Blasted

[TwoBits]

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=116168&Itemid=564


Cougars blasted on home ice by Blazers
(Sports) Saturday, 02 February 2008, 21:58 PST
Jim Swanson


The Kamloops Blazers scored six times in the second period, five of them on consecutive shots on goal, running away with an 8-1 victory over the Prince George Cougars.

Devon Kalinski had two goals and an assist and Kenton Dulle had four assists to pace the offence for Kamloops (25-27-1-2).

Kalinski got the Blazers on the board in the first period, and the Cougars (15-35-1-2), who have lost seven of eight of their last nine games, got back on even terms in the second period when Greg Gardner chipped home his career-high 18th of the season.

After Kamloops captain Scott Wasden restored the Blazers' lead, Kalinski scored his second shortly after a scramble in which Cougars goaltender Ian Curtis appeared to hurt his left shoulder. Curtis was lifted after Kalinski's goal – Curtis allowed three goals on 18 shots – and the floodgates opened on Real Cyr, who came on in relief.

Cyr allowed goals to Ivan Rohac, Shayne Wiebe, Matt Wray and Juuso Puustinen without recording a single save prior to the second intermission. For Cyr, it was four goals on four shots, with three of those goals coming in a 26-second span.

Jimmy Bubnick added another goal for Kamloops in the third period. Cyr ended the night with xx saves, lowering his save percentage from .875 to .871 and raising his goals-against average from 4.42 to 4.54.

Kamloops got a 30-save effort from goaltender Justin Leclerc.

Reader's Comments:

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written by Katie McLeod , February 02, 2008 (10:30:09 PM)
Saw the game tonight. It was TERRIBLE! Those boys don't seem to know what they're doing. Brodsky, get rid of the coach and manager. It's gone too far. Please give us a break and get professionals running this team. The boys are frustrated the fans can see it and we are sick of it.
report abusevote downvote upVotes: +3
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written by the flying moose , February 02, 2008 (10:48:05 PM)
That was awful. There is way more talent on that team than is shown in games. Those guys are capable of much more and I think a coaching change is a must if they have any chance next year. I'll have to wait to see what they do in the off season but I doubt I'll be getting season's tickets again next year, not when there isn't an honest effort to improve the team from the top down.

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written by Buddy , February 02, 2008 (11:01:34 PM)
I too saw the game and have to agree that it's time for a change from the top down. Those boys don't have a chance with the current coach and manager. They were frustrated and it was obvious. If you want fans, give us a team to be proud of. They're working hard with poor information. As K.M. says, give us a break!
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written by Benny , February 02, 2008 (11:03:10 PM)
I want to be fair to the coaches with a young team, but it was an error to not replace CURTIS immediately when injured. Should not have waited,he was hurt..
Mr. SWANSON I hope you noticed WISHART was 3 tonight. I expect that to be in your commentary next week!!!


not laughing now
written by bcracer , February 03, 2008 (07:59:24 AM)
It would probably be fair to say that they aren't laughing so hard now.....
reponse to a statement made by Mr Swanson on friday...
I am sure this will become rated as a minor comment ...
sorry if I hurt your feelings Mr Swanson

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written by K.D. , February 03, 2008 (12:12:07 PM)
The game was terrible. I saw the players shake their heads at times when they were the only one on the ice and the changes were taking place and they had no one to pass the puck to. The coaching is very, very bad. The kids don't stand a chance so no wonder most of them would rather play elsewhere. They're young alright but that doesn't make them stupid.

I actually feel very sorry for them. the fans are dropping off as the interest wanes. I remember times when you could hardly get a ticket. Now you have your pick of most spots. Season ticket holders are giving up on the team as well.
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written by Alisdair , February 03, 2008 (12:19:20 PM)
Saw the game. Thought the coaching was terrible. Time for some changes. Management and coach. Get rid of them. Give the people what they want. Any other team would do it. Enough with family, the team and fans are far more important. If the son in law is so good why aren't other teams trying to steal him away? Same with the coach.

[WestLEAFfan]

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the dressing room after a game like that! Can it possibly get worse?

[TwoBits]

Yes, it could possibly get worse. And I get the impression that the coach is too soft. You can say and do whatever you want in the dressing room but sometimes you need to send another message to be taken seriously. Like loss of privileges and added practice/physical bootcamp.

