Dawes (Kootenay, 2001-05) and F Dustin Boyd (Moose Jaw, 2002-06) signed one-year contracts with Barys Astana (Kazakhstan, KHL). Dawes had one assist in 13 games with the Atlanta Thrashers and Montreal Canadiens and 41 goals and 31 assists in 66 games with Chicago Wolves and Hamilton Bulldogs (both AHL) this season. Boyd had one goal in 10 games with Montreal and 20 goals and nine assists in 47 games with Hamilton this season. . . .
F Frantisek Mrazek (Red Deer, 1997-99) signed a one-year contract extension with the Landshut Cannibals (Germany, 2.Bundesliga). He had 10 goals and eight assists in 29 games for tthe Cannibals this season.
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The hockey fans of Winnipeg have gotten back their NHL franchise. Granted, it’s not the same franchise that was taken away from them — that one is in Phoenix now — but the Manitoba capital is back in the club.
Now all that needs be done is for those same fans to cough up for 13,000 season tickets.
That, according to NHL comissioner Gary Bettman, would be a great show of support in advance of the board of governors’ June 21 meeting at which the sale of the franchise is expected to be voted on.
Season tickets are priced from $1,755 to $5,805, and the NHL wants at least a three-year commitment. So, for you and your partner to get in on the cheap, this reignited love affair with the NHL is going to cost you close to $12,000 before you even know the team’s nickname.
As for that nickname, hockey fans everywhere seem to be clamouring for Jets. But if that was going to happen, you would think the announcement would have been made Tuesday. No?
Perhaps the new owners are looking for a commercial tie-in. Does Manitoba Pilseners have a certain ring to it, or what?
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Now that the NHL has moved the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, where does it go next?
The next time an existing NHL franchise is looking for a soft landing place, what city will be used as leverage? In other words, a year from now, when city council in Glendale, Ariz., is under the gun again, what city will be rumoured as the next home of the Coyotes?
Quebec City would love to get back in, but doesn’t have a building.
There is an NHL-calibre building in Portland but only in the last while has there been any sort of movement to attract a franchise. Things are in the preliminary, preliminary stages, though, and there are miles and miles to go. The NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers are owned by Paul Allen, who hasn’t shown any serious interest in the NHL. Bill Gallacher, who owns the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks and a piece of the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers, at one point was attempting to purchase the Dallas Stars.
There is an empty arena in Kansas City but, again, there doesn’t seem to have been much interest shown there. Until now, at least.
Bill Daly, the NHL’s second-in-command, admitted last week that there have been preliminary talks with someone in Seattle, but that city doesn’t have a building that meets NHL standards.
Of course, Atlanta is home to a facility that does.
This is what ESPN refers to as a developing situation.
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My satellite TV provider gives me five Rogers Sportsnet channels.
Five!
On Tuesday afternoon, four of those channels were showing poker. Two of them were carrying Poker After Dark, although it was 1:30 pm., which, I suppose, is after dark. The other two were carrying a program simply referred to on the channel guide as Poker.
No, I didn’t watch. But it has me wondering: Do enough people watch poker on TV that it warrants coverage on four channels at the same time? Or is it such cheap programming that it’s worth it considering the number of viewers of afternoon TV?
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The Rexall Spots Corporation has hired Darryl Porter, a former part-owner of the Tri-City Americans and Chilliwack Bruins, as vice-president of family brands.
According to a news release, he will be “responsible for both the Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League and the Edmonton Capitals of the North American Baseball League. Both teams are part of the Rexall Sports Corporation, which also owns and operates the NHL's Edmonton Oilers . . .
“Porter's passion and knowledge in operating minor league teams, including his extensive experience in sponsorship sales, ticket sales and brand building, makes him the ideal leader for the Oil Kings and Capitals.”
Porter is an Edmonton native.
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The Moose Jaw Warriors will induct former players Blair Atcheynum and Derek Kletzel, along with ex-radio voice Rob Carnie, into the Warriors and Legends Hall of Fame. The banquet is Aug. 19 with a golf tournament on Aug. 20, all of it presented by Conexus. . . . Atcheynum (1986-89) had 189 points, including 105 goals, in 143 games with the Warriors. He holds the club record for goals (70) in a season (1988-89). Kletzel (1988-92) is a former Warriors captain who played 190 games with Moose Jaw. He finished with 183 points, including 100 assists. Kletzel is part-owner of Julien's Fitness and Rehab in Moose Jaw and is the analyst on Warriors’ radio broadcasts. . . . Carnie spent 15 years as the voice of the Warriors on CHAB.
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The case of headshots in the Memorial Cup reached the floor of the Ontario Legislature on Tuesday when Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch called for the resignation of David Branch, who is the president of the OHL and the commissioner of the CHL.
Bill Walker of the Owen Sound Sun Times had that story right here.
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STU MacGREGOR

