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WHL Kamloops Blazers

Game Day: Blazers Square off against Vancouver Giants

February 21, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kamloops Blazers News Release


The Blazers will look to bounce back in their third game in three nights against the Giants on Sunday, after two tough losses on Friday and Saturday.

The Blazers were in Victoria to play the Royals on consecutive nights this weekend, losing 4-1 on Friday and 6-3 respectively. Victoria now sits first overall in the WHL standings with 86 points, and is 15-2-1 in their past 18 games.

After two matchups with the first-place team, the Blazers (27-24-5-3) will take on the last-place Western Conference team to end their weekend in the Giants (22-31-5-2).

Vancouver is playing in their third game in three nights as well, having faced off against the Kelowna Rockets on Friday and Saturday. The Giants fell 6-5 in regulation on the road against the Rockets on Friday, self-destructing after holding a 5-3 lead in the third period. Vancouver then beat Kelowna 4-2 at home Saturday night, powered by three third periods goals.

Having played two hard games against the Rockets, who now sit second overall in the WHL standings, Blazers Assistant Coach Mike Needham says his team can't belittle their matchup with the Giants tonight.

"They played Kelowna tough two games in a row. We've had some battles with them recently, so we know they're going to come out hard and play us hard", Needham said. "We need to put this behind us, and that's the beauty thing about this league - you don't dwell on things very long, you get right back at it. We have to get right back at it in the win column."

The Blazers had won four straight games heading into the weekend, but have fallen back into eighth in the Western Conference with consecutive losses. Kamloops currently sits three points up on the Tri-City Americans for the final playoff spot, and trail the seventh-place Spokane Chiefs by two points. The Giants, meanwhile, sit 11 points back of the Blazers with 12 games left on their schedule.

Including tonight, the Blazers have three games remaining in their season series with Vancouver and are 3-0-2-0 thus far. They recently beat them 5-0 on the road on Feb. 12 and 4-3 at home in overtime on Feb. 13.

Head Coach Don Hay will look for his 200th win behind the Blazers' bench against his former team. 401 of Hay's 667 regular season WHL wins came during his 10-year tenure with the Giants.

Who's Hot:

Blazers: Captain Matt Needham scored in both contests against the Royals on the weekend. Spencer Bast had a goal and an assist on Saturday night, drawing into the lineup when Gage Quinney came down with an illness.

Giants: Leading scorer Chase Lang had a natural hat trick in the first period on Friday night, and followed that up with two points on Saturday night. Ty Ronning (five assists), and Trevor Cox (two goals, three assists) each have five points in the past two games as well.

Puck drop tonight at Pacific Coliseum is at 5:00pm.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 21, 2016


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.

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