WHL Kamloops Blazers

Kamloops Blazers Week in Review

Published on October 12, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Kamloops Blazers News Release


Despite out chancing the Spokane Chiefs Wednesday night, the Blazers fell 4-3 in a shootout. The Chiefs scored first as 16-year-old forward Reid Gow scored his second goal of the year beating goaltender

Jon Groenheyde between his pad and glove to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead through one period. In the second period, Spokane converted on a 2-on-1 in which Matt Marantz elected to shoot and beat Groenheyde on the blocker side. The Blazers would reply late in the period as the hard work of 16-year-old

Logan McVeigh earned him his first WHL point after

Austin Madaisky blasted a shot past James Reid to cut the Chiefs lead to 2-1 through two periods. The Blazers tied the game early in the third as

Brendan Ranford fed

Chase Schaber the puck and Schaber fired a shot past Reid. After killing off a 5-on-3 penalty,

Brendan Ranford gave the home side the lead as

Chase Schaber sent him on a breakaway and Ranford put in his own rebound. The Chiefs tied the game with 8:19 left to play as Darren Kramer scored for the Chiefs. The overtime period solved nothing and Schaber, Ranford and Madaisky were all stymied by Reid, while Mitch Holmberg scored for the Chiefs to give them the victory. Final shots on goal were 46-32 in favor of the Blazers and both teams were 0-for-5 on the powerplay.

Friday, October 8th, 2010 vs. Prince Albert Raiders

The Blazers led from start to finish as they downed the Prince Albert Raiders 4-3 in front of 4,003 people at home Friday night.

JT Barnett got the Blazers on the board as he tipped in a shot from

Bronson Maschmeyer on the powerplay to give the hockey club a 1-0 lead. Second year defenseman

Tyler Hansen then made the score 2-0 as he took a shot that deflected off a Raider player beating goaltender Eric Williams. In the second period, Brandon Herrod scored his 6th goal of the season after banging the puck past

Jeff Bosch on the powerplay to cut the lead to 2-1. The Blazers would then score two more powerplay goals as

Chase Schaber finished off a shot from Maschmeyer and

Brendan Ranford converted a wide shot by

Dalibor Bortnak to give the Blazers a 4-1 lead going into the third period. The Raiders got two third period goals from Mike Winther and Jonathan Parker, but the Blazers played well from start to finish and preserved a 4-3 home ice victory. The Blazers powerplay was much improved going 3-for-8 on the night, while the penalty kill was 2-for-3.

Jeff Bosch earned his first win in a Blazer uniform as he stopped 29 of 32 shots he faced, while Eric Williams stopped 41 of 45 shots in the loss.

Saturday, October 9th, 2010 @ Vancouver Giants

The Blazers battled back from two third period deficits to defeat the Giants 5-4 in overtime.

Chase Schaber and

Brendan Ranford each combined for a goal and an assist in the first period, as Schaber banged in a rebound and Ranford scored on a breakaway to give the Blazers a 2-0 lead through the first period. The Giants scored the only goal in the second period as Matt Mackay snuck in the back door and beat goaltender

Jeff Bosch on the powerplay with 24 seconds remaining in the period to make the score 2-1 after 40 minutes. Craig Cunnigham tied the game early in the third period on a 5-on-3 powerplay beating Bosch low glove side. The Giants took the lead when Marek Tvrdon scored on a rebound, but the Blazers replied 29 seconds later as

JT Barnett crashed the net and scored on a rebound to make the score 3-3. The Giants again took the lead as Brendan Gallagher walked out of the corner and stuffed the puck past Bosch for a 4-3 lead.

Dylan Willick

evened up the score again less then a minute later to send the game to overtime. A former Vancouver Giant, defenseman

Linden Saip sealed the victory after a shot from

Bronson Maschmeyer was blocked, Saip jumped on it and put it past goaltender Mark Segal to lift the Blazers to a 5-4 win.

