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scamperdog
03-07-2006, 08:48 PM
Huge game for Blazers and Rockets
Blazers desperate to get points and some how catch PG and make the playoffs, while Rockets give there best to try to catch the Giants, so far this year Kamloops is 6 wins and 2 losses against the Rockets this is the second to last meeting this year, Blazers can't afford to loose any more game this season so hopefully theyl bring it all!

scamperdog
03-09-2006, 10:53 PM
too little, much too late www.kamloopsnews.ca
by Gregg Drinnan

The good ship Blazer took on more water Wednesday night as, once again, it didn’t have all of its oars in the water, especially when it first left shore.

“It’s kind of frustrating,” offered Kamloops defenceman Ryan Bender, moments after he and his mates had absorbed a 3-1 WHL loss at the hands of the Kelowna Rockets before 4,754 fans at the Interior Savings Centre. “That was our main focus … to get a really good start. Play physical, get the puck deep.”

The Blazers weren’t able to do either in the game’s first half against a Kelowna team that won here for the first time in five appearances and now has won eight of its last 10 games.

“We have to be more desperate than that,” Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, said. “Give them credit, but this was a way more important game for us than it should have been for them.”

The victory kept the Rockets within six points of the B.C. Division-leading Vancouver Giants and pulled them four points clear of the third-place Kootenay Ice.

“These were two huge points for us with the race we’re in with Kootenay and Vancouver,” offered Kelowna winger Blake Comeau, who was terrific and who put this one away with an empty-net goal. “We knew Kamloops was going to come out hard because they’re in a race for the final playoff spot.”

The Blazers, who didn’t come out hard, remain fifth in the division, four points behind the idle Prince George Cougars. While the Blazers face the Giants twice this weekend, there on Friday and here on Saturday, the Cougars will be at home to the U.S. Division-leading Everett Silvertips for a doubleheader.

The Blazers’ tragic number now is three — any combination of Prince George victories and Kamloops losses totalling three will mean the Blazers won’t appear in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

The Rockets held a wide edge in play in the game’s first half and, at 10:46 of the second period, had outshot their hosts, 26-6.

However, the scoreboard read 1-1. Clayton Bauer scored for the Rockets off a Roman Tesliuk turnover at 8:34 of the first period, with Ashton Rome finishing off an early second-period 2-on-1 with Reid Jorgensen, who had forced a turnover on a power play in the neutral zone, for the Blazers.

Only the goaltending of Devan Dubnyk, who finished with 37 saves, had the Blazers close in the first half. He forced Bauer wide midway through the first period and stoned Tyler Spurgeon on a 2-on-1 later in the period. In the second period, Dubnyk stopped Chris Ray off the rush and Lauris Darzins on the ensuing short rebound, then got his right toe on a Ray shot that had goal written all over it.

Dubnyk also had help from a post as Darzins chipped a Mike Card point shot off the goaltender’s left best friend.

Kelowna centre Kirt Hill took advantage of the Blazers’ failure to clear the zone at 10:21 of the third period and beat Dubnyk with what stood up as the winner.

After that, Dubnyk robbed Darzins from eight feet, beat Comeau on a breakaway and then made a diving come-across save off Kirt Hill, all to keep the home side within one.

“We were better,” Jorgensen said of his club’s play in the second half, “but … obviously we weren’t good enough.”

As for his club’s poor start, an emotional Jorgensen said: “It’s … I mean … it’s tough. You try … you try … you don’t say you try … you try. We’ve been up and down. I can’t really explain what it is, how we can be so good one night and so bad the next, or even like today be so bad at the start of the game …”

Bender added: “It’s been a roller-coaster, I’ll tell you that much. It’s frustrating because we know how good we can be. Some nights we can play with any team in the league. On our off nights, we’re just awful. It’s upsetting.

“Once we score first, we keep on going from there. But we couldn’t get it done tonight.”

JUST NOTES: Referee Derek Zalaski gave the Blazers seven of 13 minors and one of two majors … Kelowna G Derek Yeomans made 19 saves … The Blazers are 24-6-1-2 when they score first and 8-25-1-0 when they don’t … Prince George D Andy Rogers (ankle) and D Jesse Dudas (leg) won’t play again this season. Rogers has had surgery, while Dudas is on medication that it’s hoped will release blood from his bruised thigh … The Seattle Thunderbirds have suspended Slovakian LW Roman Tomanek, 19. Tomanek, Seattle’s leading scorer with 42 points, has been sent home to Bystrica, Slovakia. Thunderbirds officials won’t comment publicly on the reason behind Tomanek’s suspension. His NHL rights belong to the Phoenix Coyotes.