Kamloops -Prince George

[scamperdog]

Rank B.C. Division GP W L OTL SL PTS PCT GF GA STK P10 PIM

Kamloops 72 40 26 4 2 86 0.597 245 222 0-4-1-1 2-6-1-1483
Prince George 72 33 31 3 5 74 0.514 221 217 0-2-0-0 5-4-0-1438

Blazers have been in a slump since the end of January, right about the same time they clinched a playoff spot and and it was given that they would have home ice advantage,
Since that time the team has gone through Ellerby "I'm bigger than the team" syndrome, The injury bug that they had escaped from all season hit like a bad plague, and then the flue which some players and staff are just getting over,
The good news for this team is that it is looking like everybody should be healthy for the playoffs, other than Alex Rodgers who is done for the season. Now Blazer fans can hope that the team can get some of its chemistry back in practise this week and be ready to go friday.
On paper this series should be an easy one for the Cougars as they are a team coming in playing there best hockey of the season and are this is suppose to be "There Year", From what I have seen of them, they looked pretty bad the first part of the year, but as Seto got healthy and picked up his play so did the rest of the team, so with that being the case, I think it is clear who the Blazers have to focus on, they get him of his game then they win the series if they don,t then it will be over fast, after Seto I just don't see many other PG players being leaders, of course the same could be said about the Blazers with Jorgenson as he goes they go and over the past month no other players seemed to want to step into that roll.
Keys for Kamloops in this series are to get there forcheck back, all season long it was the edge in most of there wins.
The forwards have to do a better job of helping out the defence,
Jorgy, Nixon, Macias, have to step it up the rest of team will then follow
Butler needs to step it up, control rebounds when called upon
Kassian, Hall, Deloronde and Mason need to hit everything in sight, make sure PG players are looking over there shoulder
And finally what could be the biggest factor between these teams goes to PG and that is the boredom factor, as they are the most boring hockey team in the WHL to watch play, if they can come in and play that style of hockey in the first game, the crowd and Blazers will be done in the first period.Its up to the Blazers to keep things moving fast and that will get them to the second round.

[Cougar Guy]

Well, I'll kick it off . . . Cougars in 6.

Should be a fun series either way and hopefully it is hard hitting and full of emotion. Go Cats!!!!!

[Kamfan]

Two months ago I would've said Blazers in 4 (no exaggeration).
A month ago, Blazers in 5.
Two weeks ago, Blazers in 7.
But today, Cougars in 6.

Sad but true.

[Blades 4 Life!]

With Setoguchi playing really well, helped the cougars chances of making it further in the playoffs. If Seto doesn't produce numbers in the playoffs the cougars will go no where.

[scamperdog]

Wrist injury may keep Macias out www.kamloopsnews.ca
by Gregg Drinnan

The Kamloops Blazers and Prince George Cougars don’t open their first-round WHL playoff series until Friday.

But it’s safe to say the games are well underway.

According to the Blazers, defenceman Ray Macias has an “upper body injury” and that is about all that is being said.

What is known is that Macias, who led all WHL defencemen with 70 points, has his right wrist in a cast. He was injured during Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the host Thunderbirds when he and Seattle defenceman Benn Olson bumped in what apparently wasn’t even much of a collision. At the time, the Blazers thought Macias was only winded.

Now he is listed as day-to-day, although the buzz throughout the WHL is that the 20-year-old native of Long Beach, Calif., who is wrapping up his fourth season here, won’t play in this series.

If Macias can’t answer the bell — Games 1 and 2 in the best-of-seven affair go Friday and Saturday nights, 7 o’clock, at the Interior Savings Centre — Kamloops defencemen Victor Bartley and Keaton Ellerby will have to pick up their games another notch.

When Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, was asked Monday what he liked down the club’s tepid stretch drive, he replied: “One of the best things was the play of Keaton Ellerby. . . . he will be our player of the month for March.

“His play really improves our team.”

With the Calgary Hitmen here March 2, Clark took Ellerby out of the lineup because of undisciplined play. Since then, Clark said, Ellerby has been much improved.

However, Macias is a right-hand shot, something that is key on the power play, which he quarterbacks. If he can’t play, right-winger Sasha Golin, a right-hand shot with power-play experience with the Portland Winter Hawks, may get some time at one point.

“It will also be good to have our power-play unit back together,” Clark added, noting that forwards Reid Jorgensen, Brock Nixon and Juuso Puustinen haven’t been in the lineup at the same time “for more than three weeks.”

“And,” Clark added, “all three are 100 per cent for the first time in a long time.”

The Blazers will keep defencemen Kurt Torbohm and Joel Woznikoski with them through this week. But they aren’t able to bring in defenceman Mark Schneider, whose midget AAA Brandon Wheat Kings are involved in a semifinal series with the Winnipeg Wild. Brandon leads the best-of-five series 2-1 with Game 4 tonight.