Jeff Bosch made 34 saves in the victory, while Segal made 25 saves taking the loss. The Blazers continued to struggle in the special teams department going 0-for-4 on the powerplay and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill.

Monday, October 11th, 2010 vs. Vancouver Giants

After a 5-4 victory in Vancouver two nights ago, the Blazers fell 5-4 to the Giants at home Monday afternoon. The Blazers played well to start but goaltender Brendan Jensen came up big and kept the Giants in the game. Matt Bellerive opened the scoring as he put in a rebound after goaltender

Jeff Bosch made the initial save and the Giants led 1-0 after the first period. The flood gates opened in the second period as the Giants quickly made it 2-0 as Brendan Gallagher jumped on his own rebound to notch his 8th goal of the year. Luke Fenske made it 3-0 for the Giants as he redirected the puck past Bosch going hard to the Blazers net.

Colin Smith got his first of the year to cut the lead to 3-1. The Giants quickly replied again as James Henry muscled his way to the net to put a rebound past Bosch, who was then pulled in favour of

Jon Groenheyde, and strengthen the Giants lead to 4-1. After forward Matt Bellerive was given a major penalty for boarding, the Blazers ended up scoring two powerplay goals as

Linden Saip got his third of the year and

Austin Madaisky found a way to get it by Jensen and cut the lead to 4-3. Dalton Sward made it 5-3 only 1:26 later beating Groenheyde with a quick shot.The Blazers played well in the third period but could only muster up a late goal as the Giants won 5-4.

Jeff Bosch didn't have his best outing in goal as he stopped 19 of 23 shots he faced, while Jon Groenheyde took the loss and stopped 11 of 12 shots. Brendan Jensen earned his first victory of the season as he stopped 34 of 38 shots. The Blazers ended up 2-for-6 on the powerplay and were 5-for-5 on their penalty kill.

First WHL Points

Two Blazers recorded their first WHL points this past week.

Logan McVeigh, a 16-year-old center from Kenaston, SK, had an assist on Austin Madaisky's goal on Wednesday versus the Spokane Chiefs. McVeigh had 54 points last season in the Saskatchewan Midget Hockey League. Defenseman

Corey Fienhage got his first WHL point in Vancouver on Saturday night. The 20-year-old from Apple Valley, Minnesota is playing his first season in the WHL.

Dynamic Duo

Forwards Brendan Ranford and Chase Schaber both had terrific weeks on the score sheet. Ranford had 8 points over 4 games this past week, including scoring the game winner against Prince Albert on Friday night. He also became the 80th player in Blazers history to get his 100th point in a Blazer uniform. Schaber had 7 points over the 4 games and had a +3 rating over those games. Both Ranford and Schaber are proving to be quite the dynamic duo for the hockey club.

Blueliner Breakfast

The first of four Blueliner breakfasts is this Sunday morning starting at 8:30am in the Parkside Lounge located near the front entrance of Interior Savings Centre. For more information please contact Spike Wallace at 250-828-1144 or by email at swallace@blazerhockey.com

Team Leaders:

Goals - Brendan Ranford (6)

Assists - Chase Schaber (7)

Points - Brendan Ranford (12)

+/- - JT Barnett (+5)

Rookies - Corey Fienhage, Logan McVeigh (1)

PIM - Ryan Hanes (35)

GAA - Jon Groenheyde (3.07)

SV % - Jon Groenheyde (.897)

Community Service

Monday, October 18th

Heffley

Creek School

Visit

Schedule:

Tuesday, October 12th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC

Wednesday, October 13th,

Blazers @ Kelowna Rockets 7pm Prospera Place

Thursday, October 14th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC

Friday, October 15th,

Blazers vs. Portland Winterhawks 7pm ISC

Saturday, October 16th,

Blazers vs. Prince George Cougars 7pm ISC

Sunday, October 17th, Blueliner Breakfast 8:30am Sports Action Lounge

Check out the Kamloops Blazers Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from October 12, 2010


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