Games played: 63
Record: 41-18-3-1
B.C. Division: (1st)
0.683 win percentage (4th)
271 goals for (1st)
166 goals against (4th)
Powerplay: 26.7 percent (2nd)
Penalty kill: 83.3 percent (3rd)
All aboard the hype train
Can you blame them for getting excited? 16-year old rookie and hometown kid, Logan Stankoven, led the WHL preseason in scoring with 15 points. The Blazers, icing a veteran-laden lineup, went undefeated in their seven preseason games.
That, of course, was followed up by an opening-weekend record of 0-3, all against U.S. Division opponents.
September 25
General manager Matt Bardsley then swung a deal with the Saskatoon Blades to acquire 20-year old forward Ryan Hughes. Wouldn’t ya know it, Hughes’ debut on September 27th was a sparkler. The Edmonton, Alta. native scored twice including the overtime marker to give the Blazers their first win of the season.
October 4
After a rough opening weekend, the Blazers responded with three wins in four games before picking up another 20-year old — Max Martin.
Martin — who went the distance with the Prince Albert Raiders a year prior — bolstered the defensive group while enjoying a career-best season in many categories.
Blazing into 2020
After a 6-1 streak to close out the month of October, the Blazers entered a hectic 13-game stretch in November. The results? Not too shabby: an 8-4-0-1 record put them on solid ground in the B.C. Division.
The Blazers kicked off December with an Eastern road trip that consisted of six games in nine nights. Suspensions and world junior call ups couldn’t get in the way of a successful trip that saw the team collect 10 of a possible 12 points.
Back-to-back losses at the end of December did not sit well with the team. With 12 games and 24 points on the line in the month of January, the Blazers lost just once in regulation, collecting 21 points while outscoring their opponents 63-21 during that stretch.
Needless to say, January had its share of highlights. A 12-3 victory over the Tri-City Americans comes to mind, but a home-and-home sweep of the Kelowna Rockets was a weekend that won’t be soon forgotten.
January 10-11
After scoring a decisive 4-1 victory over the Rockets on the 10th, the Blazers traveled down the highway to Kelowna for round two and hostilities were renewed. The two squads had a combined 234 penalty minutes, highlighted by a rare goalie fight between Dylan Garand and Roman Basran.
The fallout from the line brawl included a $3,000 fine for the Rockets and a $1,500 fine for the Blazers, while Rockets’ defenseman Kaedan Korczak was suspended three games.
Garand goes down, Stankoven goes up
February saw some tough sledding for the orange, white and blue. An injury to Garand coincided with five consecutive losses, all against B.C. Division opponents, but it wasn’t all bad news.
Looking back on his preseason success, it seemed like only a matter of time until Stankoven broke out in his first full WHL campaign. Exactly that occurred in February when the hometown kid went on a seven-game goal-scoring streak. Stankoven scored 11 goals over that stretch including a four-goal performance against Victoria on February 15th.
Stankoven’s 29 goals put him in a tie with Rob Brown — the organization’s all-time leader in points — for most goals scored by a 16-year old Blazer in a single season. Those 29 goals also tied 18-year old Michal Teply of the Winnipeg Ice for this season’s lead among rookies.
After those five straight losses, the Blazers rebounded with a 9-2 record to finish the shortened season as B.C. Division Champions.
With the regular season and playoffs now canceled, we would like to acknowledge the efforts of all the players, staff, fans and volunteers who — despite the difficult circumstances — made this season a special one.
DUBNetwork will be taking a deeper look into the individuals that were responsible for the on-ice success in Kamloops during this abbreviated season. Stay tuned, and stay safe!
