Ully ready to be go-to guy with Blazers

Cole Ully of the Dallas Stars moves the puck up ice during a game against
the Detroit Red Wings in Traverse City, Mich.
(Photo by Wes Heatherington)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports EditorLike Facebook, Twitter and Barack Obama, Cole Ully’s time is now.
Ully, 18, is preparing for his third WHL season with the Kamloops Blazers and he has, indeed, shown great improvement during his time here.
NHL scouts noticed, too, because UIly, who is from Calgary, was selected by the Dallas Stars in the fifth round of the NHL’s 2013 draft. As a result, he already has had two tastes of the pro game, one at a development camp in Frisco, Texas, in July, and last week with the Dallas team at the annual prospects tournament in Traverse City, Mich.
“The guys are bigger there and that makes a difference,” the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Ully said after practice at Interior Savings Centre on Wednesday. “The skill margin between guys is a lot smaller . . . everyone can play so it comes down to compete more.”
Ully’s two appearances with the Stars also has shown him one other thing.
“It’s a lot different when guys are playing for jobs and their (livelihood) and some have families . . . it’s different than playing for yourself,” he said.
As Ully added, he has learned “what it takes to be there.”
Just like he has learned over time what it takes to play in the WHL.
A second-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft, Ully had 20 points in 55 games as a freshman (2011-12) and then more than doubled that to 50 points, including 22 goals, in 62 games last season.
Having had that taste of the high life, he’s now looking for more.
“Expectations are high but I’m happy with where I am now and looking to really improve on last season,” he said. “Expectations from others and myself are a lot higher.”
Blazers head coach Dave Hunchak agreed.
“He’s an offensive player and we are going to expect him to produce this season,” Hunchak said. “He has tremendous skill and great vision. He’s a drafted guy and we expect him to produce.
“It’s his time now.”
Having played in the shadows for much of the last two seasons, Ully can expect more playing time in all situations this season.
“His role is going to be expanded even more now,” Hunchak said. “He’s a guy we’re going to rely on to put the puck in the net for us.
“He’ll also play both special teams. He’s an intelligent player . . . he can play on the power play, he can kill penalties.”
All of which is music to Ully’s ears.
“It feels good,” he said. “It’s what every player wants . . . the trust from your teammates and coaches that you can do it and that you’re a guy they need every night.
“It’s different for me this season, being a top guy.”
JUST NOTES: Kamloops (1-3) concludes its exhibition season in Prince George against the Cougars (4-0) on Saturday. . . . The Blazers open the regular season against the visiting Kelowna Rockets on Sept. 20. . . . F Matt Needham was on the ice yesterday but didn’t take part in battle drills as the Blazers practised at Interior Savings Centre. He’s day-to-day with what Hunchak called a “burner” but should play in the season-opener. . . . The WHL has suspended Blazers F Devin Oakes for three games after he took a checking-to-the-head penalty in Friday’s 4-0 loss to the visiting Rockets. He will be eligible to return for the second game of the regular season. . . .
F Jermaine Loewen, a third-round selection in the 2013 bantam draft, has signed with the Blazers. Loewen, from Arborg, Man., had 55 points in 31 games with the bantam AAA Interlake Lightning last season. . . . G Liam McLeod of Kamloops, who was released by the Blazers on Aug. 28, has seized he backup role with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers. McLeod, 17, is backing up Jayson Argue, 20, who was acquired prior to last season from the MJHL’s Swan Valley Stampeders where he was a finalist for the CJHL player-of-the-year award in 2011-12. . . .
Prince George has acquired D Peter Kosterman, 20, from the Calgary Hitmen for a fourth-round selection in the 2014 bantam draft and a sixth-rounder in 2015. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Kosterman, who is from Calgary, was the 19th overall selection in the 2008 bantam draft. He has played 234 regular-season games with the Hitmen. He his heading into his fifth WHL season.

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Blazers' roster taking shape

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers, their roster resting at 25, will trim a defenceman and a forward or two before opening the WHL’s regular season.
It doesn’t appear that they will be tinkering with their goaltending.
The Blazers went into their intrasquad game a week ago with four goaltenders on their roster. Immediately after the game, they chose to keep sophomore Taran Kozun, 19, and freshman Cole Kehler, while releasing Liam McLeod of Kamloops and Regina’s Cam Pateman, both 17.
Getting down to two goaltenders so quickly may have caught some observers by surprise. But head coach Dave Hunchak said it was the best move for all involved.
“We felt that committing a year’s school to guys when (Kehler) is already signed didn’t make any sense from an organization standpoint, or to those two other kids,” Hunchak said after the Blazers beat the visiting Vancouver Giants 4-3 in overtime on Sunday night. “We have to make decisions based on kids’ careers, and if we’re not sure if they’re going to be a part of our program for the long term, then we’re not going to bring them.”
———
Kehler, meanwhile, was the story of Sunday’s victory. He stopped 41 shots, including 16 of 17 in the first period, as his teammates struggled against a strong Vancouver forecheck.
Kehler, who won’t turn 16 until Dec. 17, was a sixth-round selection by the Blazers in the WHL’s 2012 bantam draft.
Kehler is the youngest of three children; his father, Ernie, owns a John Deere dealership in Altona.
He had hoped to play midget AAA with the Morden-based Pembina Valley Hawks last season, but, he said, “they elected to go with an older goalie.” So he ended up playing high school hockey with the W.C. Miller Aces. His numbers weren’t much — 2-14-0, 5.00, .864 — but the team was only 4-17.
The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder arrived in Kamloops wanting “to make the team, obviously. That was a big goal for me . . . as a 16-year-old to come in and make the team.”
He did just that, thanks to a strong training camp.
“I had a good camp,” he said. “I felt I was very consistent.”
He admits to being “a little bit” surprised at the decision the team’s management made to get down to two goaltenders before the exhibition season had even begun.
“I felt I had some strong competition,” he said. “I think it shows that they have confidence in me and that they really like me.”
His strengths, he said, are “seeing the puck and being calm. I really think my mental toughness . . . to bounce back afer a goal.”
Had Kehler not stuck with the Blazers, he would have attended the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton.
———
Meanwhile, McLeod has surfaced with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers.
He is one of three goaltenders on general manager/head coach Mike Vandekamp’s roster, the others being Jayson Argue, a 20-year-old from Swan River, Man., who played 28 games in Nanaimo last season, and Connor LaCouvee, 19, from Qualicum Beach. He got into 20 games with the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals last season.
Last season, McLeod was 1-8-0, 4.69, .857 in 14 games with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings.
“The first thing with Liam, he’s 17 years old, and we wanted to have a look at him based on his age,” Vandekamp told Josh Aldrich of the Nanaimo Daily News. “I don’t know much about him yet, but he came to us from the Blazers. I know some people there, we talked about it and it made some sense to us to have a look at it as a possibility within our age categories of our roster.”
———
The Blazers are at home to the Kelowna Rockets on Friday, 7 p.m., then meet the Giants at Burnaby’s Bill Copeland Arena on Sunday, 3 p.m.

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Lipon, Jets cut a deal

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
With less than a week remaining before JC Lipon opens his first official NHL training camp, he admitted to being "a little nervous."
The freshly signed contract in his back pocket certainly will help.
Lipon signed a two-way deal with the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, nearly two months to the day after the Jets selected him in the third round of the NHL draft. The deal, a three-year entry-level contract, has an average annual value of $700,000, according to a Jets news release.
Lipon, 20, is still eligible to return for a fifth season with the WHL's Kamloops Blazers, although his signing makes it a little less likely. It all depends on how he performs at the Jets' prospects camp, which opens Thursday and will include the Vancouver Canucks 2013 Young Stars Classic Tournament from Sept. 6-9.
Lipon attended a Jets' development camp this summer, but never has been to a preseason camp such as next week's.
"I'm a little nervous," admitted Lipon, a right-winger. "But I gained a lot of confidence from last season and from going through the world junior camp."
You bet he did.
Lipon, a late bloomer, enjoyed a 65-point season in 2011-12, after picking up a total of 34 points the previous two seasons. But he really came into his own in 2012-13, scoring 36 goals and assisting on 53 others in only 61 games.
Although he wasn't on anyone's radar heading into the season, he made Team Canada for the world junior championship in Ufa, Russia, as Canada finished fourth. It was a wild season that ended with the Jets calling his name in the third round — this, after he was passed over in the two previous drafts.
Now, he is signed, and facing the prospect of playing professionally next season. Making the Jets is a long-shot, but it's not unreasonable to think he could end up with their AHL affiliate, the St. John's IceCaps.
He has a lot on his mind — but having the contract signed already takes some of the stress away.
"Now I'm not worried about it, not that you should be worried about it," Lipon said. "But sometimes it does creep into your mind, so I'm glad it's done with."
The Jets will play three games at the Young Stars Classic — they will meet the San Jose Sharks' prospects on Sept. 6, the Edmonton Oilers' prospects on Sept. 7, and the Vancouver Canucks' prospects on Sept. 9.
The Jets open their main camp on Sept. 11.
———
No one really knows whether Lipon and Colin Smith will be back with the Blazers.
Smith, a 2012 draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche, also has signed an NHL contract, so could play in its system. Smith, 20, is off to Denver next week for rookie camp, which opens Sept. 8.
But both Smith and Lipon are eligible for another season with the Blazers.
“We’re moving forward without them,” Blazers head coach Dave Hunchak told The Daily News on Wednesday. “If we get them back, great.
“Our plan is to move forward without them. Those are big holes we need to plug somehow. Veteran guys need to step in.”
———
The Blazers have made Cole Kehler their backup goaltender.
Kamloops announced after Wednesday night's Blue-White intrasquad game that it had reassigned six players, including goaltenders Liam McLeod and Cameron Pateman. That leaves Taran Kozun, the starter, and Kehler to lead the team into the preseason.
Kehler, who is to turn 16 on Dec. 17, was selected by the Blazers in the sixth round, 123rd overall, in the 2012 bantam draft. He spent 2012-13 with the Altona Aces of the Manitoba High School League, going 2-14 with a 4.27 GAA and .864 save percentage.
McLeod, a Kamloops native, spent 2012-13 with the BCHL's Prince George Spruce Kings, while Pateman played with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians last season.
———
The Blazers also reassigned two 15-year-old players — defenceman Dawson Davidson of Moosomin, Sask., and Jermaine Loewen of Arborg, Man. Both players were third-round selections in May's bantam draft.
Cameron Trott, a 16-year-old defenceman from Burnaby, and Laramie Kostelansky, a 16-year-old forward from Fort McLeod, Alta., also were reassigned on Wednesday.
The moves leave the Blazers with 30 players on their roster, including Smith and Lipon.
Of the 28 players on the preseason roster, 17 are forwards, nine are defencemen and two are goaltenders. The Blazers likely will trim the roster to around 23 before the regular season starts on Sept. 20.
———
The Blazers also announced Thursday that forward Nathan Looysen, 17, has signed a standard WHL contract.
Looysen, from Saanichton, spent last season with the junior B Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. He had 23 points, including 10 goals, in 27 games. The Blazers listed the 6-foot-1, 187-pounder in November.
———
The Blazers will open the preseason tonight against the Rockets in Kelowna.
Kamloops will be at home to the Vancouver Giants on Sunday, 6 p.m., at Interior Savings Centre. The Rockets and Giants will play in Ladner on Saturday night.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca

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Blazers' Blue-White game on tap tonight

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers are getting down to the nitty gritty.
And things will get nittier and grittier tonight as the WHL team holds its annual Blue-White intrasquad game, 7 p.m., at the Interior Savings Centre.
The Blazers have 39 players left in training camp. Most of them took part in a controlled scrimmage on Tuesday night, the exceptions being five veterans — forwards Tim Bozon, JC Lipon, Matt Needham and Colin Smith, along with goaltender Taran Kozun.
All hands are expected to be on deck tonight, however.
“The two games will tell the tale for some of the players,” head coach Dave Hunchak said. “It allows us to give a real good evaluation to those kids who are on the bubble.”
While the microscope is on everyone, it is especially on Cole Kehler of Altona, Man., Liam McLeod of Kamloops and Cameron Pateman of Regina, who are competing to back up starting goaltender Taran Kozun.
Each played two periods last night — Teams Black and Orange played 5-on-5 in the first, 4-on-4 in the second and alternated special teams in the third — and it is quite possible that Kehler, who doesn’t turn 16 until Dec. 17, has the edge on the two 17-year-olds going into tonight’s intrasquad game.
However, the highlight of training camp, at least to now, may well be the team’s 1998-born players.
As Hunchak said: “The ’98 group, the forwards we have, that’s a special group of kids.”
That group is headed up by two first-round selections from the 2013 bantam draft — Quinn Benjafield of North Vancouver, whom the Blazers took with the 19th overall pick, and Jake Kryski of Vancouver, the 11th overall pick who was acquired from the Prince Albert Raiders in the Cole Cheveldave exchange — and Jermaine Loewen of Arborg,  Man., who was a third-round selection.
“Benjafield is a strong power forward,” Hunchak said. “Kryski has a lot of skill and plays a great 200-foot game. And just look at Jermaine Lowewne and the package he brings. He’s going to be something special down the road, too.”
Hunchak also pointed to Garrett Pilon, another 1998-born forward. From Saskatoon, the son of former NHL defenceman Rich Pilon was taken in the seventh round.
“Pilon looks like he’s playing pond hockey all the time,” Hunchak said, “and I mean that in a good way. He always looks like he’s enjoying the game and having fun.”
After last night’s scrimmage, Pilon was assigned to the midget AAA Saskatoon Contacts.
It’s not known what the forward lines will look like tonight, but Loewen, Kryski and Benjafield, left to right, were on the ice together a fair amount last night. It’s fair to say that they created some magic.
JUST NOTES: Team Orange beat Team Black 8-7 in a shootout last night. Nick Chyzowski had two goals, plus the shootout winner. Kryski and Joe Kornelsen also scored twice for Orange, while Nathan Looysen and Chase Souto each scored twice for Black. . . . The Blazers also assigned F Spencer Bast of Macklin, Sask., to the midget AAA Battlefords Stars and F Josh Stang, who also is from Macklin, to the midget AAA Swift Current Legionnaires. . . . The WHL’s exhibition season began last night with the host Swift Current Broncos beating the Moose Jaw Warriors, 5-4. . . . The Blazers meet the Rockets in Kelowna on Friday and then are at home to the Vancouver Giants on Sunday, 6 p.m. . . . D Connor Hamonic, 17, of Winnipeg, a seventh-round pick by the Blazers in 2011, was released by the Red Deer Rebels yesterday. . . .
F Max James, 16, of Kamloops has signed a WHL deal with the Tri-City Americans, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2012 bantam draft. James had 12 points in 40 games with the major midget Thompson Blazers last season. . . . Pat Mangold, who played for the WHL Blazers in 1984-85, was killed Saturday evening on Okanagan Lake near Kelowna when the personal watercraft on which he was riding struck a log boom near Traders Cove. Mangold, 47, was a native of Kelowna, who also played in the WHL with the Calgary Wranglers. With the Blazers, he had 20 points, nine of them goals, in 53 games.

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Kozun moves into starter's role with Blazers

Taran Kozun, the Kamloops Blazers' starting goaltender, shares a chuckle
with a teammate prior to a Monday afternoon scrimmage.
(Hugo Yuen / Kamloops Daily News)

