With two goals in the first period against the Regina Pats, Orrin Centazzo and the Blazers didn’t look back. Centazzo scored at the eight-and 13-minute marks of the period for a lead Kamloops did not relinquish in a convincing 4-2 road win.
“It takes a lot of work playing against a team with that kind of skill,” said Pats head coach Dave Struch postgame. “That skill over there worked really hard tonight.
“When skill works hard, it’s hard for a group of guys like us who pride themselves on work ethic, to keep up. So we needed more and we just didn’t have it tonight,”
“Not enough big dogs playing like big dogs for us” – Pats coach Dave Struch on Wednesday’s game versus Kamloops.
(Photo – Keith Hershmiller)
The Pats were unable to get on the board until Nikita Sedov got a wrist shot past Blazers netminder Dylan Garand with 5:50 left in the second period.
Struch alluded to the tough night offensively.
“There were opportunities that we had tonight to create secondary offense” he said. “We were getting first opportunities. We didn’t get second opportunities.”
Blazers rookie Logan Stankoven restored the two-goal lead just three minutes later with his 10th goal of the season.
Kamloops controlled most of the play in the third period, out-shooting the Pats 16-4. The Blazers added an empty-net goal late.
One of the few bright spots for the Pats was Caiden Daley scoring his first of the season. It came after the empty-net goal and may have been a meaningless goal in the game, but it meant much more to Daley.
“It felt pretty good,” he said. “It was a huge monkey off the back for sure. It felt more like a piano honestly.”
(Photo – Keith Hershmiller)
Despite not scoring all season with either Brandon or Regina, Daley has been staying positive.
“I feel like I’ve been confident with the puck,” he said. “I’ve been trying to work as much as I can with my linemates and I felt really good. I felt like I was trying to do my best as much as I can and make things happen.”
“He gets lots of opportunities because of the speed,” Struch said. “Hopefully this gets him going.”
Max Paddock continued his solid play. He held the Pats in the game, stopping 43 of 46 shots. Struch was complimentary of Paddock’s game, but there were other guys who weren’t playing as well as expected.
“Our best players weren’t there tonight,” the coach said. “We needed them to be better for us to have a chance, especially when Max is playing as well as he has been. He played good again tonight for us. Not enough big dogs playing like big dogs for us.”
Pats Stats…The visiting team has now won eight games in a row between these two teams. The last home win was for the Pats on December 11, 2011…Dylan Garand made 21 saves on 23 shots…Zane Franklin collected three assists. He leads the Blazers with 46 points…Orrin Centazzo now has 17 goals in 31 games. That’s one shy of his output last year in 68 games…Austin Pratt saw his five-game point streak come to an end…Kamloops’ power play was 1-for-3. Regina’s was 0-for-2, ending their seven-game power-play goal streak in games when they received a power-play opportunity…The Pats face the Memorial Cup host Kelowna Rockets on Friday evening. They then entertain the Winnipeg ICE on Sunday before heading into the Christmas break.
