Yonkman sharp in beating Blazers

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers experienced a hockey team’s worst nightmare Saturday —
no offence on Teddy Bear Night.
It’s like being broke when it’s all-you-can-eat night for $5 at your
favourite restaurant. Or having the flu and not being allowed out of the
house when the teachers are having another pro-development day.
In this one, the Blazers threw everything but the Interior Savings Centre
cat at Swift Current goaltender Travis Yonkman before 4,575 well-entertained
fans at Interior Savings Centre. But the home boys came up empty as the
Broncos, playing their fourth road game in five nights, escaped with a 2-0
victory.
Yonkman, 20, finished with 28 saves as he recorded his first shutout this
season and the sixth of his career.
It turns out that he has a bit of a history with shutouts and Teddy Bear
games, having turned in a 34-save 1-0 blanking of the Kootenay Ice in
Cranbrook on Dec. 7, 2007, to ruin the party there, too.
Still, the Saskatoon native said this was just another game to him.
“I don’t think about it (being Teddy Bear Night),” he said. “It’s another
distraction that can get you off your game.”
The game was scoreless until 8:29 of the third period when Swift Current
centre Cody Eakin, a 17-year-old sophomore, took a pass from Brad Hoban and
pounded the puck into an open side behind goaltender Justin Leclerc.
It was Eakin’s ninth goal in his 17th game but his first since Nov. 14. He
had been nursing a high ankle sprain.
The goal came a couple of minutes after the Blazers’ power play had come up
dry — not for lack of effort — on a 53-second two-man advantage.
“We did everything right,” Kamloops head coach Barry Smith said. “Puck
movement was good. Shots were good. We did everything right there. It wasn’t
like we couldn’t get anything done or there was no puck movement or any of
that.
“I thought our power play was real good. It moved the puck but, in the end,
you have to score goals to win hockey games.”
And, on this night, the Blazers weren’t going to beat Yonkman, who appears
to be just rounding into form after missing most of October with a shoulder
injury.
“I’ve been back for a little bit but I haven’t been playing with
confidence,” Yonkman said. “That’s one thing my goalie coach (former Kelowna
Rockets goaltender Kevin Swanson) and I have been talking about . . .
showing that confidence on the ice” so that the Broncos can “build off that
confidence.”
Which was the case Saturday. Yonkman played as though he was overflowing
with confidence and, as a result, he seemed only to take up more of the net
as the game wore on.
When his side was two-men short, Yonkman was spectacular, in one stretch
making pad and glove saves off Tyler Shattock and also robbing Shayne Wiebe
and Kenton Dulle.
“It’s all about reaction. If you think, it’s already too late,” Yonkman said
of those stops. “We work on it during practice, a couple of 5-3 situations,
but it’s all about just working as hard as you can.”
Smith, however, wasn’t about to concede anything to the visitors.
“(Yonkman) was all right but we missed more chances . . . we did all the
things we needed to do,” he said. “The plays were made, the puck movement
was quick . . . it wasn’t to be.
“There was nothing wrong with that game. . . . we were great. If you play
like that you are going to win more games than that.”
The Blazers, who finished with a 28-23 edge in shots, had a territorial
advantage for a lot of the game, but couldn’t beat Yonkman. They also were
guilty, as has frequently been the case, of erratic shooting.
“(The Broncos) weathered the storm,” Smith said. “For us, I thought we
played real well. We carried the play most of the night.”
Dean Chynoweth, the Broncos’ general manager and head coach, said he
expected an early storm, but . . .
“We were prepared to have to weather the storm,” he said, knowing full well
that the Blazers had laid an egg in losing 8-3 in Cranbrook on Wednesday,
“and I didn’t think early there was a lot of emotion either way.
“It was one of those games where there were lots of scoring chances and
quite a few sloppy turnovers. But I thought both goalies played very well.”
Yes, Leclerc was solid, too, as he matched Yonkman almost save for save.
And, as for the Teddy Bear goal, well, it ended up being scored by Swift
Current centre Taylor Vause. He deposited the puck into an empty Kamloops
net with 1:11 left to play and the fans, ignoring the pleas of public
address announcer Bill O‚Donovan not to throw anything, littered the ice
surface with stuffage.
If nothing else, it gave Vause, a 17-year-old freshman from Calgary, an
early-career highlight. Not too many players get to score a Teddy Bear goal
on the road.
JUST NOTES: Referees Matt Kirk and Brett Iverson, the latter working his
12th WHL game, gave the Broncos nine of 16 minors, and one of two majors,
with Kamloops taking the lone misconduct. . . . Yonkman is a first cousin to
former WHL D Nolan Yonkman, who played with the Kelowna Rockets and Brandon
Wheat Kings. . . . Swift Current has gone 114 games without being blanked,
the longest such streak in the WHL right now. . . . Kamloops has been
blanked twice this season. . . . It was the 12th time in franchise history
that the Blazers have been beaten 2-0 but only the fourth time it has
happened at home. . . . D Jesse Dudas, who has a knee injury and hasn’t
played this season, will rejoin the Broncos after Christmas. His arrival
will give the Broncos four-20-year-olds, meaning one will have to go. That
is expected to happen by the Jan. 10 trading deadline. . . . The WHL’s
Christmas trade moratorium runs from Friday though Dec. 26.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca