WHL Kamloops Blazers

Blazers week in revew

Published on March 15, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kamloops Blazers News Release


Friday, March 12th, 2010 vs. Prince George Cougars

The Blazers struggled against Prince George all year and fell 5-1 at home to the Cougars Friday night. The Blazers finished with a 6-4-0-0 record in the season series versus the Cougars this year. Prince George scored first for the tenth time in ten games to take an early 1-0 lead. They continued their onslaught and took a 3-0 lead after the first period. The Blazers had chances to score, but Dylan Willick and Brendan Ranford were stopped like many other Blazers. Kurtis Mucha was pulled to start the second period stopping 7 of 10 shots in the first period. His replacement, Jon Groenheyde didn't fair much better letting in a soft goal to allow the Cougars to take a 4-0 lead. The Blazers got one back as Josh Caron made a nifty feed to Brendan Ranford to cut the lead to 4-1. The Cougars rolled from their though as they scored one more goal and played well en route to a 5-1 victory. Brett Connolly led the way for the Cougars with 2 goals and 1 assist while Alex Wright stopped 40 of 41 shots. The Blazers were poor on the special teams going 0-for-4 on the powerplay, giving up a shorthanded goal, and 3-for-6 on the penalty kill.

Saturday, March 13th, 2010 @ Vancouver Giants

The Blazers finished the season with an entertaining game versus the Vancouver Giants in which the hockey club lost 6-5 in a shootout. CJ Stretch and Dalibor Bortnak scored back to back goals to give the Blazers a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the hockey game. The Giants replied with goals of their own to tie the game 2-2, but Brendan Ranford scored on the powerplay for a 3-2 lead after the first period. The Blazers extended their lead to 4-2 in the second period as Colin Smith fired in a Brendan Ranford pass. Milan Kytnar cut the Blazers lead to 4-3 with one period to go. The Giants had a strong third period scoring twice to take a 5-4 lead with under four minutes to go in the hockey game. CJ Stretch, who finished with three points, set up Linden Saip 16 seconds later to tie the game and send it to extra time. Kurtis Mucha, who stopped 50 of 55 shots, was scored on by all three Giants shooters and took the shootout loss 6-5. The Blazers finished 2-for-6 on the powerplay and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill. With the point, the Blazers set up a first round playoff series with the Vancouver Giants.

The Playoffs Are Here!

The Blazers have completed the regular season with a 32-33-2-5 record. The hockey club finished in 7th place and have set up a first round match up with the Vancouver Giants.

Here is the schedule for the Blazers first round series.

Kal Tire WHL Western Conference Quarter-Final

(Series F)

VANCOUVER vs. KAMLOOPS

Game 1 - Fri Mar 19 7:30 PM Kamloops at Vancouver

Game 2 - Sat Mar 20 7:00 PM Kamloops at Vancouver

Game 3 - Tue Mar 23 7:00 PM Vancouver at Kamloops

Game 4 - Wed Mar 24 7:00 PM Vancouver at Kamloops

Game 5 - Fri Mar 26 7:30 PM * Kamloops at Vancouver

Game 6 - Sat Mar 27 7:00 PM * Vancouver at Kamloops

Game 7 - Tue Mar 30 7:00 PM * Kamloops at Vancouver

Tickets are on sale now at the Kamloops Blazers Box Office by calling 250-828-3339 or by going to www.ticketmaster.ca.

Charron Signs on for 2 years

The Kamloops Blazers have found their man in Head Coach Guy Charron. The team announced last week that they have signed Charron to a 2 year contract. Charron, a veteran of 734 NHL games and 14 seasons coaching in the NHL, has a tremendous coaching background which includes a gold medal as the Head Coach of the 1990 World Junior Team. Charron has guided the team to a 21-20-0-4 record and into the playoffs versus the Vancouver Giants, since taking over the team on November 23rd.

Thorimbert Tremendous in Playoffs

Kamloops Blazers prospect Josh Thorimbert has had a terrific season with the Kindersley Klippers of the SJHL. Thorimbert, a 3rd round bantam pick in 2007, finished the season with a 26-14-2-2 record, a 2.66 GAA and a .917 SV%. His strong play throughout the season made him a finalist for SJHL goaltender of the year and SJHL rookie of the year.

He has continued to play well in the playoffs as his Kindersley Klippers swept the Notre Dame Hounds in the first round of the SJHL playoffs. Thorimbert had a 4-0 record with a .934 SV%.

To check out an update on all of the Blazers prospects go to this link: http://www.blazerhockey.com/content/team/system.php

Awards Handed Out

The Kamloops Blazers handed out their year end awards on Friday night. CJ Stretch and Kurtis Mucha were named Co-MVPs. Go to this link to find out all the award winners: http://blazerhockey.com/blazer-news/blazer-news-stories/03-12-10awards.php.

Blazers on Facebook

You can now check out the Kamloops Blazers on facebook! Go to this link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kamloops-Blazers-Hockey/309165971271 to see the latest pictures, videos and other information about the hockey club.

Stellar WHL Careers

CJ Stretch played in 341 WHL games, all with the Kamloops Blazers in a 5 year career with the hockey club. He holds the franchise record for games played in a Blazer uniform. Stretch also played the most games by anyone to ever wear a Blazer jersey passing Kris Hogg and Kalvin Sagert who both played 339 WHL games. He also finished in a tie for 17th with Erik Christensen on the Blazers all-time career points list with 248 points.

Blazer goaltender Kurtis Mucha will go in the WHL record book holding two WHL records and two CHL records in a 5 year career. Mucha is first all-time in minutes played amongst goaltenders with 13,708 minutes played. He is the first goalie in CHL history in excess of 13,000 minutes. Mucha also holds the WHL and CHL record for games played by a goaltender with 245 games. He also finished 2nd all-time, only 50 saves shy of the WHL record, for most saves in a career with 6,908 saves

Blazers Captain Ryan Funk finished his regular season WHL career playing in 276 games while accumulating 71 points and 447 penalty minutes. Funk set career highs in goals and points with the Blazers, scoring 7 times and finishing with 25 points this season.

Team Leaders: Goals - CJ Stretch (30) Assists - CJ Stretch (51) Points - CJ Stretch (81) +/- - Josh Caron, Ryan Funk (+4) Rookies - Jordan DePape (38) PIM - Josh Caron (190) GAA - Kurtis Mucha (3.29) SV % - Kurtis Mucha (.900)

Schedule:

Monday, March 15th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC Tuesday, March 16th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC Wednesday, March 17th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC Thursday, March 18th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC -Depart for Vancouver Friday, March 19th, Blazers @ Vancouver Giants 7:30pm Pacific Coliseum Saturday, March 20th, Blazers @ Vancouver Giants 7pm Pacific Coliseum Sunday, March 21st, Practice 11:00-12:30PM ISC

Check out the Kamloops Blazers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from March 15, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central