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
If Taran Kozun wanted a vote of confidence from the Kamloops Blazers' coaching staff, he got it on July 10.
Kozun is the Blazers' No. 1 goaltender as camp continues today at Interior Savings Centre. He got the starting job in the middle of the summer, when Kamloops traded Cole Cheveldave, its starter, to the Prince Albert Raiders.
Cheveldave was excellent in his two seasons in Kamloops, and leaves some big shoes to fill.
"I believe (Kozun) can do the job," said Blazers head coach Dave Hunchak after Monday scrimmages wrapped up. "That's the reason we made the trade with Cole. Taran's a guy we feel can step right in and do the job."
Kozun admitted that he was a little surprised at the Cheveldave deal, in which the Blazers received prospect forward Jake Kryski, but mostly because of its timing. It was expected that the Blazers would trade either Cheveldave, who is going into his 20-year-old season, or Kozun, who is two days shy of his 19th birthday.
Cheveldave got a trade, and Kozun got a promotion.
"I was excited to hear that they were giving me the opportunity to take over," said Kozun, a native of Nipawin, Sask. "I'm just going to go out and try to stop shots and keep performing."
Since the Blazers listed him early in 2010, Kozun has done everything asked of him.
He came to camp in August 2010, but chose to leave after the Blue-White Game because he didn't feel ready to play at the WHL level. He spent the 2010-11 season with the midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos.
He came back to battle for the open starting position before the 2011-12 season, but lost out to Cheveldave and Cam Lanigan. After spending 2011-12 with the SJHL's Nipawin Hawks, going 5-10-1, with a 3.30 GAA and .904 save percentage, he finally cracked the Blazers' roster in 2012-13, serving as Cheveldave's backup.
He was solid when needed, appearing in 20 games, going 11-4-1, 2.36, .914. He also had two shutouts, including a 31-save effort in his final start, a 7-0 victory over the Prince George Cougars on March 16.
"It's a little different, this time at camp," Kozun admitted, "but knowing all the guys here really helps. You feel like you're part of the team — but you still have to work, you still have to make saves and you still have to compete for your spot on the team."
Kozun spent the summer working construction with his dad and training in Nipawin. Each week, he drove the 270 kilometres to Saskatoon to work on his skating.
The goal was to get stronger — something that will come in handy with Kozun facing the prospect of playing some 50 or 60 games this season. He played 35 games with the Mintos three seasons ago, but has appeared in fewer than 40 since.
"I did a lot of off-ice stuff . . . to get my strength up," he said. "They say playing all those games is harder on you, but I think if you have a good mindset and don't get too upset, you'll be OK."
Hunchak spoke of that — the need for Kozun to keep things on an even keel, not getting to low or too high during a season that will provide its fair share of peaks and valleys.
"He has to be consistent day in and day out," Hunchak said. "With his practices and his games, we need to see the same Taran all the time, and I think that's something that he's learned over the last year.
"His mindset needs to change and he has to understand that every day he has to be the best player he can be."
Kozun agreed with that.
"When everything's going good you can't get too cocky out there," he said. "If something happens, all of the sudden you lose confidence. You've got to keep going, keep battling. It's not always going to go your way."
Kozun is the only sure thing in the Blazers' goal at this time.
The Blazers brought six backup hopefuls to camp, and three remain — 16-year-old Cole Kehler of Altona, Man., and 17-year-olds Liam McLeod of Kamloops and Cameron Pateman of Regina. In all likelihood, one of these goalies is going to be backing up Kozun this season.
"They're all very even, and they're all different goaltenders," Hunchak said. "We've got an interesting battle there, and it's going to be a tough decision."
The coaches aren't looking simply for someone to open and close the gate during games, however.
"We need to find the guy who's going to do the job," Hunchak said, "not only in the backup role, but maybe pushing Taran and try to take his position."
JUST NOTES: The Blazers trimmed their roster by 18 on Monday, leaving them with 39 players heading into today's action. A complete roster is in Scoreboard. . . . The remaining players are divided into teams — Orange will be on the ice for a 9:15 a.m., practice, with Black on at 10:30 a.m. The teams will play in a controlled scrimmage at 7 p.m. — it is open to the public, and free. . . . Returning Blazers F Colin Smith, JC Lipon, Tim Bozon and Matt Needham and Kozun won't play in tonight's scrimmage, but are to play in the Blue-White Game on Wednesday, 7 p.m. . . . Six scrimmages were played Monday: Smith, Mitch Lipon, Nathan Looysen and Eric Krienke scored as Black beat White, 4-2. Bozon and Dexter Robinson scored for White, which went on to beat Black 1-0 on a goal by Joe Kornelsen. . . . Orange defeated Black twice, 2-1 and 2-1. Jermaine Loewen and Nick Chyzowski scored for Orange in the first game, with Mitch Friesen and Devin Oakes counting in the second; Krienke and Looysen had the Black goals. . . . Orange beat White 2-1 in a shootout, with Chyzowski scoring the winner and Oakes singling. Robinson scored for White, which came back to win the rematch, 3-0. Sam Grist had two goals, and Tyler Jeanson scored into the empty net.
mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca

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Kozun to open camp as Blazers' starter

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The vacation is over.
Two weeks from today, Dave Hunchak begins his tenure as head coach of the Kamloops Blazers as players begin registering for training camp.
And about all that’s left to do in preparation is to introduce a new assistant coach.
“There will be an announcement in the very near future,” Hunchak said on Wednesday. “Once we figured out who we wanted, there were some logistics that we had to work through. I think we’ve worked through them and there should be an announcement shortly.”
Hunchak, who had been the Blazers’ associate coach, was named head coach on May 15. He takes over from Guy Charron, who remains with the club as an advisor to hockey operations.
Hunchak isn’t a freshman head coach in the WHL. He had been in that position for four seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors before joining the Blazers.
With two weeks to go before camp opens, Hunchak confirmed that Taran Kozun, 19, is the team’s No. 1 goaltender.
That has been the case since the Blazers dealt Cole Cheveldave, the starter for the last two seasons, to the Prince Albert Raiders on July 10.
Kozun, from Nipawn, Sask., has gotten into just 22 WHL games over the last two seasons, 20 of them last season when he went 11-4-3, 2.36, .914.
“Certainly, to start things off, it’s Taran’s position and he needs to become a starting goaltender,” Hunchak said. “I’ve talked to Taran several times since the trade happened. He’s aware of where things are at.”
Hunchak said that all involved are going to have to find out whether the 6-foot-0, 170-pound Kozun is capable of shouldering the load.
“Let’s be honest,” Hunchak stated. “Taran hasn’t been a starter since midget AAA and that’s three years ago. Can he handle the mental stresses of doing it every day?”
Hunchak also promised that “Taran is going to be pushed.”
The coach then rattled off the names of Liam McLeod, a 17-year-old from Kamloops; Cole Kehler, who won’t turn 16 until Dec. 17; Cameron Pateman, 17, of Regina; and Ryan Ternes, a 16-year-old from Calgary.
McLeod was a ninth-round pick in the 2011 bantam draft who got into 14 games last season with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. Kehler, from Altona, Man., was taken in the sixth round of the 2012 draft. Pateman and Ternes are list players.
According to Hunchak, Ternes “had a really good second-half last season in Calgary” where he played for a minor midget AAA team.
“The battle for the backup job is going to be really interesting,” Hunchak said. “We’ve got some quality young guys coming in.”
In listening to Hunchak it sounds as though the backup will see some quality playing time, too. Only once, when he was running the Warriors in 2010-11, has Hunchak ridden one horse. Thomas Heemskerk, a 20-year-old, went 36-21-6 in 65 games that season.
“It was based on him being that solid that season,” Hunchak said. “But if you’re going to keep a young goaltender, he has to play. Him just sitting there doesn’t make any sense.”
Once the coaching staff settles on its goaltenders, Hunchak said, the split will be dictated by “how they’re playing.”
Other than that one season, he said, “I’ve never been one to say, ‘OK, you’re the guy. Run with it.’ ”
It seems that the organization might be looking at Kehler, who played high school hockey last season, as the goaltender of the future.
“A guy like Kehler, who is a top-notch goaltender,” Hunchak said, “if we are only going to be able to get him into ‘x’ amount of games . . . it doesn’t make any sense for us to keep him.
“But, again, if he stands on his head and beats the others out, then we’ve got a decision to make.”

