kamloops - Kelowna

[scamperdog]

Speaking of which, and looking forward to the three tilts between the Rockets and the Blazers, does anybody think Kamloops can pull an upset and tak 4-5 points from Kelowna? Kelowna may be on a slump after a hard fought home and home with Vancouver. Although, this may just have pissed them off and they may wipe Kamloops. I am hoping for Kamloops to take some points from Kelowna...not only to put even MORE ground between the Rockets and the Giants, but to hopefully catch Prince George for the final playoff spot. I think of all the teams in the BC division, Prince George is the team Vancouver will NOT want to play the most...besides, they really seem to have the book on Dubnyk.

So...GO BLAZERS!!!!!! I would love nothing more than to see Vadekamp and his team choke, thus pitting Kootenay and Kelowna together in a possible frints round match up. To have one of these two teams defaulting out in the first round is nothing but good news for the Giants, and well...the WHL in general! wrote by giantfan71

[scamperdog]

]Speaking of which, and looking forward to the three tilts between the Rockets and the Blazers, does anybody think Kamloops can pull an upset and tak 4-5 points from Kelowna? Kelowna may be on a slump after a hard fought home and home with Vancouver. Although, this may just have pissed them off and they may wipe Kamloops. I am hoping for Kamloops to take some points from Kelowna...not only to put even MORE ground between the Rockets and the Giants, but to hopefully catch Prince George for the final playoff spot. I think of all the teams in the BC division, Prince George is the team Vancouver will NOT want to play the most...besides, they really seem to have the book on Dubnyk.

So...GO BLAZERS!!!!!! I would love nothing more than to see Vadekamp and his team choke, thus pitting Kootenay and Kelowna together in a possible frints round match up. To have one of these two teams defaulting out in the first round is nothing but good news for the Giants, and well...the WHL in general! wrote by giantfan71[/QUOTE]
yes it is very possible for kamloops to take 4to5 points if not all the points, so far this season Kelowna has only one win against the blazers, and that was a game were Dubnyk stood on his head but the other 19 players forgot there was a game. I can see your point of wanting to play the blazers rather than PG as the blazers just don't match up well against Vancouver, but for that to happen the blazers have to play there best hockey of the season and can only afford maybe two or three losses the rest of the way, if most of the remaining games were against Kelowna or Kootney well maybe we would have a better chance but we still have to face PG I believe three more times two of those in PG and like the Giants the blazers again don't match up well.
I think the only way Kam makes it this year is if PG or Kelowna fall apart and I for one don't like the odds of that happening

[Jovorock]

I hope the Rockets come out mad about losing two to the Giants. The only thing that gets me is Dubby loves to shine against the Rockets. The last time Dubby played Kelowna was before the WJ's and he was memrcy pulled after 60 shots and 4 goals against. He got a standing ovation from the Rocket fans that night.

Hopefully Kelowna can get all 6 points, wait and see?

[langdak]

Go Blazers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Beaner]

This should be the week that detirmns if Kamloops still has a shot at making the playoffs. Three tough games against Kelowna, PG playing thru the Eastern division, but still has 3 games in hand and a 4 point lead.

PG plays 4 games this week for a max of 8 points, by the end of the week it could be a 12 point lead for the Cougars, with 2 games in hand.

Blazers are going to need some help from the East, but more importantly are going to have to beat Kelowna in all 3 games this week to keep their hopes alive.

Kelowna should be pretty mad about losing 3 points to the Giants, and about having a losing record this year vs. Kamloops. It's also the Rockets chance to catch and pass Kootenay for 2nd.

I just dont see Kamloops pulling out more than 2 points this week from a mad and hungry Rockets team.

