Stretch leads Blazers past Cougars

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
C.J. Stretch still remembers his first WHL game.
And he knows that it wasn’t as good as his 301st.
“It was the (third) game of the season,” said Stretch, after scoring two goals, including the game-winner, Saturday as his Kamloops Blazers edged the Prince George Cougars 3-2 in front of 4,202 fans at Interior Savings Centre. “I was nervous and excited.”
Stretch, who dressed for his first game with the Blazers on Sept. 28, 2005, played his 300th regular-season game on Friday night in what was a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of the visiting Tri-City Americans.
Now in his fifth season here, the 20-year-old native of Irvine, Calif., said the nerves are pretty much gone, although, he allowed, he does get “a little nervous once in a while.”
On Saturday, he was mostly upset after he felt he was responsible for the Cougars’ first goal.
“I made a pretty bad pass and then I didn’t finish a check,” Stretch explained. “After that, I wanted to step up and show that I’m a leader on this team.”
He did that by scoring the Blazers‚ first and third goals, both in the third period, as they erased 1-0 and 2-1 deficits.
The two teams came awfully close to playing two scoreless periods before forward Brock Hirsche snapped a wrist shot past Kamloops goaltender Jon Groehneyde at 18:45 of the second period.
Stretch’s first goal, his 11th of the season, came via the power play and pulled the Blazers into a 1-1 tie at 2:46 of the third period. But the Cougars came right back with a power-play score of their own, with defenceman Dallas Jackson pulling the trigger from 50 feet.
The Blazers pulled even again, at 10:40, as left-winger Shayne Wiebe powered home a pass from right-winger Tyler Shattock, and Stretch won it four minutes later, taking advantage of a Jackson turnover and beating goaltender Hudson Stremmel on the short side off the left wing.
“That was much better,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said. “I thought we had some focus. We had a bit of a letdown in the second period but I thought the third period was very strong.”
The Blazers, who finished with a 38-25 edge in shots, outshot the visitors 14-3 in the third period.
“They got a little momentum and we were back on our heels,” offered Cougars head coach Dean Clark.
Guy Charron, the Blazers’ head coach, said he challenged his club in the second intermission.
“We’re very fragile. We don’t deal with adversity very well,” said Charron, whose club has lost 13 games by three or more goals. “We were down by one goal and I told them this is a chance for us to grasp the opportunity to come back and make something of it. I think we did that.”
The Cougars (5-22-1-1), who were coming off a 4-1 home-ice victory over the Kootenay Ice on Friday, lost right-winger Brett Connolly, their best player, in the second period. He has struggled with a right hip problem for most of this season and told the Prince George Citizen on Sunday that he reinjured it and that there also now is pain on his left side.
“It’s the same side and the other side is kind of tweaked, too,” Connolly said. “It happened slowly as the game progressed. It wasn’t a particular play, it just started to get worse. (Both sides) are pretty similar. I don’t think it’s as bad as last time. I think that it’s not going to affect me as much as it did before.”
Connolly, who has 13 points in 12 games, originally was injured while playing for Canada in an under-18 tournament in Europe in August.
He aggravated the injury early in the season and was playing only his fifth game since returning.
There were quite a few NHL scouts in the building and they all lost interest after that. NHL Central Scouting has Connolly as its highest-ranked WHL skater among those players eligible for the 2010 draft.
Charron, meanwhile, scratched three healthy veterans — defencemen Curtis Kulchar and Zak Stebner and forward Jake Trask — and that’s the first time that has happened here in recent memory.
“I don’t care,” Charron said. “To me, what was in the past is in the past. I have to do what I think is right for the team.
“To be in the lineup you’re going to have to show me that you care and that you’re going to put out the effort. You’re going to have to take the body, be strong along the boards and pay the price to get the puck out.
“Hopefully, they learn from it and the next time they have a chance to be in the lineup they won’t put themselves out of the lineup.”
After weekend action, the Blazers (13-15-2-2) are eighth in the Western Conference, one point behind the Chilliwack Bruins and Kelowna Rockets. The Bruins beat the visiting Vancouver Giants 4-0 on Sunday.
The Blazers, who will meet the Cougars five more times over their next nine games, are off until the weekend — they visit Vancouver on Friday with the Giants to play here Saturday.
JUST NOTES: Stretch was pointless in his first game as the Blazers beat the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-2. . . . Stretch’s two goals Saturday lifted his regular-season point total to 197, allowing him to move past Jaret Lukin and into 29th place on the club’s all-time list. . . . Stretch is one of only five players to play more than 300 games with the Blazers. The others are D Aaron Gionet (324), C Donnie Kinney (319), D Greg Hawgood (310) and C Erik Christensen (304). Barring injury or even a trade, Stretch will pass Gionet and reach the top of the list early in February. . . . Referees Brett Montsion and Pascal St. Jacques gave the Cougars 10 of 18 minors, two of four majors and a misconduct. . . . St. Jacques is a regular in the QMJHL. . . . Stremmel, who left Colorado College and joined the Cougars last month, is using gear that he wore last season with the USHL’s Chicago Steel. . . . F Robbie Ciolfi, 18, no longer is with the Cougars. From Lethbridge, he was dismissed Thursday with the team citing school and disciplinary reasons.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.comBy GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
C.J. Stretch still remembers his first WHL game.
