BLAZERS VISIT REBELS TONIGHT

A SOLID START: The Kamloops Blazers 2011-12 WHL season is off and running and the Blazers have started the season with a 7-2-0-0 record. The Blazers played three games in three nights this past weekend and won 5-4 in Portland on Friday, 3-0 at home to Prince George on Saturday, and 3-2 over Kelowna on Sunday. This is the only trip for the Blazers to Red Deer this season. The hockey club will play in Lethbridge on Friday and in Medicine Hat on Saturday in their only trip to Alberta this season.  Following this week, the Blazers will play only 9 games over their next 31 days.     

Vs. Red Deer - This Season (3-Game Series)
Game 1: 10/19/11, at Red Deer, Kamloops
Game 2: 11/11/11, vs. Red Deer, Kamloops
Game 3: 02/17/12, vs. Red Deer, Kamloops

Blazers won season series 1-0-1-0

STARTING SOMETHING NEW: The Blazers had a disappointing end to the 2010-11 season, going 0-6-0-2 down the stretch and narrowly missing the playoffs. The hockey club is out for redemption this season. In the off-season, Dave Hunchak was hired by the Blazers as the team’s Associate Coach to work closely with Head Coach, Guy Charron. Hunchak has a proven track record with seven years of WHL coaching experience, including spending the last four seasons as the Head Coach of the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Blazers also added Ed Patterson as an Assistant Coach, and Mike Needham as the team’s skills coach. Patterson and Needham are both former Blazers with NHL experience. Goaltender Coach Dan De Palma rounds out the coaching staff starting his third season.

ROSTER BREAKDOWN: The Blazers roster currently sits at 24 players (2 goaltenders, 8 defensemen and 14 forwards). The roster includes 11 players selected in the WHL Bantam Draft, 7 players via trade, 5 players from the free agent list, and 1 player selected from the CHL Import Draft. The roster breakdown by region includes 8 players from Alberta, 6 from B.C., 2 from Manitoba, 4 from Saskatchewan, 2 from the USA, 1 from the Czech Republic, and 1 from Switzerland. There are 17 WHL veterans on the roster and 7 WHL rookies. Four of those rookies suited up for the Blazers during the regular season last year.

RETURN OF RANFORD: 19-year-old forward Brendan Ranford missed the first 3 games of the regular season due to a lengthy 6-game suspension that he incurred in the 69^th game of the 2010-11 WHL season. Ranford, who was tied for the league lead in scoring with 58 points at the Christmas break, had a poor second half of the 2010-11 season. He is out for redemption though after being named a second-team Western Conference All-Star last season. The Edmonton native hasn’t disappointed with a 6 goals and 4 assists in his first 6 games back. This includes a 4-goal effort Friday night in a 5-4 overtime win in Portland.

KAMLOOPS BLAZERS ‘Who to Watch’: The Kamloops Blazers are entering a new season with a mix of WHL veterans and WHL rookies. The Blazers key to offense will be spread out amongst the top two lines. The Chase Schaber and Brendan Ranford are the veteran leaders up front that should pace the offence. The loss of forward Jordan DePape will be tough on the hockey club, but will give opportunity to some of the younger players. DePape will be out for up to 4 months with an injury. The Blazers will also rely on veterans Dylan Willick, Colin Smith and JT Barnett to carry the offensive load. Some young rookies expected to catch the eyes of scouts and fans include a pair of 16-year-old forwards, Matthew Needham and Cole Ully. Import Tim Bozon and 17-year-old Aspen Sterzer have been impressive throughout the start of the season because of their consistent work ethic. On the back end, the Blazers trio of Austin Madaisky, Josh Caron, and Bronson Maschmeyer are expected to lead the defensemen. Add in veterans Marek Hrbas, Tyler Hansen and Brady Gaudet and the Blazers have a lot of experience on the back end. The goaltending position is starting to figure itself out with veteran Cam Lanigan and rookie Cole Cheveldave as the two goaltenders.  Cheveldave and Lanigan have both played well, so the starting position is still up for grabs.

RED DEER REBELS ‘Who to Watch’: The Rebels suffered the biggest loss in the CHL with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins making the jump to the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. The Rebels also lost four of their top five point producers including Andrej Kudrna, Byron Froese and Brett Ferguson. Adam Kambeitz, John Perrson, and Turner Elson will be expected to pick up the slack up front. Younger players like Colten Mayor, Chad Robinson and Daulton Siwak will need to step up their game this year. The Rebels back end is very strong with potential 2012 NHL first round pick Mathew Dumba, Alex Petrovic, and Justin Weller. The talent on defence drops off heavily for the Rebels as they will need to count on veterans Aaron Borejko and Matthew Pufahl to offer more, and rookies Cody Thiel, Kayle Doetzel, and Stephen Hak to develop. The Rebels lost the WHL player of the year, Darcy Kuemper to the pro ranks this season. Import goaltender Patrik Bartosak has been stellar to start the season for the Rebels. The 18-year-old has proven he is capable of being the #1 netminder. Bolton Pouliot, who played some games with the Rebels last season, is the back up.

NHL DRAFT: Austin Madaisky (Columbus, 5^th round, 124^th overall in 2010), Brendan Ranford (Philadelphia, 7^th round, 209^th overall in 2010), Josh Caron (SIGNED by Minnesota, 2010)

INJURY REPORT: Jordan DePape (Upper Body, one month+), Chase Souto (Upper Body, day-to-day). Man games lost due to injury – 8.

DID YOU KNOW… Forward Colin Smith leads the Blazers with 12 points this season… 19-year-old defenseman Austin Madaisky leads the Blazers defence in scoring with 3 goals, 7 assists and 10 points playing in 9 games… 17-year-old import forward Tim Bozon leads the Blazers with +8 rating… Brendan Ranford led the Blazers in scoring with 33 goals, 53 assists for 86 points last season… Matthew Needham is the first second generation Blazer in franchise history… The Blazers lost 144 man-games to injury last season and another 21 games to suspensions… Colin Smith, Dylan Willick, JT Barnett, and Bronson Maschmeyer were the only players to play in all 72 games last season… Bronson Maschmeyer is the Blazers current iron man playing in his 154^th consecutive game tonight… Chase Schaber is the team’s Captain, while Dylan Willick, Bronson Maschmeyer, and Austin Madaisky will be the team’s Assistant Captains... Four of the Blazers’ eight rookies saw game time with the Blazers last season, including Matthew Needham (13 games), Aspen Sterzer (10 games), Landon Cross (10 games) and Cole Ully (1 game)… Another rookie, goaltender Taran Kozun, never saw game time but was on the bench serving as a back-up for two games last season… Defenseman Josh Caron is among the league leaders in penalty minutes with 33 so far this season… Bronson Maschmeyer played in his 200^th career WHL game last Saturday night… The Blazers have won seven games this season, with seven different players scoring the game winning goal.