JUST NOTES: The NHL’s Edmonton Oilers have agreed with head scout Stu MacGregor on a three-year contract extension. MacGregor is a former Kamloops Blazers general manager who scouted for the Dallas Stars before joining the Oilers’ scouting staff in 2000. He was named the Oilers’ head scout before the 2007-08 season. . . . The Colorago Eagles are leaving the Central league and moving into the ECHL. The Eagles, who lost the Central league final in seven games to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs on Friday, will begin play in the ECHL in the fall. The Eagles, who spent eight seasons in the Central league, play out of Loveland, Colo. Chris Stewart, a former head coach of the Prince Albert Raiders (1995-98), is the president, GM and head coach of the Eagles. . . . The QMJHL lost a franchise on Tuesday but will get it back in a year. The QMJHL has purchased the Lewiston Maineiacs and is to hold a dispersal draft. The Maineiacs had been in Lewiston since 2003, after having operated as the Sherbrooke Castors. At the same time, the QMJHL announced that a Sherbrooke group that includes former NHL G Jocelyn Thibault has been sold an expansion franchise starting with the 2012-13 season. Lewiston was the QMJHL’s only American franchise and won the league championship in 2007. . . . F Alex Kerfoot will play for the BCHL’s Coquitlam Express in the fall. Kerfoot, 16, had 108 points, including 36 goals, in 38 games as he won the B.C. major midget league’s scoring title with the Vancouver-North West Giants last season. He was selected by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the 12th round of the 2009 bantam draft.