Meanwhile, Prince George defenceman Jesse Dudas, who had 29 points in 32 games, may be having problems with a leg. Injuries limited him to 24 games last season and hampered him again this season. He didn’t make the Cougars’ last road swing, a three-game that wrapped up in Kelowna on Saturday.

The club said he was suffering from the flu. But the injury list on the WHL website shows Dudas as being day-to-day with a leg injury. However, there also are reports that Dudas went home to Edmonton on the weekend, perhaps to see a doctor, and that he hadn’t returned by Monday.

Also missing from the Cougars’ practice yesterday were centres Nick Drazenovic and Evan Fuller, both of whom were said to have the flu.

The Cougars also left winger Kyle Klym at home with what they said was the flu. But the WHL injury list shows Klym, who didn’t practise yesterday, as having a charley horse.

JUST NOTES: The Blazers spent part of Monday morning with retired Paralympian Kelly Smith. In the afternoon, the players did some video work and also had an off-ice workout. They will be back on the ISC ice this morning at 10. . . . Kamloops RW Tyler Shattock was ill again Monday but is expected to practise today.

[old_time_hockey]

I went with Cougs in 5.

With Ellerby AWOL, Macias HUGE ?, Butler is in the dumps.

Kraus and Bartley seem to do nothing but take penalites these days. It has just been crazy what happened to the Blazers this season.

[scamperdog]

Playoffs a day away and Blazers get hit with major loss



MACIAS OUT FOR REMAINDER OF SEASON

KAMLOOPS, BC – The Kamloops Blazers have lost the services of defenseman Ray Macias for the duration of the 2007 WHL playoffs due to a fractured scaphoid bone in his wrist.

The injury occurred on March 14th in Seattle. A final determination on the injury came today upon consultation with a specialist.

Macias recorded 30 goals and 70 points for the Blazers this year and led all WHL defensemen in points in the 2006-07 regular season.

[Sput]

Huge blow for the Blazers. At any other time of year fans and players alike will say 'injuries are just an excuse', but lets be realistic here. Macias is a huge player for the Blazers, so with him out, Jorgenson still pretty rusty after surgery, and the other dings and bangs the team has, it is a major factor.

Taking any top one or two players out of any team's lineup, at this time of year especially, is rough. We wait and see how things go, and it alllll starts tonight.
nhl

[scamperdog]

By GREGG DRINNAN www.blazerhockey.com
Daily News Sports Editor

On the eve of the WHL playoffs, Sasha Golin had a few words of advice for his teammates.

Golin and the Kamloops Blazers entertain the Prince George Cougars tonight and Saturday at the Interior Savings Centre in Games 1 and 2 of a best-of-seven first-round series. Game time both nights is 7 o'clock.

With 18 playoff games under his belt, all of them with the Portland Winter Hawks, Golin, a right winger, knows of what he speaks.

"One thing I can explain is that it's a completely different season," Golin said after Thursday's practice. "Playoffs . . . it's like something clicks. It's that intensity, that do or die . . . every game is your last. Every puck, every play . . . it's your life on the line.

"To the guys who didn't make playoffs last year and some of the younger guys, if I could express anything, it's 'Be prepared.' And don't get too high. If you win, you can't go into the next game being too high. If you lose, you can't be too low. You have to have an even keel.

"It's the best time of the year. I can't wait." Golin, an 18-year-old from Summerland who is in his third WHL season, is being asked to play a key role against the Cougars.

The Blazers' coaching staff knows that if the club is to have success in this series, it is going to have to stop the Cougars' line that features Chris Durand, Jared Walker and the high-flying Devin Setoguchi, whom the San Jose Sharks picked with the eighth selection of the NHL's 2005 draft.

In response, at least in home games where they enjoy the last change, the Blazers are expected to unleash a checking line comprising Brady Mason between Terrance Delaronde and Golin. Defencemen Ryan Bender and Ryan White will be used as the home team's shutdown pairing, as they have been over the last couple of months.

It is of interest that all six of those forwards came to their present teams from other organizations.

Setoguchi (Saskatoon Blades), Walker (Red Deer Rebels) and Durand (Seattle Thunderbirds) were acquired by Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson via the trade route. The Blazers picked up Delaronde (Regina Pats) and Mason (Everett Silvertips) after they had been released. Golin came over from Portland in January, in exchange for centre Matt Schmermund.

"I pride myself on being a pretty fast guy," Golin said. "I take time and space away with my speed. I'm not going to clutch and grab. If (Setoguchi) sees he has time, that's where he is most effective. Being on Setoguchi is definitely a key here." Golin said the game plan will be to take time and space away from Setoguchi, who torched the Blazers for 15 points in eight games.

"His type of player . . . he's very offensive and very talented," Golin said. "You can't give him time and hopefully we'll shut him down." With high-scoring defenceman Ray Macias (broken scaphoid in right wrist) finished for the season, Golin also may see some time on one point on the Kamloops power play. Golin, like Macias, is a right-hand shot; Golin also has some point experience from his time in Portland.

Golin said it doesn't matter where he plays, or what role he is asked to fill.

"We know we're wanting to do anything to win," he said. "I don't care if it's a scorer or (checking) role. The fans see the scorers go out and do whatever, but it's the other things . . . hopefully, we can shut down that key line. I know that if we get them frustrated our other lines are going to pick it up and score for us." At the same time, the Blazers know they have to play within themselves, especially without Macias, who led all WHL defencemen with 70 points.

"The simpler you keep things when you're a guy short, the easier it is to play," offered defenceman Keaton Ellerby. Dean Clark, the Blazers' general manager and head coach, has said Ellerby was his team's best player for the last couple of weeks, ever since he was benched for a March 2 visit by the Calgary Hitmen.

"I've been trying to keep it simple and limit the little mistakes that I was making earlier," Ellerby said. "I'm just trying to play hard and keep things simple." He will continue to try to play that way, knowing full well that without Macias in the lineup it's important no one tries to do too much.
Ellerby said he also is expecting this series to be physical.

"It's going to be a battle for sure," he said. "They don't mind playing physical and we obviously love playing physical. It's going to be a good series." And as a potential first-round selection in the NHL's 2007 draft, Ellerby has as much, if not more, riding on this spring's playoffs than anyone. The longer the Blazers play, the better it could be for him.

"I'm expecting good things for us," added Ellerby. "Everybody's feeling really well and has a good feeling about it."

=====

So . . . just how are other hockey people looking at the first-round WHL playoff series between the Kamloops Blazers and Prince George Cougars that opens tonight at the Interior Savings Centre?

With Kelowna not having qualified for the playoffs, Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier asked Rockets head coach Jeff Truitt and assistants Ryan Huska and Kim Dillabaugh, along with play-by-play man Regan Bartel, to predict the outcome of the series.

Truitt: Kamloops isn't going into the playoffs on a big high. Still, with guys like Reid Jorgensen and Brock Nixon, and if (goaltender) Dustin Butler gets on his game, I like Kamloops. Blazers in six.

Huska: Prince George in six. The Cougars have been playing some very good hockey lately and the Blazers aren't.

Dillabaugh: Prince George in six. The Cougars have had good success lately, and their power play is dangerous. When it comes down to it, Prince George's power play will be the deciding factor.

Bartel: Cougars in six. The Blazers' 12-game winless streak on the road to end the season has me siding with Prince George. The first-round playoff curse in Kamloops will continue. The Blazers missed the playoffs last season. Prior to that they've been a first-round casualty six years running.

Potenteau: Blazers in six, though during the weekend I was leaning to Cougars in five. Why the change? Kamloops has a big edge in coaching, and, in a nutshell, I’m picking Jorgensen's grit over the skill of Devin Setoguchi.

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And here's how Greg Harder, who covers the WHL and the Regina Pats for the Regina Leader-Post, sees it: Kamloops wasn't supposed to be this good.

Prince George was supposed to be better. The Blazers played poorly down the stretch. The Cougars finally appear to be hitting their stride. Put it all together and you have an upset, right? Wrong. Crafty head coach Dean Clark gives Kamloops the edge. Blazers in seven.

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In practice this week, the Blazers had Travis Dunstall playing on the left wing with centre Brock Nixon and right-winger Juuso Puustinen.

That line showed some spark early in the season and the trio combined for seven points in a 5-2 victory over the visiting Swift Current Broncos on Oct. 9. Puustinen had two goals, Dunstall had two assists, and Nixon had a goal and two helpers.

After that game, Dunstall was suspended for two games and sent home for a week for being in violation of an undisclosed team rule.

Since then, the three rarely have played together.

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The Blazers had three players named to the Western Conference all-star team that was announced by the WHL yesterday.

Defenceman Ray Macias was selected to the first team, alongside Cody Franson of the Vancouver Giants.

Centres Reid Jorgensen and Brock Nixon are two of the three forwards on the second team.

This is the first time the Blazers have been represented on the conference's first all-star team since centre Erik Christensen was selected after the
2002-03 season.

The complete all-star teams are in Scoreboard.

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Three hours after the all-star teams were announced, the Blazers revealed that Macias won't play again this season.

The WHL's top-scoring defenceman suffered a broken scaphoid in his right wrist on March 14. He saw a specialist yesterday morning and the decision was made that his season was over.

As Macias is 20, it also means the end of his four-year WHL career.

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[Beaner]

Huge blow for Kamloops.

I didnt like their odds going into this series, with their play of late, and without Macias, I like it even less.

Cougars in 6.