Hulak beats Blazers in OT

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
There was a time not that long ago — like last season — when the Saskatoon
Blades were to WHL road games what skunks are to road kill.
That, however, was then, when they finished the season 8-23-2-3 away from
the friendly confines of the Credit Union Centre (CUC), aka The Patch.
However, this is now and the Blades are 11-1-0-0 on the road, the last
triumph a 4-3 overtime victory over the Kamloops Blazers in front of an
announced crowd of 4,140 fans Tuedsay night at Interior Savings Centre.
Saskatoon’s victory was proof — if ever it was needed — that even a blind
squirrel finds acorns once in a while. Especially if presented with enough
opportunities.
The Saskatoon power play, ranked 18th in the WHL at an ugly 15. 3 per cent,
was presented with nine opportunities. And it struck twice, with captain
Derek (The Moustache) Hulak scoring both of them. (The Blazers’
penalty-killing unit is ranked 19th in the 22-team league and went into the
evening having given up a WHL-high 41 goals.)
Hulak, a 19-year-old left winger, gave the Blades a 3-2 lead at 4:10 of the
third period, banging a rebound past goaltender Justin Leclerc with four
seconds left in a 5-on-3 advantage.
Then, after the Blazers’ Jimmy Bubnick, who is from Saskatoon, tied the
score by getting a puck up and over goaltender Braden Holtby at 19:22 of the
third period, Hulak won the game in OT with his 11th score of the season.
Kamloops defenceman Zak Stebner was in stir — for hitting Saskatoon defender
Stefan Elliott from behind — as Hulak won this one at 2:15 of extra time.
That gave the Blades their 20th victory of the season — they are 20-7-2-0
overall — and their 10th consecutive triumph on the road.
It also sent the Blazers (13-14-1-3) out onto the road, where they are
3-7-0-2. They will play four games in six nights starting Friday in Edmonton
against the Oil Kings.
“(Stebner) was just trying to play hard on the . . . defenceman and the guy
happened to turn,” Kamloops assistant coach Scott Ferguson said. “It was an
unfortunate thing that happened at a bad time of the game. (Elliott’s)
momentum was carrying him forward and he just happened to finish his check
at a bad time.”
The Blades then took advantage of a fortuitous bounce in OT when a shot hit
the left post and bounced across the crease to Hulak, who deposited the puck
into a gaping net.
“There were a couple of bad bounces on our PK,” offered Kamloops centre C.J.
Stretch, who drew three assists, “but we can’t really do anything about
that.”
Ferguson agreed, adding that one reason for the disparity in shots —
Saskatoon had a 42-26 edge — was the Blades’ propensity for shooting with
the man advantage.
“A lot of (Saskatoon’s shots) are from the outside,” Ferguson said. “They
had a lot of (power-play time), too, and we did a good job for the most part
of trying to keep them to the outside. They got that unfortunate bounce in
their favour at the end of the game.”
Still, Ferguson said, the coaching staff, for the most part, liked what it
saw.
“I thought the guys played hard for 60 mintues and it wasn’t an easy game,
kind of a grind-’em-out kind of game,” he explained. “The guys are sticking
to their roles and that’s what we’re happy to see. If we keep having this
effort every night we’re going to be successful more than we’re not.”
Left-winger Adam Chorneyko, whose WHL career began with the Blazers, scored
his club’s first two goals. He had his seventh and eighth goals of the
season before the first period was half over.
Freshman Brendan Ranford scored for the Blazers in the first period, with
right-winger Kenton Dulle counting the only goal of the second period.
Stretch’s three-assist night leaves him with 29 helpers and 36 points in 31
games — last season, he finished with 17 and 28 in 66 games.
“Things started going better (this season),” said Stretch, who is in his
fourth season here and now is tied for 10th in the WHL scoring derby.
“Confidence is part of it.
“One of the biggest things . . . I’ve been in the league three years — this
is my fourth — and I’ve figured out how to play the game, finally.”
Leclerc, who was beaten on the first shot he faced when Chorneyko scored off
the rush from the left faceoff dot, again gave his side a chance to win. He
finished with 38 saves.
“He has played strong for us the last few games and it’s something we need,”
Ferguson said. “It gave the guys a chance to rally around him and start
getting our game together.”
JUST NOTES: Referees Steve Papp and Sean Raphael whistled while they worked
in this one, giving the Blazers 11 of 20 minors and one of two majors. The
Blades also took a misconduct. . . . The Blades received the game’s last
three power plays. . . . Kamloops was without RW Tyler Shattock, who served
Game 2 of a two-game WHL suspension for an interference major and game
misconduct he incurred in Friday’s 8-5 victory over the visiting Regina
Pats. . . . The Blades meet the Rockets in Kelowna tonight. Bruce Hamilton,
the Rockets’ president and GM, was in the building last night. No doubt he
was advance scouting, but you can bet he also was watching his son, Curtis,
a sophomore winger with the Blades.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com