[scamperdog]

Well for fiftytwo minutes tonight the Blazers were by far the better hockey team, as for the second half of the first period I won't say we did not deserve most of what we got, but I thought there should of been some calls against the Rockets there to. As for the second and third we had chance after chance but you have to give full credit to Yeomans probaly Kelowna's best player on this night, the blazers come out on friday and play that way and we should get the two points. Again tonight the Blazers blow a chance to catch up to PG and now the Cougers magic number is 11.
Goals

1. KEL Keller, (40) (Bauer, Cuthbert), 3:43
1. KAM Tesliuk, (13) (Rome, Gutierrez), 11:57
1. KEL Spurgeon, (3) (Cumiskey, Card), 14:12 (PP)
1. KEL Edler, (9) (Comeau, Keller), 18:25 (PP)
1. KEL Cumiskey, (4) (Card, Ray), 18:56 (PP)
2. KEL MacRae, (4) (Bauer, Schenn), 3:03
2. KAM Nixon, (19) (Hayman, Bartley), 4:55 (PP)
2. KAM Nixon, (20) (Jorgensen), 18:28 (PP)
Penelties
1 - KAM Delaronde, 10:34 - Major-Fighting , 5 min
1 - KEL Ofukany, 10:34 - Major-Fighting , 5 min
1 - KAM Rome, 13:54 - Hooking , 2 min (PP)
1 - KAM Bartley, 14:33 - Roughing , 2 min (PP)
1 - KEL Howarth, 14:33 - Roughing , 2 min
1 - KAM Mulock, 14:33 - Roughing , 2 min
1 - KAM Bender, 16:31 - Cross Checking , 2 min
1 - KAM Bender, 16:31 - Roughing , 2 min (PP)
1 - KEL Bodie, 17:29 - Major-Fighting , 5 min
1 - KAM Gutierrez, 17:29 - Hooking , 2 min (PP)
1 - KAM Gutierrez, 17:29 - Major-Fighting , 5 min
1 - KAM Stretch, 17:29 - Bench - Coach , 2 min (PP)
1 - KAM Rome, 18:25 - Cross Checking , 2 min (PP)
1 - KAM Rome, 18:25 - 10-Minute Misconduct , 10 min
2 - KEL Howarth, 4:05 - Roughing , 2 min (PP)
2 - KAM Ellerby, 10:55 - Holding , 2 min (PP)
2 - KEL Cuthbert, 13:50 - Ob-Hooking , 2 min (PP)
2 - KEL Hill, 17:30 - Ob-Holding , 2 min (PP)
3 - KAM Dunstall, 2:27 - Hooking , 2 min (PP)
3 - KEL Howarth, 4:46 - Ob-Hold Opp. Stick , 2 min (PP)
3 - KEL Hill, 9:56 - Hooking , 2 min (PP)
3 - KEL Card, 10:55 - Cross Checking , 2 min (PP)
3 - KEL Spurgeon, 16:51 - High Sticking , 2 min (PP)
Three Stars
1. KEL - 22 Myles MacRae
2. KAM - 19 Brock Nixon
3. KEL - 31 Derek Yeomans

[Jovorock]

I thought the Blazers deserved all the penalties they got in the first, they gave away the game with chippy play. Kelowna got 6 of the last 7 penalties, so it pretty even!

With two fights in this game look for the next two games to pretty eventful.

[rinkrat]

That reffing was outta control.

[scamperdog]

by Gregg Drinnan www.kamloopsnews.ca

KELOWNA — The Kamloops Blazers got caught up in an age-old fool’s game on Tuesday night and, as usually happens to teams who end up in that situation, they lost.

The Blazers were stride-for-stride with the Kelowna Rockets for the first 13 minutes of a WHL game played before 6,078 fans at Prospera Place. But that was before the visitors became hung up — and not with admiration — in the work of referee Andy Thiessen.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in 10 years,” Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, said in the wake of what became a 5-3 setback. “Looking at the (Blazers’) bench and making the calls … making a point … that’s unbelievable.”

Clark was livid over penalties that Thiessen assessed at 14:33 of the first period with the Rockets leading 2-1. The play began with Kamloops defenceman Victor Bartley being hit inside the Kelowna line.

“Barts gets hit. He doesn’t have the puck. It’s interference,” Clark said, incredulity dripping from his voice like water off an icicle. “He says, ‘Call the interference, call the interference’. (Thiessen) is arguing with him and doesn’t see what’s happening there and ends up giving Barts a penalty because he’s arguing with him.

“They start the whole thing and we end up with a power play against us all because he’s mad because Barts questioned that he should have made a call.

“After that it was just one after another.”

If Clark was livid over that incident, he was incensed with Thiessen’s performance two minutes later as Kamloops defenceman Ryan Bender was nailed for cross-checking and roughing. Thiessen skated to the penalty box, made the call verbally to the scorekeeper, then turned, faced the Blazers’ bench and gave the indicators for both penalties, with a pregnant pause in between.

“Looking at the bench and making his calls … letting us know exactly what’s going on …,” Clark seethed. “I’ve never seen anything like that. In 10 years, I’ve never seen anything like that.”

With Thiessen a non-factor for 13 minutes — he worked as though he had left his whistle in the dressing room — the teams were tied 1-1. In the first period’s final 6:06, he hit the Blazers with eight of nine minors, something that presented the home side with the frame’s only six power plays.

The Rockets responded with three straight power-play goals, the last two coming on two-man advantages. They added a fifth goal at 3:03 of the second period when Kamloops goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who made 20 saves, fanned on a Myles MacRae snapshot.

Kamloops winger Brock Nixon, who scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season, said it’s hard not to get frustrated.

“You’re killing eight minutes of 5-on-3s,” Nixon said. “You can say on the bench, ‘We can’t worry about the ref, we can’t worry about the ref’ … It’s tough because it’s in your head but at the same time you can’t let it bother you too much.”

MacRae, with two, Tyler Spurgeon, Alexander Edler and Kyle Cumiskey scored for the Rockets. Roman Tesliuk had the Blazers’ other goal.

The Blazers outshot the Rockets 34-25, including 11-5 in the second period and 17-4 in the third.

“We weathered the storm,” said Kelowna head coach Jeff Truitt after the third-place Rockets (35-16-1-3) pulled to within a point of the idle Kootenay Ice. “They did a good job of keeping some pucks in that we turned over. (Goaltender Derek Yeomans) stood tall for us and made some real key saves.”

And in the end that four-goal deficit was too much for the Blazers to overcome, despite the fact that — with the exception of six minutes late in the first period — they were the better team.

“We definitely feel we were the better team,” offered Nixon. “We’ve got two more games with these guys and they know we mean business.”

“We were absolutely the better team,” Clark added. “We didn’t quit. We came back. We probably had more chances. We had chances but …”

These two teams will meet again Friday in Kamloops and then go at it back here again on Saturday night.

The Blazers (28-27-2-3) remain four points out of the B.C. Division’s final playoff spot, which is occupied by the Prince George Cougars, who lost 4-3 to the Pats in Regina last night. But the Kamloops loss means the Blazers’ tragic number now is 11 — any combination of Kamloops losses and Prince George victories totalling 11 and a playoff spot will be out of the Blazers’ reach. The Cougars are in Brandon tonight and in Moose Jaw on Friday.

JUST NOTES: The Blazers are 3-6 with Thiessen running the show. They have seen him more than they have any other referee … At 18:25 of the first period, Thiessen penalized Kamloops LW Ashton Rome for cross-checking, a penalty that should have gone to D Ryan White. When Thiessen, preparing to drop the puck at centre ice and with his back to the penalty box, heard a stick slam against the glass, he hit Rome with a misconduct … Veterans Rob Matsuoka and Chris Savage, likely the WHL’s best referees, didn’t work WHL games last night.

[scamperdog]

Blazers coach Dean Clark has been fined $500 and asst coach Ryan Thorpe has been fine $250 for stating that ref Andy Thiessen is the greatest ref ever to be in the game, Clark went as far to say that Thiessen had a vendetta against the Blazers, Clark is refusing to retract his statements