The Blazers closed out their opening preseason weekend with a 5-3 win against the Kelowna Rockets, earning them back-to-back victories after beating the Victoria Royals 9-1 on Saturday.
Sunday’s game was a much more balanced attack against Kelowna, as all four lines chipped into the offence. Reese Belton, Connor Zary, Kyrell Sopotyk, Tye Spencer, and Josh Pillar all found the back of the net on Sunday night.
In goal: Rayce Ramsay started the night off, stopping 11-of-14 shots in just over 31 minutes of work. Dylan Ernst came in to replace Ramsay and stopped all 17 shots. Including his performance against Victoria, Ernst stopped all 27 shots he faced on the weekend in just under 59 minutes of game time.
On defence: Quinn Schmiemann, Ethan Brandwood, and Sean Strange were replaced by Luke Zazula, Inaki Baragano, and Montana Onyebuchi. Baragano looked very comfortable under pressure and had few issues breaking out of the zone.
Logan Bairos was one of three defensemen to suit up in both weekend games. Bairos tallied a primary assist on the game-winning goal after dangling into the offensive zone and setting up Tye Spencer for a tap-in.
Following Sunday’s outing, head coach Shaun Clouston had some pretty high praise for 16-year-old Bairos: “He’s having a great showing so far. He looks confident with the puck, he’s got good skills, excellent vision, and he seems to really understand what we’re trying to do.”
Up front: Martin Lang, Kyrell Sopotyk, Connor Zary, Brodi Stuart, and Josh Pillar all had their first taste of preseason action after watching from the stands the previous night.
Lang had a brief layover back home after representing his national team in Russia. The Czech Republic native then flew into Kamloops on Thursday, picked up his equipment the following day, and dressed for Sunday’s game against Kelowna. Lang now has a few days to get re-familiarized with his Kamloops surroundings before flying to Carolina on Thursday for the Hurricanes rookie camp.
For the Rockets, the line of Liam Kindree, Michael Farren, and Deegan Mofford dominated puck possession and combined for four points in the game.
A few notable differences:
While Kelowna dressed 11 rookies, only one was wearing a cage — a stark contrast to Victoria’s bench that looked more like a bantam team than a WHL team on Saturday evening.
You might think that more on-ice officials would result in more penalties, but the two extra linesmen on Sunday’s game resulted in — count it — 20 fewer penalties than the previous contest.
Next up:
The Blazers are back at the Sandman Centre on Friday, September 6th, when the Prince George Cougars come into town for an afternoon game.