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Taking Note on Twitter

Ranford wraps up terrific November

BRENDAN RANFORD

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Brendan Ranford has done his part. The rest is up to Hockey Canada.
The invitations go out today for the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp, which is to be held in Toronto, Dec. 11-15.
If Ranford, Kamloops Blazers’ starry left winger, was on Hockey Canada’s radar screen earlier in the season, he was the merest of blips. Of late, however, he has come on like a politician in the last days before an election.
Ranford had his sixth three-point game in his last eight outings Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough as the Blazers were beaten 7-5 by the Prince George Cougars before 4,099 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
Ranford, an 18-year-old from Edmonton, finished November with 22 points, including 11 goals, in 10 games. On the season, he has a WHL-leading 24 goals and his 44 points have him second in the WHL points derby, two behind forward Linden Vey of the Medicine Hat Tigers.
If you’re into plus/minus, Ranford is at plus-4 on a team that has the 22-team league’s second-poorest defensive record and has allowed 23 more goals than it has scored.
Still, he has no idea whether he will get a call.
“I feel I’ve played well lately,” Ranford said. “If I don’t (get picked), I don’t. I won’t be totally disappointed. I tried to do my best.”
Ranford, who was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers with the second-last pick of the 2010 NHL draft, got a chance to strut his stuff for Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast during the Subway Super Series here on Nov. 17. Team WHL lost to a touring Russian side, 7-6 in a shootout, but Ranford felt he played well.
He knows that if he doesn’t get invited to the national junior camp today, there’s always next year when he will be in his 19-year-old season.
Still, he would like an opportunity to show he belongs at that elite level, and you’ve got to think Canada might be able to make use of his hot stick.
Even with Ranford’s two goals, though, the Blazers weren’t able to beat the Cougars, who got a goal and three assists from Slovakian defenceman Martin Marincin. A second-round selection by Edmonton in the 2010 NHL draft, he has 30 points in his first 26 WHL games, which is why Oilers head scout Stu MacGregor was sporting the biggest smile in the arena on Saturday night.
The Cougars also got two goals from Charles Inglis and a goal and two assists from pesky Nick Bounassisi. Brett Connolly, with his 20th of the season, Cody Carlson and Taylor Stefishen, into an empty net, also scored for the visitors.
Jordan DePape, Colin Smith and Brady Gaudet, with his first WHL goal, replied for the Blazers, who trailed 4-2 with four minutes left in the second period, tied it with goals 1:44 apart, and then fell behind when Connolly pounced on a soft rebound and tapped it behind Kamloops goaltender Cam Lanigan with 18.3 seconds left.
If anything, the Blazers were again done in by penalties and suspect penalty-killing, which was torched three times in seven opportunities. Kamloops, which also scored three PP goals, continues as the WHL’s most-penalized team and its penalty killing, with a success rate of 71.7 per cent, is well behind the Calgary Hitmen and Prince Albert Raiders, both of whom are at 75.5 per cent.
As Ranford said: “We take penalties at the wrong times. They aren’t necessarily bad penalties . . . they just aren’t at the right times.”
The Blazers also got something of a bad break early in the first period when Gaudet was given a double minor for high-sticking after Cougars forward Brock Hirsche went down at the Kamloops blue line. Hirsche, who left the game and later was sporting a patch over his right eye, actually was struck by the puck rather than Gaudet’s stick. Marincin scored the game’s first goal on the resulting power play.
While the Blazers were playing their fourth game in five nights — they went 2-2-0 — the Cougars won their third game in four nights in three different cities. They blanked the Bruins 4-0 in Chilliwack on Wednesday, then beat the visiting Regina Pats 5-3 on Friday.
“We looked at the schedule when it came out,” said Cougars head coach Dean Clark, “and said this would be the toughest part. We took it easy, prepared accordingly and won all three games.”
The victory improved the Cougars’ record to 14-10-2 and lifted them into first place in the B.C. Division. (Actually, they are tied with the Vancouver Giants, but the Cougars have one more victory.) Last season, the Cougars finished with the poorest record (12-56-4) in the 60-team CHL.
Of course, the Western Conference is so tight that the Blazers, at 13-13-1 and tied for eighth with Chilliwack, are just three points behind the Cougars.
The Blazers now are off until Friday when they face the visiting Saskatoon Blades. Game time will be 7 p.m.
The defending-champion Calgary Hitmen are at the ISC on Saturday night.
JUST NOTES: Referees Colby Smith and Ryan Thompson gave the Cougars 11 of 20 minors and two of four majors. . . . Former Blazers G James Priestner gave up five goals, but made 36 saves, 17 more than Lanigan. . . . Carlson’s goal, a shorthanded effort, stood as the winner. The Blazers have given up a shorthanded goal in each of their last three games. . . . F Chase Schaber returned from a three-game suspension to draw three assists for Kamloops. He wore the captain’s C but for a second straight game there weren’t any alternates. . . . DePape, playing on the line with Ranford and Schaber, added two assists to his goal. . . . A post-game scoring change awarded assists on Gaudet’s goal to Willick and Smith Among the Kamloops scratches was C Dalibor Bortnak, with a sore knee after stopping a shot from Spokane D Jared Cowen on Friday night. . . . The Daily News Three Stars: 1. Marincin: Big just gets better; 2. D Daniel Gibb, Prince George: Big minutes, half-a-dozen blocked shots; 3. Ranford: Finished November with a flourish. . . . The Blazers have returned G Troy Trombley, 16, to the midget AAA Fort Saskatchewan Rangers. . . . The Cougars are 2-1-0 here but don’t visit again until March 18. The Blazers play in Prince George for the first time this season on Dec. 17 and 18.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca    gdrinnan.blogspot.com  Taking Note on Twitter