And he knows that it wasn’t as good as his 301st.
“It was the (third) game of the season,” said Stretch, after scoring two goals, including the game-winner, Saturday as his Kamloops Blazers edged the Prince George Cougars 3-2 in front of 4,202 fans at Interior Savings Centre. “I was nervous and excited.”
Stretch, who dressed for his first game with the Blazers on Sept. 28, 2005, played his 300th regular-season game on Friday night in what was a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of the visiting Tri-City Americans.
Now in his fifth season here, the 20-year-old native of Irvine, Calif., said the nerves are pretty much gone, although, he allowed, he does get “a little nervous once in a while.”
On Saturday, he was mostly upset after he felt he was responsible for the Cougars’ first goal.
“I made a pretty bad pass and then I didn’t finish a check,” Stretch explained. “After that, I wanted to step up and show that I’m a leader on this team.”
He did that by scoring the Blazers‚ first and third goals, both in the third period, as they erased 1-0 and 2-1 deficits.
The two teams came awfully close to playing two scoreless periods before forward Brock Hirsche snapped a wrist shot past Kamloops goaltender Jon Groehneyde at 18:45 of the second period.
Stretch’s first goal, his 11th of the season, came via the power play and pulled the Blazers into a 1-1 tie at 2:46 of the third period. But the Cougars came right back with a power-play score of their own, with defenceman Dallas Jackson pulling the trigger from 50 feet.
The Blazers pulled even again, at 10:40, as left-winger Shayne Wiebe powered home a pass from right-winger Tyler Shattock, and Stretch won it four minutes later, taking advantage of a Jackson turnover and beating goaltender Hudson Stremmel on the short side off the left wing.
“That was much better,” Kamloops head coach Guy Charron said. “I thought we had some focus. We had a bit of a letdown in the second period but I thought the third period was very strong.”
The Blazers, who finished with a 38-25 edge in shots, outshot the visitors 14-3 in the third period.
“They got a little momentum and we were back on our heels,” offered Cougars head coach Dean Clark.
Guy Charron, the Blazers’ head coach, said he challenged his club in the second intermission.
“We’re very fragile. We don’t deal with adversity very well,” said Charron, whose club has lost 13 games by three or more goals. “We were down by one goal and I told them this is a chance for us to grasp the opportunity to come back and make something of it. I think we did that.”
The Cougars (5-22-1-1), who were coming off a 4-1 home-ice victory over the Kootenay Ice on Friday, lost right-winger Brett Connolly, their best player, in the second period. He has struggled with a right hip problem for most of this season and told the Prince George Citizen on Sunday that he reinjured it and that there also now is pain on his left side.
“It’s the same side and the other side is kind of tweaked, too,” Connolly said. “It happened slowly as the game progressed. It wasn’t a particular play, it just started to get worse. (Both sides) are pretty similar. I don’t think it’s as bad as last time. I think that it’s not going to affect me as much as it did before.”
Connolly, who has 13 points in 12 games, originally was injured while playing for Canada in an under-18 tournament in Europe in August.
He aggravated the injury early in the season and was playing only his fifth game since returning.
Regardless, there were quite a few NHL scouts in the building and they all lost interest after that. NHL Central Scouting has Connolly as its highest-ranked WHL skater among those players eligible for the 2010 draft.
Charron, meanwhile, scratched three healthy veterans — defencemen Curtis Kulchar and Zak Stebner and forward Jake Trask — and that’s the first time that has happened here in recent memory.
“I don’t care,” Charron said. “To me, what was in the past is in the past. I have to do what I think is right for the team.
“To be in the lineup you’re going to have to show me that you care and that you’re going to put out the effort. You’re going to have to take the body, be strong along the boards and pay the price to get the puck out.
“Hopefully, they learn from it and the next time they have a chance to be in the lineup they won’t put themselves out of the lineup.”
After weekend action, the Blazers (13-15-2-2) are eighth in the Western Conference, one point behind the Chilliwack Bruins and Kelowna Rockets. The Bruins beat the visiting Vancouver Giants 4-0 on Sunday.
The Blazers, who will meet the Cougars five more times over their next nine games, are off until the weekend — they visit Vancouver on Friday with the Giants to play here Saturday.
JUST NOTES: Stretch was pointless in his first game as the Blazers beat the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds, 4-2. . . . Stretch’s two goals Saturday lifted his regular-season point total to 197, allowing him to move past Jaret Lukin and into 29th place on the club’s all-time list. . . . Stretch is one of only five players to play more than 300 games with the Blazers. The others are D Aaron Gionet (324), C Donnie Kinney (319), D Greg Hawgood (310) and C Erik Christensen (304). Barring injury or even a trade, Stretch will pass Gionet and reach the top of the list early in February. . . . Referees Brett Montsion and Pascal St. Jacques gave the Cougars 10 of 18 minors, two of four majors and a misconduct. . . . St. Jacques is a regular in the QMJHL. . . . Stremmel, who left Colorado College and joined the Cougars last month, is using gear that he wore last season with the USHL’s Chicago Steel. . . . F Robbie Ciolfi, 18, no longer is with the Cougars. From Lethbridge, he was dismissed Thursday with the team citing school and disciplinary reasons.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com