The Kamloops Blazers have completely dominated the Prince George Cougars this season, winning all five matchups against PG so far and outscoring the Cougars 17-8. Kamloops has only trailed for a total of 15:58 of game time.
This sixth matchup of the season started the same way with Kamloops – wearing their Don Cherry kidney foundation jerseys {with their nicknames instead of their given names on the back} – jumping out to a two-goal lead in the 1st period.
Just over the halfway mark of the first period Kyrell “Sopo” Sopotyk tipped a shot past Cougar’s top prospect goaltender Taylor Gauthier giving the Blazers a 1-0 lead.
Kamloops continued their control of the play, scoring again, with 25 seconds left in the first frame. Orrin “OC” Centazzo buried his 13th of the season. Both linemates Zane “Frankie” Franklin and Brodi “Stewie” Stuart were given assists.
Early in the second period, Prince George was rewarded for their hard work with their third power play of the game. They failed to score on the first two, but were successful on this occasion. Vladislav Mikhalchuk scored his 18th of the season when he banked the puck off the back of goaltender Dylan Ferguson, cutting the Kamloops lead to one.
The third period came quickly as the remainder of the second period went pretty much without incident. Kamloops then restored their two-goal lead when Stuart broke in off the left side beating Gauthier with a quick wrister.
“I was very happy to see Stewie get rewarded for his hard work. He’s been such a consistent worker for us dating back to training camp. It was a big goal for us, it allowed us to breathe a bit,” said Head Coach Serge Lajoie.
With a little under two minutes left the Cougars had little choice to pull Gauthier but it was to no avail. Sopotyk buried his second of the game; this one from his own end salting this one away by a score of 4-1.
This win makes six straight for the Blazers over the team from the Northern capital. Stuart was asked after the game what Grapes (Don Cherry) would have to say about their win ” Great Job, a couple of good old Canadian boys doing the job well.”
Kamloops moves on to face the Rockets in Kelowna tomorrow night, Stuart knows that if they want the two points it’s important to start fast. “We really gotta come out flying off the start, we need to play 60 minutes, I think when we are doing that we play our best games, we can’t let off on a period.”
NICKNAMES
Dylan Garand – Woody
Dylan Ferguson – Fergy
Montana Onyebuchi – Booch
Sean Strange – Dr. Strange
Luke Zazula – Zaz
Josh Pillar – Pills
Logan Stankoven – Stanky
Travis Walton – Wally
Kyrell Sopotyk – Sopo
Zane Franklin – Frankie
Brodi Stuart – Stewie
Connor Zary – Zar
Orrin Centazzo – OC
Jerzy Orchard – Orch
Martin Lang – Marty
Quinn Schimemann – Schmiems
Jermaine Loewen – J-Train
Jackson Caller – Jacko
Jonas Sillanpaa – Silly
Kobe Mohr – Mohrsey
BLAZING ALONG
Kamloops’ record moves to 20-25-3-1, good for 44 points placing them tied with Seattle for the final Wildcard spot and one point back of Kelowna for third in the BC divison. A win in Kelowna tomorrow night and the Blazers will find themselves back in the playoffs.
ATTENDANCE CONTEST
Announced attendance was 3417 and with a guess of 3456 @Everetts_Spot wins!
3456
— Mike Wilson (@Everetts_Spot) February 2, 2019
