Bonner has message for Blazers' veterans

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It sounds as though Craig Bonner, the general manager of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, has seen about enough.
“I have been very disappointed with the way we’ve been playing,” Bonner said Sunday evening, just 24 hours after the Blazers were beaten 6-1 by the Chiefs in Spokane. “I see a real lack of emotion and a lack of guys putting themselves on the line for the Blazers.”
The Blazers have won two of seven games since head coach Barry Smith was fired Oct. 26. When Smith was dumped, the Blazers had lost five in a row, a run that reached seven games. They then won two straight games but now have lost three in a row.
“That’s what has really disappointed me,” Bonner said. “The players weren’t playing hard for Barry and it seemed like things weren’t going in the right direction. So we make the change . . . and you see our team responding in spurts, but not nearly close to what we need to be.”
While he wouldn’t go so far as to point the finger at any individual players, Bonner did single out his “older players.”
“The onus has to be on our older players,” he stated. “They’re so inconsistent and if your older players are inconsistent, you’re never going to win in this league.”
The Blazers (10-12-2-0), who were riding high atop the Western Conference after opening the season 7-1-2-0, now are seventh in the 10-team Western Conference, just a point back of the Chiefs (11-7-1-0) and Kelowna Rockets (11-10-1-0), but just two ahead of the Chilliwack Bruins (8-12-1-3) and four up on the Seattle Thunderbirds (7-12-1-3).
And the Blazers’ next three games are on the road — they meet the Everett Silvertips on Wednesday, the Thunderbirds on Friday and the Bruins on Saturday.
Kamloops is 0-3-1-0 against U.S. Division teams and has been outscored 25-9. The Blazers also have lost six straight road games.
The Chiefs got three goals from winger Kyle Beach on Saturday, with the third one the 100th regular-season goal of his career. Beach, a fourth-year power forward from Kelowna, has two three-goal games this season and 18 goals on the season.
Brady Brassart, with his first WHL goal, Mitch Wahl and Stefan Ulmer also scored for the Chiefs. Wahl, who has goals in five straight games, also added an assist. Last season, in four games against the Blazers, he had two goals and seven helpers.
Spokane defenceman Jared Spurgeon, in his first game after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, drew three assists.
The Blazers’ lone goal came from left-winger Shayne Wiebe and tied the game 1-1 at 14:59 of the first period. Wiebe went hard to the net and tipped in a Colin Smith pass. However, Wiebe crashed into goaltender James Reid and was penalized for goaltender interference and Beach scored his second goal on the ensuing power play.
Reid finished with 21 saves, while the Blazers’ Justin Leclerc turned aside 42 as the Blazers were outshot for the 21st time in 24 games.
JUST NOTES: Referee Matt Kirk worked solo after Carl Poole came down with the flu and wasn’t able to make it. . . . The Chiefs were 3-for-7 on the PP; the Blazers were 0-for-5. . . . Kamloops has given up at least one power-play goal in nine straight games. . . . The Blazers scratched C Dalibor Bortnak (spleen), D Tyler Hansen (flu), LW Brett Lyon, LW John Stampohar and D Curtis Kulchar. . . . An opposition player has scored three goals in each of the Blazers’ last three games. Beach follows F Jonathan Parker of the Thunderbirds and F Andrej Kudrna of the Red Deer Rebels in that department. . . . Spokane is scheduled to visit Kamloops on Jan. 26. That game has been moved from Jan. 27 so as not to conflict with the Olympic torch run celebrations. . . . Blazers F JC Lipon, a 16-year-old freshman from Regina, has been named to Team West, which will represent Saskatchewan and Alberta at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in Timmins, Ont., Dec. 29 through Jan. 4.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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