Blazers blitz Cougars

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
If first impressions mean anything, the Kamloops Blazers and their fans are going to like forward Dylan Willick and defenceman Bronson Maschmeyer just fine, thank you.
Willick, in his fifth WHL exhibition game, scored his third and fourth goals and Maschmeyer, in his Kamloops debut, had a goal and two assists Friday night as the Blazers whipped the Prince George Cougars 8-3 before 1,064 fans at Interior Savings Centre.
The teams conclude their exhibition seasons tonight in Prince George.
When this one ended, no one was sporting a bigger grin than Willick, a 17-year-old freshman who was born in Hinton, Alta., but has lived in Prince George for the last eight years.
“That was the icing on the cake, I guess . . . against your hometown team,” said Willick, who is looking forward to playing in front of family and friends tonight.
Willick played last season for the major midget Cariboo Cougars. He finished with 47 points in 40 games, and could just as easily have ended up with the WHL Cougars.
“I got looked at by them and I practised with them once near the end of last season, then I got listed by Kamloops,” Willick said.
In the end, it may have been a matter of 24 hours.
“He had kind of indicated that he was going to go to school,” said Dallas Thompson, the Cougars’ general manager. “But we filed on him . . . I think we missed him by a day.”
Which, if the exhibition season is any indication, was good for the Blazers.
“I’m enjoying it,” Willick said. “I’m off to a great start to the season. Hopefully, I can keep on going with it.
“It’s a faster pace and there’s a lot of bigger players . . . so it’s a bit of an adjustment.”
Maschmeyer, meanwhile, was acquired from the Vancouver Giants on Sept. 3 for a 2010 third-round bantam draft pick. At the time, Blazers GM Craig Bonner expressed some concern with his club’s ability to move the puck up ice.
That wasn’t a problem last night, as the Blazers outshot the Cougars 43-22, including 20-5 in a four-goal second period.
Maschmeyer was effective with his first pass and was magic on the power play, especially when paired on the point with winger Shayne Wiebe, who finished with two goals and four assists. All four assists came via the power play.
“It’s been a long time (since I played a game). It was good to get out there,” said Maschmeyer, 18. “It was good to have a good showing in our barn, too.
“I was a bit nervous because you want to show (Bonner) that he was right to trade for me.”
The Blazers, 2-3-0-1 in the exhibition season, came out of an ugly first period with a 3-2 lead, thanks to goals by Willick, Wiebe and Brendan Ranford. But the period featured 17 minor penalties, a misconduct, eight power plays and a video review, and took 40 minutes to play.
The Cougars (1-2-0-1), who got first-period goals from Jordan Lane, a 6-foot-7 forward from Whitehorse, and Parker Stanfield, pulled even at 3-3 just 28 seconds into the second period when Robbie Ciolfi beat Kamloops goaltender Justin Leclerc.
However, the Blazers got the period’s next four goals, from Wiebe, Willick, Maschmeyer and Ranford, the latter three scoring on the power play.
Kamloops winger Brett Lyon had the third period’s lone goal.
By game’s end, referee Pat Smith had given the Cougars 18 of 32 minors, one of two majors, one of two misconducts and a game misconduct. The Blazers were 4-for-13 on the power play, the Cougars 1-for-8.
“They definitely took a lot of penalties,” Maschmeyer said. “It gave us lots of opportunity to practise (the power play) and that was good. It was an opportunity to get out there with (Wiebe) and the guys. It seemed like it was clicking pretty well, too. We were just passing and shooting. We kept it simple.”
Across the way, Prince George head coach Dean Clark didn’t like what he saw.
“It showed that we have a lot of work to do,” he said. “We didn’t compete very hard tonight. It just wasn’t a good team effort.”
The Cougars pay their first regular-season visit to the Blazers on Oct. 9.
“We’ll be ready when we come back,” Clark promised.
JUST NOTES: After the game the Blazers reassigned F Neil Landry, 17, and he likely will join the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos. Landry was a fifth-round selection in the 2007 bantam draft. He had one goal in five preseason games. . . . Kamloops is carrying 28 players, including 10 defencemen and 16 forwards. . . . Ranford is wearing a full facemask after suffering some facial damage, including a lost tooth, in a scrap during a game against the Chilliwack Bruins in Hope on Sept. 4. . . . The Blazers won’t get F Tyler Shattock or F Jimmy Bubnick back for at least a few days. Both were at the NHL prospects tournament in Traverse City, Mich., this week and now have moved on to main camps, Shattock with the St. Louis Blues and Bubnick with the Atlanta Thrashers.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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