He was asked in the post game show if the team was going to lose their day off on Sunday and he just Him-Heed-and-Hawed saying they didn't have any ice time and how he didn't want to wear them out before their games next week. If I were a coach that needed to send a message to my team, I wouldn't need ice.

Now, I didn't see the game so maybe the boys deserved a day off to watch the football game. I don't know? Where do you draw the line between being too hard on the players and giving them the impression that losing is o.k.?

[TwoBits]

Has anyone noticed that the above article and comments are nowhere to be seen on the Citizen Website?

Here's the new story:

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=116258&Itemid=564


Cougars take one on the kisser
Cougars pounded 8-1 by Blazers, Kamloops forward adds light moment
(Sports) Sunday, 03 February 2008, 22:48 PST
JIM SWANSON, Citizen Sports Editor

Prince George Cougars forward Dana Tyrell loses his balance after battling through a check by Kamloops defenceman Jordan Rowley during Saturday’s WHL game at CN Centre. The Blazers erupted for six goals in the second period and glided to an 8-1 victory that all but ends any chance the Cats had of making the playoffs. (Citizen photo by Brent Braaten) Related Articles Tyree makes catch of a lifetime, helps Giants rally past Pats in Super Bowl
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On the eve of the Super Bowl, the Prince George Cougars subjected their fans to the Stupor Bowl.

For a seven-minute stretch of the second period, the Cougars played as though they were in a stupor. Seven minutes and six shots against combined to turn a respectable hockey game into a laugh track as the Cougars, who a night earlier snapped a seven-game losing streak, showed their house-of-card personality in an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Kamloops Blazers.

The game became a full-fledged laugher when Blazers forward Sasha Golin, with the scoreboard’s KissCam trained on his bench, planted a pucker on the cheek of one of his teammates during a third-period stoppage.

Glad someone had a sense of humour. There’s no doubt it was needed while the Cats were putting their fans through yet another home-ice thrashing.

“For that stretch we just let guys skate around us,” said Cougars captain Greg Gardner. “That’s a team we’re still trying to catch for the playoffs. I thought we were focused for the first half of the game, then we fell apart and couldn’t get anything going after that. It’s pretty tough to come back from a 7-1 score after two periods.

“We’re trying to stay positive. We stopped eliminating their speed, we have to check them, and we can’t pin that on the goalies -- it’s a team loss. We’re low on confidence, and it seems like when they score one they’re going to get four or five. We have a lot of young forwards and defencemen and since the deadline they’ve been thrown into the fire, and I have to try and help those boys out. They’re going to make mistakes that they’re going to learn from.”

The first whistle of the game, not surprisingly, was a Kamloops goal. Blazers winger Devon Kalinski, who scored in Friday’s 5-4 Cougars win, potted his first of two by tipping a point shot over the left shoulder of Prince George netminder Ian Curtis at the 4:57 mark. Kalinski, acquired from Calgary a month ago, hadn’t registered a point through 12 games as a Blazer, then left Prince George with four points in two games.

The Cougars worked hard to get even early in the second period, a goal originally credited to Dale Hunt but later switched to Gardner. Combine the overager’s career-high 18th goal with a goal-saving swipe by rookie defenceman Trevor Bauer -- he denied a sure Kamloops goal by rescuing the puck off the goal line -- and the Cougars were in position to repeat Friday’s success.

That’s when a series of events crushed the Cats, who in the last eight weeks have lost recent home games by scores of 11-1, 6-0, 9-0 and 7-2. This club is 2-6-0-2 over the last 10 home games, outscored 56-22.

On a Kamloops power play, Art Bidlevskii bailed out Curtis in much the same way as Bauer did, but the 17-year-old netminder hurt his left shoulder on the play. After a lengthy consultation with trainer Chris Linder, the decision was made to keep Curtis in the game. The next two shots, both quality chances, beat him, and Real Cyr was summoned as a replacement after Curtis had allowed three goals on 18 shots.

Those goals by Scott Wasden and Kalinski, his second, only opened the floodgates. Ivan Rohac scored. Shayne Wiebe followed suit. Matt Wray, who was a Cougar in camp before being cut and latching on in Kamloops, made it three goals on three shots in a 2:26 span. Ninety-one seconds after Wray connected, Juuso Puustinen made it a 7-1 game.

