Blazers Week In Review
February 8, 2010 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kamloops Blazers News Release
Week in Review:
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 @ Portland Winterhawks
The Blazers, in their last trip to Portland, were winners as CJ Stretch scored in overtime for a 4-3 victory. The Winterhawks had many chances in the first period and scored first. Nino Neiderreiter scored on the powerplay to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. The Blazers replied twice in the period; Jordan DePape scored on a shorthanded breakaway, and Chase Schaber also scored for the Blazers to give the hockey club a 2-1 lead after the first period. Portland battled back in the second, as Riley Boychuk powered his way in front of the net to pot a rebound goal which tied the game 2-2. Brendan Ranford gave the Blazers the lead again, going end to end with 51 seconds left in the second period to put the Blazers in front 3-2 after two periods. The Winterhawks replied again in the third period to extend the game to overtime. CJ Stretch was the hero; he scored on a breakaway and helped the Blazers to a 4-3 overtime victory. Kurtis Mucha was outstanding in the hockey game as he stopped 45 of 48 shots he faced. The Blazers continued to struggle on the powerplay going 0-for-4 but were good on the penalty kill going 6-for-7 with a shorthanded marker.
Friday, February 5th, 2010 @ Spokane Chiefs
The hockey club made their last trip to Spokane and were beaten by the powerplay. Spokane scored four powerplay goals enroute to a 5-1 victory over the Blazers. The Chiefs got on the scoreboard twice in the first period. Jared Spurgeon beat goaltender Kurtis Mucha and Jared Cowen tipped a puck past Mucha to give the Chiefs a 2-0 lead after the first period. The Blazers got their chance on the powerplay and CJ Stretch, playing his 325th career game as a Blazer, scored after being set up by Colin Smith and Linden Saip. Spokane's Tyler Johnson took over the rest of the period scoring four on four, and then late in the period on the powerplay to put the Chiefs up 4-1 through two periods. The Blazers mustered up some chances in the third period but couldn't beat Spokane's goaltender James Reid. Spurgeon scored another powerplay goal for the Chiefs as they won 5-1. Kurtis Mucha, who played in his 234th WHL game setting the WHL record for games played by a goalie in a career, stopped 25 of 30 shots. The special teams beat the Blazers this night as they were 1-for-5 on the powerplay and only 4-for-8 on the penalty kill.
Saturday, February 6th, 2010 vs. Lethbridge Hurricanes
The Blazers came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 2-1 at home Saturday night. A scoreless first period had goaltender Jon Groenheyde stopping all 13 shots he faced and Brandon Anderson of the Hurricanes stopping the 10 shots he faced. The Hurricanes got on the scoreboard first though; a neutral zone turnover gave the Hurricanes a 2 on 1 in which Carter Bancks squeaked a puck past Groenheyde to give the 'Canes a 1-0 lead through two periods. The Blazers finally got on the scoresheet early in the third period; Bronson Maschmeyer scored on a back door feed from CJ Stretch to tie the game 1-1. The hockey club continued to press for the win in the third; Ryan Funk shot a knuckle puck that fooled Anderson and gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead with under 7 minutes remaining in the third period. The home club shut down the 'Canes the rest of the way and earned a 2-1 victory in their third game in four nights. Groenheyde stopped 22 of 23 shots faced for the victory. The Blazers were solid on the special teams going 1-for-1 on the powerplay and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Top Performers
- 5th year forward CJ Stretch led the charges up front last week. Stretch had 2 goals and an assist for 3 points in 3 games this week. He scored the game winning goal in overtime Wednesday against the Portland Winterhawks. - Jon Groenheyde had a great outing on Saturday night stopping 22 of 23 shots in the 2-1 victory over Lethbridge. In Groenheyde's last two outings, he has a 1.51 GAA and a.950 SV%, stopping 55 of 58 shots faced.
A week on the road with CJ Stretch
5th year Blazer forward CJ Stretch wrote down some thoughts about the recent US road trip the Blazers had last week. Go to blazerhockey.com to read what CJ and the rest of the team did throughout last week.
Milestones
CJ Stretch has now played in 326 WHL games, all with the Kamloops Blazers. Stretch is only the 5th player to play 300 games in a Blazer uniform. Erik Christensen (304), Greg Hawgood (310), Donnie Kinney (319), and Aaron Gionet (324) are the others. He surpassed the franchise record held by Gionet on Friday, February 5th in a 5-1 loss in Spokane. Stretch has now recorded 230 WHL points and has tied Mark Recchi for 23rd on the Blazers all-time scoring list.
Blazer goaltender Kurtis Mucha continues to breaks records. Mucha has now played 234 WHL games and passed Kyle Moir's record for most games played by a goaltender with 233. He broke this record in Spokane on Friday, the same night CJ Stretch set the games played mark as a Blazer. The CHL record for games played is 239 games. Mucha is already first all-time in minutes played amongst goaltenders with 13,142 minutes played. He surpassed the WHL record two weeks ago and now holds the CHL record, passing Ryan Mior's 12,933 minutes played with PEI and Gatineau of the QMJHL. Mucha has now played 232 WHL games and needs to play 2 more games to pass Kyle Moir's record for most games played by a goaltender with 233. Mucha is also third all-time in saves for a goaltender with 6,629 saves. He is 47 saves shy of Steve Passmore who is second on the list with 6,676 saves. Mucha is 329 saves shy of Danny Lorenz's record of 6,958 saves.
Team Leaders:
Goals - CJ Stretch, Brendan Ranford (23)
Assists - CJ Stretch (40)
Points - CJ Stretch (63)
+/- - Ryan Funk, CJ Stretch, Brendan Ranford, Josh Caron (+3)
Rookies - Jordan DePape (24)
PIM - Josh Caron (144) GAA - Kurtis Mucha (3.12)
SV % - Kurtis Mucha (.905)
Community Service
Monday, February 8th * Regular School visit @ 9:30am * EDGE 9am
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