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Blazers trade Cheveldave

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
One of Cole Cheveldave’s lasting memories of Kamloops will be the near-daily trek to the Interior Savings Centre.
“I’ll always remember driving to the rink over the Red Bridge,” Cheveldave said Wednesday from his home in Calgary.
Cheveldave, the Kamloops Blazers’ starting goaltender the past two seasons, was traded to the Prince Albert Raiders yesterday. The Blazers also sent a 2015 fourth-round WHL bantam draft pick to the Raiders in exchange for 15-year-old forward Jake Kryski and a 2014 seventh-round selection.
Few players have been as valuable to their teams as Cheveldave has been to the Blazers over the past two seasons. He has been one of the big reasons for the team’s big turnaround, taking them from an also-ran to a front-runner.
But, with Taran Kozun heading into his 19-year-old season and Cheveldave now 20, the Blazers decided to make a move.
“There was some talk (about a trade) at the end of the season, so it’s not as big a shock,” Cheveldave said. “But it’s still pretty surprising. I would have liked to have been a Blazer for my last season.”
Kozun, a native of Nipawin, Sask., who played midget in Prince Albert, started two games with the Blazers early in 2011-12 before being sent to the SJHL’s Nipawin Hawks. Last season, he played in 20 games, going 11-4-3, 2.36, .914.
Beyond Kozun, the Blazers’ goaltending picture is a little murky. There are some prospects — Cameron Pateman of Regina and Kamloops’ Liam McLeod are going into their 17-year-old seasons, while Ryan Ternes of Cochrane, Alta., and Cole Kehler of Altona, Man., are both 16 years old — but none of those goaltenders has played a WHL game.
Where Cheveldave ended up, however, is a team on the rise. Prince Albert went 37-28-7 last season, good for fifth in the Eastern Conference, but lost starting goaltender Luke Siemens, who has used up his junior eligibility.
“I’m pretty excited about where I’m going,” Cheveldave said. “They’re an older team and it should be a good year.”
The Raiders, who have a new head coach in Cory Clouston, are feeling the same way as Cheveldave.
“If you don’t think you have an opportunity to contend or be very, very competitive, you’re not going to do this deal,” Raiders general manager Bruno Campese told Perry Bergson of the Prince Albert Daily Herald. “We feel that we have an opportunity to be very competitive this year.”
Although the Blazers gave up a lot, they got a top prospect in Kryski, whom the Raiders took with the 13th selection in May’s bantam draft. Kryski played last season with the Burnaby Winter Club, picking up 118 points, including 59 goals, in 58 games. The 6-foot-0, 170-pounder also was plus-96.
“It’s going to be expensive any way you look at it, whether it’s draft picks or a player or whatever,” Campese told Bergson. “We liked Jake as a player, we drafted him high.”
Cheveldave came to the Blazers in 2011 after winning the Alberta Junior Hockey League rookie-of-the-year award with the Drumheller Dragons in 2010-11. Kamloops had listed Cheveldave earlier that season.
When he came to camp in 2011, he was expected to fight for the starting role — in reality, there wasn’t much of a fight, as Cheveldave became Kamloops’ everyday goalie less than a month into the season. He went 34-11-5 in 2011-12 and led the Blazers to their first division title in a decade. Kamloops also won a playoff series for the first time this millennium. Cheveldave was injured early in a second-round series and wasn’t able to finish the playoffs.
The Blazers surpassed that last season, making it to the Western Conference final before falling to the Portland Winterhawks, who went on to win the WHL title.
And while Cheveldave won’t get to drive the Red Bridge any more — he now will get the chance to cross the North Saskatchewan River on the Diefenbaker Bridge, named after former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker — Cheveldave will still have his memories.
“Even though I wasn’t on the ice for it, that comeback in the 2011-12 playoffs against Portland . . .” Cheveldave said. “Down 3-0 and to come all the way back, it was great.
“And then this year’s playoff run. That was definitely a high of my time there.
“So many memories . . .”
———
Perry Bergson of the Prince Albert Daily Herald has more on this trade right here.