When it was all done, the Blazers had scored on six consecutive shots -- though Cyr said he made two saves that were not registered by the minor officials who handle such a task.

Perhaps the most stunning stat at the end of the night was this -- the Cats actually outshot the Blazers, 31-30.

“Yeah, that was hard,” said Cyr, his goals-against average inflated (from 4.42 to 4.54) and save percentage slashed (from .875 to .871) significantly from a single appearance.

“We’ve been battling pretty hard. We battled for a full 60 (minutes on Friday)... it’s tough, I have to come off the bench ready to stop the puck. One goes in and we all hit panic mode. It’s tough to take positives out of a game like that, but I’m proud that the guys came out in the third period and battled to the end.

“You can’t go by the shot count... I did make a pokecheck and a save before that one went in, they didn’t put those up. Those are stats, I don’t read into that stuff. But I want to make one of those saves and stop the bleeding, build confidence for the guys.”

Kamloops had the lone goal of the third period, a power-play marker by Jimmy Bubnick.

Yes, it was hard to watch unfold. Those emerging from the Cougars’ dressing room had an interesting take on things after the game -- take away six-and-a-half minutes in the second, and it was a one-goal hockey game.

“For 114 minutes of hockey (in the doubleheader) I thought we played well,” said coach Drew Schoneck, who is leading the youngest team in the WHL.

“The area of our game that is killing us is that mental side. I’m not gonna blame youth, but when you get a goal or two scored on you, you have to draw a line in the sand and just play simple hockey. We kinda rolled over and played dead for six minutes, then got ourselves back up. By that time it was out of reach, and we have have to find a way to not let a couple quick goals bother us. That’s happened to us a couple times now -- against Kelowna, against Lethbridge, and against Everett.

“This game epitomizes our team at this point of maturing. Had we scored another goal earlier in that period, maybe the game goes to 4-1 or 5-1 for us. The fragility of our team really showed.”

Cyr’s first official save was a dribbler from centre ice two minutes into the third, and there were cat calls directed his way when he stopped a close-in chance a minute later.

When the Cougars failed to convert on 1:43 of two-man advantage time in the third, the exodus of the announced crowd of 2,762 was on in earnest.

Schoneck said Curtis is having his shoulder looked at this week. Saturday was the second time he’s needed the trainer to look at him for the same hinge.

“It happened three weeks ago and it wasn’t bothering him,” said the coach.

“It’s sore now. There were thoughts (of pulling him), but the trainer came back and said he was OK and he wanted to stay in. Then I thought changing goalies would give us time to catch our breath, but it went the other way on us.”

Justin Leclerc made 30 saves for the Blazers. Kenton Dulle had four assists.

The Cougars welcome Kootenay on Wednesday. With 19 games to play, the Coats are 18 points back of Chilliwack, who holds the last playoff spot.

KITTY LITTER: With the weekend crowds, the Cougars are now averaging 2,817 per game. That’s about 100 fewer per night from a season ago... The Blazers were 2-4 on the power play, the Cougars were 0-5... With a healthy lineup, rookies Parker Stanfield and Matt Cumming were in street clothes... Among the Kamloops scratches was assistant captain C.J. Stretch, the longest-serving Blazer, and D Mark Schneider... Five Cougars took a minus-3 hit on their plus/minus -- Bauer, Cody Hobbs, Jan Kupec, Brad Riege and Marcus Watson. Kalvin Sagert, who logs so much icetime and matches up with other teams’ top lines, was minus-2, his league-low mark now at minus-37. Garrett Thiessen is next on that list at minus-33... Wray and Thiessen started the third with a scrap, the fourth time this season they’ve dropped the mitts... Justin Maylan was held pointless, but he has four assists in his last four games. Since arriving Jan. 10, the 16-year-old has seven points in 12 games, giving him 13 points in 32 games between his time with the Cougars and Moose Jaw. To indicate how impressive that is, Dana Tyrell had 18 points in 69 games as a 16-year-old.

Looks like the goalies are in the doghouse for this loss. Nice to see Cyr stick up for himself.