Week in Review:

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 vs. Everett Silvertips 

A lacklustre second period cost the Blazers as the Everett Silvertips defeated the hockey club 5-2 on Tuesday night. The Silvertips scored first on the powerplay, but 19 year old forward Mark Hall deflected a Josh Caron shot in for his second goal in as many games to tie the game 1-1 through the first period. The Silvertips had a strong second period, scoring three times and giving the team a 4-1 lead over the Blazers through two periods. The hockey club tried to battle back in the third period as Austin Madaisky redirected a CJ Stretch pass in for a goal to cut the lead to 4-2. It wasn’t enough though; Everett added an empty netter and won 5-2. Jon Groenheyde started his third straight game and took the loss stopping 24 of 28 shots. Thomas Heemskerk was strong in goal for Everett earning the 1st star and stopping 38 of 40 shots he faced. Both teams were 1-for-4 on the powerplay.

Friday, March 5th, 2010 vs. Vancouver Giants

The Blazers scored early and often as they blasted the Vancouver Giants 6-1. Chase Schaber started the scoring for the Blazers and Ryan Hanes scored shortly after, driving to the net hard to give the Blazers a 2-0 lead. Linden Saip rounded out the scoring in the first period banging in a rebound to give the hockey club a 3-0 lead through the first period. CJ Stretch kept the Blazers rolling, scoring less than a minute into the second period. The Giants got a powerplay goal, but the Blazers continued putting pucks past the Giants goaltenders as Brendan Ranford and Mark Hall both scored to give the Blazers a 6-1 lead before the game was 26 minutes old. The hockey club cruised the rest of the way and were backed by solid goaltending from Kurtis Mucha who stopped 29 of 30 shots faced. Eight fighting majors were handed out in this game which made for an entertaining affair.

Sunday, March 7th, 2010 vs. Prince George Cougars

A slow start, but strong finish helped the Blazers to a 4-3 victory over the Prince George Cougars Sunday night. The Cougars scored first as Alex Rodgers haunted his old team. The Blazers replied shortly after as Matej Bene scored shorthanded to tie the game 1-1 through the end of the first period. Mark Hall gave the Blazers the lead scoring for the fourth game in a row to give him five goals on the year and give the Blazers a lead. The Cougars got one back though with Jaroslav Vlach tipping in a point shot to tie the game 2-2. The Blazers scored twice in the third period as Chase Schaber off a rebound, and Matej Bene with another shorthanded goal, gave the club a 4-2 lead and helped in the eventual 4-3 win. Kurtis Mucha started his second game in a row and won again stopping 24 of 27 shots. The Blazers had a good night on the penalty kill going 7-for-8 with two shorthanded goals.

The Playoffs Are Coming!

The Blazers have only two games remaining until the end of the 2009-2010 regular season. The hockey club is currently in 7h place in the Western Conference and have reached the 30 win plateau for the 25th time in the franchise’s 29 seasons in Kamloops.

Here are the updated Western Conference Standings.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1) Everett Silvertips* X               44-19-3-2,    93pts,  4 games remaining

2) Vancouver Giants* XY           40-24-2-3,    85pts,  3 games remaining

3) Tri-City Americans X              45-21-1-2,    93pts,  3 games remaining

4) Spokane Chiefs X                  42-21-3-2,    89pts,  4 games remaining

5) Portland Winterhawks X        41-25-2-1,    85pts,  3 games remaining

6) Kelowna Rockets X                33-30-2-4,    72pts,  3 games remaining

7) Kamloops Blazers X               32-32-2-4,    70pts,  2 games remaining

8) Chilliwack Bruins X                 30-32-1-5,    66pts,  4 games remaining

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9) Seattle Thunderbirds              18-38-7-5,    48pts,  4 games remaining

10) Prince George Cougars        11-54-1-2,    25pts,  4 games remaining

Here are the Blazers two remaining games this season:

• Friday, March 12 vs. Prince George 7pm FAN APPRECIATION NIGHT
• Saturday, March 13 @ Vancouver 7pm

Martell Signed, Sterzer Signed, Mowat Called up!

The hockey club had a busy week signing prospects as the team announced mid-week that they have signed 16 year old forward Lyndon Martell to a standard WHL contract. Martell played the majority of the season with the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL where he scored 13 goals and had 31 points in 44 games. He was awarded the team’s rookie of the year honours following the conclusion of the Spruce Kings season.

The Kamloops Blazers announced Monday morning the signing of 15 year old forward Aspen Sterzer who has been playing at the EDGE school in Calgary. Sterzer led his Midget AAA team in scoring this season with 22 goals and 38 points in 31 games. He was listed by Kamloops in October 2009.

Max Mowat has been called up by the Blazers for the remainder of the hockey season. The 16 year old defenseman played for the Okanagan Rockets this season in the BC Major Midget League and posted 13 goals and 36 points to lead the league in defensemen scoring. Mowat played one game with the Blazers on October 30th versus Chilliwack.

For more details go to blazerhockey.com

Captain’s Return

The Blazers expect to welcome back Ryan Funk to the line up this weekend for games versus the Prince George Cougars and Vancouver Giants to conclude the regular season. Funk has missed the last 11 games with an ankle sprain he sustained versus Kelowna on February 8th.

Rubel Honoured

Long time Billet Co-ordinator Doris Rubel has been honoured with her election into the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame. Rubel has been a billeting co-ordinator in Kamloops for the past 41 years working with the Kamloops Braves, Chiefs, Rockets, Jr. Oilers and most recently the Blazers.

For more details go to blazerhockey.com

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.

Milestones Watch

CJ Stretch has now played in 339 WHL games, all with the Kamloops Blazers. He holds the franchise record for games played in a Blazer uniform. Stretch is also the active WHL leader in games played and is 17th in all time Blazer scoring with 244 points.

Blazer goaltender Kurtis Mucha holds two WHL records and two CHL records as he closes out his final WHL season. Mucha is first all-time in minutes played amongst goaltenders with 13,623 minutes played. He surpassed the WHL record last month and is the first goaltender in the CHL in excess of 13,000 minutes.

Mucha also holds the WHL and CHL record for games played by a goaltender with 243. He passed Ryan Mior’s CHL record of 239 games played with PEI and Gatineau in the QMJHL on February 20th versus the Calgary Hitmen.

It looks as though Mucha will come up short for the WHL record for saves in a career. He recently passed Steve Passmore for 2nd on the list with 6,851 saves in his career. Mucha is 107 saves shy of Danny Lorenz’s 6,958 saves.

Team Leaders: 

Goals – CJ Stretch (29)

Assists – CJ Stretch (48)

Points – CJ Stretch (77)

+/- – Josh Caron (+4)

Rookies – Jordan DePape (37)

PIM – Josh Caron (188)

GAA – Kurtis Mucha (3.21)

SV % – Kurtis Mucha (.901) 

Schedule: 

Monday, March 8th, Day of Rest

Tuesday, March 9th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC

Wednesday, March 10th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC

Thursday, March 11th, Practice 2:00-4pm ISC

Friday, March 12th, Blazers vs. Prince George Cougars 7pm ISC

Saturday, March 13th, Blazers @ Vancouver Giants 7pm Pacific Coliseum

Sunday, March 14th, END OF REGULAR SEASON