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Chevy's ready for Portland

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
This is the series to which Cole Cheveldave has been looking toward for a year.
Last season, when the Kamloops Blazers lost a second-round WHL playoff series to the Portland Winterhawks in seven games, Cheveldave didn’t play even one minute of the last six games.
The Blazers’ goaltender had been run over by Portland forward Oliver Gabriel late in the first game. The resulting concussion kept Cheveldave out of the remainder of the series.
But with the teams set to begin the Western Conference’s best-of-seven final with games in Portland on Friday and Saturday, Cheveldave feels he’s ready.
“I think I have progressed through these playoffs,” Cheveldave said following practice at Interior Savings Centre on Monday. “Hopefully, this will be my best series.”
Cheveldave, who won’t be at practice today as he attends a funeral, got progressively better as the Blazers ousted the Victoria Royals from a first-round series in six games.
The Blazers then swept the Kelowna Rockets from a series in which Cheveldave very well may have been the MVP.
Right now, then, he feels that he is close to being right on top of his game.
“You get in a groove and you feel comfortable,” the 19-year-old sophomore from Calgary said. “That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m really comfortable in the net.”
And, he admitted, being comfortable leads to a boost in confidence.
Cheveldave, who is 8-2, 2.60, .895, in these playoffs, knows that if the Blazers are to advance, he will have to be good. That’s because his counterpart, Mac Carruth, is rolling.
Carruth, the winningest playoff goaltender in WHL history, also is 8-2 this spring. He has a 1.74 GAA and a .925 save percentage. And he put up two shutouts in Portland’s four-game second-round sweep of the Spokane Chiefs.
Cheveldave also is well aware that Portland was the WHL’s top offensive team in the regular season and No. 2 on defence.
“They’re very offensive,” Cheveldave said. “They capitalize on their chances, so I have to be there for my team and come up with key saves.”
There is good news for Cheveldave and Co., in that centre Colin Smith is set to return after missing the last three games of the Kelowna series with a suspected concussion. Smith, who was injured on April 6, is back to taking part in full practice sessions.
“He’s a huge part of our team,” Cheveldave said of Smith, who led the Blazers with 106 points in the regular season. “The boys really came together last week when we lost him. It’s just another asset on our team going into this next round.”
Cheveldave also is of the opinion that he and his mates learned a lot in the seven-game loss to Portland last spring. In that series, the Blazers lost the first three games and were trailing 4-0 in Game 4, only to roar back and take the Winterhawks the distance.
“(We learned) that we can’t quit and that we have a chance in every game,” Cheveldave said. “The more we push the harder it is for the other team.
“That’s the way we were. We weren’t going to give up on it. We knew we were fighting for our lives. That’s the motivation that we had . . . fighting for our lives. We played every game as though it was our last game.”
That series, he said, also brought the players closer together and that closeness continues to live in the Kamloops dressing room.
“We were really tight at the end,” the goaltender stated. “Everyone was pushing everybody. There weren’t any negative vibes.
“Everybody was pushing and everybody loved everybody.”
JUST NOTES: Games 3 and 4 will be played at Interior Savings Centre on April 23 and 24. . . . Blazers F Tim Bozon (hand) skated in full gear on Monday for the first time since being injured March 26. He was wearing a non-contact yellow sweater. . . . G Liam McLeod, a ninth-round selection by the Blazers in the 2011 bantam draft, has joined the team in practice. McLeod, from Kamloops, played this season with the BCHL’s Prince George Spruce Kings. . . . Chances are that there will be crowds of 10,000 for Games 1 and 2. The Winterhawks are leading the WHL in playoff attendance, with an average of 8,786. That’s more than 1,500 ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings (7,152).

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By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor

This hockey offseason has been anything but for Jason Becker. Not that he minds.
Becker, a 38-year-old native of Saskatoon, arrived in Kamloops on Sunday afternoon to begin final preparations for the Team Pacific camp that will run from Wednesday through Sunday at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre.
In his other life, Becker is the lead assistant coach with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars.
After last season, he was named head coach of Team Pacific, a squad that will play in the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in Drummondville and Victoriaville, Que., Dec. 28 through Jan. 4.

JASON BECKER

There will be 68 players, 34 from each of Alberta and B.C., at this week’s camp.
“I’ve seen all of them since the end of the season,” Becker said.
He was at B.C.’s U-17 camp in Salmon Arm from May 8-13 and, two weeks later, attended Alberta’s camp in Leduc.
“It was a big deal for me to go over there,” Becker said, referencing the fact that it hasn’t been common practice for a coach from one province to cross over into the other province in these situations. “Hockey Alberta was very accommodating.”
Becker was quick to add that also has had a lot of help from Wade Klippenstein, who is Team Pacific’s head scout and also is the Cougars’ assistant GM and director of player personnel.
“Wade is pretty much in charge of watching the players and doing the reports,” said Becker, who has two assistant coaches — Steve Hamilton of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings and Brandon West of the BCHL’s Salmon Arm SilverBacks. “He has been watching these guys for two years already so he knows all the background.”
The camp opens with registration on Wednesday, 12:30 p.m. The rest of the day will be taken up with meetings, fitness testing and evening practices.
On each of the next three days, each team will practice for an hour and be involved in a two-hour game. The games will be of the serious variety, too, because there will be championship and third-place games on Sunday.
“I don’t think anyone is on the team right now,,” Becker said. “But a player certainly will be able to help his cause at this camp.
“We want the kids to compete their best and play their hardest. This is a short-term competition so should give us some insight into how they would do in the competition in Quebec.
“But they all have a clean slate right now. We will grade them on how they do here.”
Six of the players in camp are from Kamloops. Defenceman Joe Hicketts, who will be trying to crack the roster of the WHL’s Victoria Royals, and forward Ryan Gropp (BCHL-Penticton Vees) are on Team Black. Defenceman Matt Murray, whose WHL rights belong to the Kootenay Ice, is on Team Grey. Goaltender Liam McLeod, a bantam draft pick by the Kamloops Blazers in 2011, defenceman Carter Cochrane, an Everett Silvertips’ prospect, and forward Chad Butcher, whose WHL rights belong to the Medicine Hat Tigers, are on Team Red.
Becker played for the Saskatoon Blades, Red Deer Rebels, Kamloops and Swift Current Broncos from 1990-95 before going on to spent three seasons at the U of Saskatchewan. He then played nine seasons of pro hockey, eight of them in Europe, before turning to coaching.
Becker has been on the Cougars’ coaching staff, working alongside head coach Dean Clark, since December 2009.
JUST NOTES: Games will be held Thursday through Saturday at 6 and 8:15 p.m. On Sunday, the third-place game is scheduled for 9 a.m., with the championship game at 1:15 p.m. . . . D Connor Clouston of Medicine Hat, a third-round selection by the Blazers in the 2011 bantam draft, is on Team White. . . . F Jake Virtanen of Abbotsford, who went to the Calgary Hitmen with the first selection of the 2011 bantam draft, is on Team Black. He got into nine games with the Hitmen as a 15-year-old and scored three times. He got his first WHL goal in Kamloops on Dec. 30 as the Hitmen beat the Blazers, 6-3.

