After having two points in the bag on Friday, moving on to Saturday was a must. The Victoria Royals were in town and anytime a divisional rival comes to the Sandman Centre the intensity is ramped up.
The Kamloops Blazers opened the scoring just over a minute in when 20-year-old captain Jermaine Loewen scored his 17th of the season giving the home team an early 1-0 lead.
Victoria was able to tie the game, and then early in the 3rd period take a 2-1 lead. Defenceman Ralph Jarrat scored his 4th of the season and the Royals were up 2-1.
With less than a minute left in the game, Loewen found himself battling in front of the net when he potted his second of the game sending the game to overtime.
There were plenty of chances to finish the game in overtime but neither team could find the back of the net and a shootout was on tap.
Goaltender Dylan Ferguson stopped both Victoria shots, while Kamloops was able to beat Brock Gould twice, first off the stick of Orrin Centazzo, and then Zane Franklin ended the game securing the two points, four of a possible four on the weekend so far, for the Blazers.
Moving onto Sunday evening less than 20 hours later and 500 km’s south the Blazers find themselves in Kent, Washington to take on the Seattle Thunderbirds.
If Saturday nights game was considered a big one, then this one was massive. Kamloops came into this game one point up on the Thunderbirds for the final playoff spot in the West.
Seattle, like Kamloops, played Saturday night but they played much closer to home in Portland.
As was to be expected from a team that travelled on a bus all night, the Blazers came out flat. The Thunderbirds scored the first two goals before Kamloops’ Zane Franklin scored his 23rd of the season.
Seattle scored the next two goals to extend their lead to 4-1. Near the end of the 2nd period, Kamloops was given a glorious opportunity to get back into the game when the referees handed them three straight 5-on-3 power plays.
The Blazers capitalised on one of the two-man advantages, off the stick of Connor Zary. Kamloops wouldn’t be able to find the scoresheet again in this one, losing 5-2.
Dylan Garand is credited with the loss, while Roddy Ross picked up his 5th win of the season.
With the loss, the Blazers fell one point back of the Thunderbirds and three back of the Kelowna Rockets for 3rd in the BC Division.
Kamloops is back at the Sandman Centre on Wednesday to take on the Vancouver Giants before Prince George comes to town on Friday. Next Saturday sees the Blazers head to enemy territory for two huge points in Kelowna.
