B.C. Division, Insight, U.S. Division

Don Hay hits 742 as Blazers take out Winterhawks 5-2

Written by Brandon Rivers on

There have many big wins in Kamloops Blazers Head Coach Don Hay’s career over the Portland Winterhawks. A certain playoff one with a big goal from Jarome Iginla comes to mind for one. Friday evening at the Sandman Centre, Hay got another one as his Blazers beat the visiting Portland Winterhawks 5-2, giving him 742 career wins in the WHL and tying him for the most all time with former Winterhawks bench boss Ken Hodge.

These days Hodge works behind the scenes as a consultant for the Hawks. He was head man for Portland from 1976-1993, the first 17 years of the franchise.

Hay has coached in the WHL since 1992, with some years off here and there for stints win the AHL and NHL. Despite the stints away from the team, Hay has a majority of his victories in the WHL with the Blazers.

In 1993, the one year that Hodge and Hay were both head coaches of Portland and Kamloops respectively, Hodge got the better of him as Portland beat Kamloops in five games in the Western Division Final.

Despite that loss, Hay could very well get one over Hodge in the WHL record books very soon. Tomorrow evening Kamloops hosts Hodge’s Portland team one more time, before heading down to the Rose City for another one on Sunday evening. 

Friday night, Jermain Loewen again scored a game-winning-goal against a team from the U.S. Division and added an empty netter to lead the way with two snipes. Dylan Ferguson also provided many big saves on his way to 30 saves on 32 shots.

In the first period, the teams traded power play goals. Connor Zary opened the scoring after he took a great cross-ice feed from Joe Gatenby and beat Portland goalie Cole Kehler up high before the former Blazers netminder could get across.

Skyler McKenzie answered later in the frame has deftly deflected a hard pass from Dennis Cholowski by Ferguson for his 36th goal this year.

In the middle frame the Blazers got a goal from Justin Sigrist, just his second ever in the WHL and they went up 2-1. Jermaine Loewen provided some needed insurance as he copied McKenzie and got a deflection from a similar angle by Kehler on  pass from Montana Onyebuchi to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.

Jake Gricius added another power play goal to get Portland close 4:12 into the third, but a one-timer from Quinn Benjafield and an empty netter from Loewen put this one away 5-2.

Kehler, who lost his first against Kamloops last year, before coming back with a shutout later in the year, stopped just 20 of 24.

Portland went 2/5 on the power play, while Kamloops was 1/2.

The two teams get right back it tomorrow at the Sandman Centre for their second in the season series.

Game Notes:

-Shepard got the extra two on the play for unsportsmanlike conduct.

-Kieffer Bellows and Cody Glass did not make the trip for Portland and appear to be out through the weekend.

-Seth Jarvis played in his ninth WHL game this year, well over the normal limit for 15-year-olds. The exception was made due to the injuries up front that Portland has battled through.

-With Everett beating Seattle on Friday, their lead in the U.S. Division shoots up to four points.