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By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
The Kamloops Blazers have been forced to shuffle their goaltending deck as they prepare for a home-and-home WHL series with the Vancouver Giants.
Cam Lanigan, who left in the second period of Wednesday’s 6-3 victory over the visiting Victoria Royals, didn’t make the trip to Vancouver on Thursday evening so won’t be on the bench tonight. He isn’t likely to be there on Saturday either, when the teams stage a rematch at Interior Savings Centre.
That means Cole Cheveldave is scheduled to get both starts, which may well have happened anyway, seeing as he has played all four games against the Giants this season.
The Blazers are 2-1-1 against Vancouver, with Cheveldave having a 3.18 GAA and a .882 save percentage.
With Lanigan unable to suit up, the Blazers have brought in Liam McLeod, 15, a ninth-round selection in the 2011 bantam draft to back up Cheveldave. McLeod, who is from Kamloops, played this season with the Thompson Blazers, who didn’t qualify for the B.C. Major Midget League’s playoffs.
Lanigan, who left the game after being stepped on during a goal-mouth scramble that resulted in Victoria’s third goal, was at practice Thursday; he just wasn’t on the ice. Rather, he was helping trainer Colin Robinson around the bench area.
“It’s not serious,” Lanigan, 19, said. “I got stepped on . . . there’s some swelling. I’ll be fine.”
Had Cheveldave been injured later in the game, Lanigan said he would have tried to go back in.
“I kept my skates on,” he said. “Just in case . . .”
Lanigan had missed a game last weekend due to illness.
“The Norwalk virus . . . a 24-hour thing,” he said.
He missed a 3-2 loss to the visiting Red Deer Rebels a week ago tonight. The Blazers had Ty Hamer-Jackson of the midget AAA North Kamloops Lions on the bench for that one.
———
With 12 games left in their regular season, the Blazers can start thinking about some of the WHL’s spoils.
For starters, it isn’t too soon for the Blazers, who go into the weekend leading the 22-team league’s overall standings, to be thinking about pennants.
Because the WHL seeds its teams by conference standings before the playoffs begin, the division standings don’t mean a whole lot. In fact, the only spot that means anything is top spot, with the first-place finisher being seeded first or second in the conference.
The Blazers, of course, have led the B.C. Division for most of this season and now are in a position to wrap it up as early as this weekend. They hold a 14-point lead over the Giants as the two teams open a home-and-home set tonight in Vancouver.
A sweep would give Kamloops an 18-point lead with the Giants having nine games remaining, and the Blazers holding the tiebreaker, the first of which is most victories. The Blazers last finished first in the B.C. Division in 2001-02; the Giants finished on top for five straight seasons before winding up second last season, behind the Kelowna Rockets.
———
The Giants (35-22-4) will visit Interior Savings Centre on Saturday, 7 p.m.
These teams have met only four times this season, so have four games left to play — they also will play March 9 and 10.
The Blazers have beat the Giants 6-2 and 3-1 at home; Kamloops lost 4-3 in a shootout and 7-5 at Pacific Coliseum.
In the Dec. 27 shootout loss, the Giants got two goals — one in regulation and the game-winner in the circus — from F Alex Kuvaev, who was playing in his first game after joining Vancouver from his native Russia.
Since then, he has scored but once in 25 games and, in fact, has just three assists in 10 February games.
The Giants will get two forwards back from WHL suspensions for tonight’s game.
Marek Tvrdon, the club’s second-leading scorer behind Brendan Gallagher, served a three-game suspension after taking a match penalty for spearing in Spokane on Feb. 14, while forward Anthony Ast served four games after being hit with a charging major against the host Tri-City Americans on Feb. 14.
Tvrdon will be back on the Giants’ top line, with Gallagher and Riley Kieser, who has 10 points in 20 games since coming in from the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos.
As well, F Dalton Sward will be available after having missed 18 games with a shoulder injury. He is expected to skate alongside Nathan Burns, who has five goals in the four games against Kamloops, and Taylor Makin.
———
The Blazers’ sixth goal in Wednesday’s victory was credited to F Aspen Sterzer following the game.
Originally, it was given to F Matt Needham, with an assist to D Tyler Hansen.
Shortly after, it was changed, with F Dylan Willick getting the goal and assists going to Hansen and Needham. Finally, it went to Sterzer from Hansen and Willick.
Sterzer, who has five goals, had gone 25 games without a goal. He last had scored on Dec. 14 when he got two goals in a 6-3 victory over the Blades in Saskatoon.
JUST NOTES: Kamloops D Austin Madaisky will complete a two-game WHL suspension tonight. He was suspended after taking a cross-checking major against the visiting Calgary Hitmen on Saturday. . . . D Ryan Rehill, a 16-year-old from the Edmonton-South Side Athletic Club, continues to practise with the Blazers. He was a sixth-round pick in the 2010 bantam draft. . . . F Jordan DePape, 19, who hasn’t played since Oct. 10 because of a shoulder injury that needed surgery, is skating with his teammates while wearing the yellow no-contact uniform. The Blazers hope to have him return early next month, perhaps against the Portland Winterhawks. That would give him six games to get ready for playoffs. . . . With five home games remaining, the Blazers are averaging 4,045 fans per game. Last season, not including the ‘home’ game the Blazers played in Whitehorse, they finished the regular season with an average attendance of 4,206. . . . Blazers F Brendan Ranford is on an 11-game point streak, with 18 points, nine of them goals, over that stretch. . . . Kamloops F Colin Smith has 15 points, including six goals, over his last 11 games. He has at least a point in 10 of those games. . . . Kamloops won the season series from Victoria, 7-1, outscoring the Royals 39-21 in the process. . . . The Blazers were 4-for-6 on the power play in Wednesday’s victory. They scored a season-high five PP goals in a 6-1 victory over the visiting Everett Silvertips on Dec. 7.



