British Columbia’s SouthWest Coast — known for its mild temperatures and scenic destinations — provided a rather hostile environment for a certain group of visitors from its interior.
Heading into a crucial stretch of three games in three nights — all against B.C. Division opponents that are in the thick of the playoff picture — the Blazers knew they were in for a test. That test did not go as planned for the Dylan Garand-less Blazers, as they dropped back-to-back games against Victoria before losing 7-3 to the Vancouver Giants on Sunday evening.
For game recaps, Ryan Sinclair has you covered for both Friday and Saturday, while Stephen Hawco will have Sunday’s on DUBNetwork shortly.
The bad news: Kamloops is on a season-high five-game losing streak, the status of goaltender Dylan Garand remains unclear and the Vancouver Giants are hotter than a Carolina Reaper.
The good news: The Blazers still have a six-point lead over the Royals in the B.C. Division. After they started the season 0-3, they won nine of the next 10 games, so we know they respond well to adversity. That leads us to one last item which, hopefully, reveals the team’s growth and maturity. Last season’s squad had two four-game losing streaks, two six-game losing streaks and one seven-game losing streak. In my humble opinion, not very good.
Up until this point, the season-opening three-game losing streak was the team’s longest. Two of those games were decided by one goal, the other decided by Roddy Ross’ 51-save performance in Seattle.
On the current losing-streak, the Blazers collected a point in their overtime defeat to the Giants before losing their next three games by a single goal. If you were unable to watch or listen to last night’s game in Vancouver, the game was tied at 3-3 in the third period before Tyler Preziuso’s power-play marker opened the floodgates. All this to say, the Blazers aren’t exactly getting the doors blown off them, but they are giving up points to the wrong opponents.
The B.C. Division has puzzled many people this season (myself included) and made downright fools of others (me again), but this past weekend, everyone was validated in their pre-season prognoses: this is a really, really tough division.
Victoria is on a 3-0-0-1 streak without starting goaltender Shane Farkas, 20-year-old defenceman Will Warm and 19-year-old Sean Gulka. After a dawdling start to the season, the Giants have won six straight and now sit six points above Kelowna for third in the division.
The Blazers’ early-season success rewarded them with an 11-point lead over Victoria not weeks ago. After having played eight of the last nine games in their division, the Blazers remain on top but the gap has closed.
Of the 16 games remaining on the Blazers’ calendar, 10 are on home ice, and if these past couple weeks are any indication, “playoff-type” hockey will be in Kamloops much earlier than April.
In the meantime, the Blazers will take a much-needed break before preparing for a Valentine’s night matchup against the Red Deer Rebels.