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Eight is enough for Jardine's Blazers

Seven of the eight Kamloops Jardine's Blazers who were selected in the WHL's bantam draft on Thursday: From left, Mitchell Barker, Ryan Gropp (back), Chad Butcher, Matt Murray, Kyle Michalovsky, Liam McLeod (back) and Joe Hicketts. Missing from the photo is Carson Bolduc, who is from Salmon Arm.
(Photo by Murray Mitchell / Kamloops Daily News)

By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter
The Kamloops Jardine’s Blazers bantam Tier 1 team got pretty good at celebrating throughout the season.
But for some, being chosen in Thursday’s WHL bantam draft was as much a cause to celebrate as it was a relief.
The Blazers had eight players selected in Thursday’s bantam draft, which was held in Calgary. The eight Kamloops-based players chosen marked the most successful draft ever for Kamloops, and equaled the amount of locals selected over the previous six drafts, dating back to 2005.
The week leading up to the draft was quite stressful for the eligible Blazers, what with the actual hockey finished for the season and their fate in everyone else’s hands.
Defenceman Joe Hicketts, who last played in Sunday’s final at the B.C. Cup showcase tournament at Interior Savings Centre, was a popular guy the previous four days. He’s glad it’s over.
“We’ve been getting phone call after phone call,” said Hicketts, who was chosen 12th overall by Victoria. “I think I was on the phone more in this last week than I’m usually on it in a year.
“Team after team calling, asking more questions . . . but it was weird knowing you could do nothing about it. It’s out of your hands.”
The Blazers’ season was absolutely magical, there’s no other way to put it.
Not only did they win major tournaments in St. Albert and Medicine Hat, they also won the Kamloops International Bantam Ice Hockey Tournament in April — only the second time a Kamloops team has done so.
And Thursday was a nice reward for nearly half the Blazers’ 17-person roster.
Hicketts was one of two Kamloops players chosen in the first round, following forward Ryan Gropp, who was taken sixth overall by the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Forward Carson Bolduc, a Salmon Arm native who played for the Blazers this season, went 59th overall to the Prince George Cougars, with Chad Butcher, also a forward, going 62nd overall to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
The Kootenay Ice selected defenceman Matt Murray 70th overall, with goaltender Liam McLeod going 182nd to the Kamloops Blazers, forward Mitchell Barker taken 206th by the Spokane Chiefs and goaltender Kyle Michalovsky chosen 221st by the Calgary Hitmen.
(The WHL website lists Barker as having been chosen by the Prince Albert Raiders, but he was in fact chosen by Spokane).
Hicketts and Gropp didn’t have to sweat through the day not knowing where they would be picked — both boys knew they had been selected before they headed off to school.
“I wasn’t expecting too much,” Gropp said. “I was expecting to go pretty high, but I had no idea where I was going to go.”
Gropp got a congratulatory phone call from Seattle general manager Russ Farwell.
“I just let him speak,” Gropp said. “I didn’t really have much to say — I was kind of in shock about what happened.”
Real life didn’t stop for the others, who spent the day at school, sitting on pins and needles.
Murray was sitting in a social studies class when he got a text message from his mother.
“It just said that Kootenay picked me,” Murray said. “The last four days, I’ve just been waiting. . . . I was curious, but I wouldn’t say I was stressed.”
For McLeod, the timing of his call couldn’t have been worse. He was doing a science test when his cell phone started ringing.
“Got a phone call from my mom and interrupted the whole class — it was a pretty good reason, I thought,” McLeod said. “The teacher understood after I told her what the call was about.”
McLeod really doesn’t know how well he did on the test.
“My mind wasn’t really in it after the phone call,” he admitted. “I was pretty excited, thinking about other stuff.”
He is only the sixth Kamloops player to be selected by the Blazers over the past 16 years, and was pleased to have received a phone call from goaltending coach Dan De Palma yesterday afternoon.
“I’m really glad — I really wanted to play here,” McLeod said. “I’m glad I get to stay at home, and I really like Dan De Palma — he’s a great goalie coach and I’m looking forward to working with him.”
The Blazers had a chance to select Gropp or Hicketts with the fourth pick, but neither boy was disappointed when they selected defenceman Jordan Thomson of Wawanesa, Man.
“I’m really happy that Seattle took me,” Gropp said. “It’s a good opportunity.”
“It would have been cool to have stayed in your hometown,” Hicketts added, “but it’s pretty cool that you get to go live somewhere else for a while and learn from other people’s experiences.”

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca