For the Townsman Wednesday
Ice douse Blazers 7-3, win fourth straight on the road
by Jeff Bromley
When the Kootenay Ice embarked on their nine-game road trip, scoring goals was starting to become a problem.
Four games into the trip through the BC Division, four wins and 22 goals later – including a 7-3 drubbing of the Kamloops Blazers Wednesday night – putting the puck in the net suddenly isn’t a problem.
16-year-old Sam Reinhart led the Ice with a goal and three assists for his second four-point night of the road trip and 12 points in his last four games. “We don’t have a whole lot of offensive super stars but we certainly have some quality players who are capable of putting the points up and (Sam) is certainly doing just that,” said Ice head coach Kris Knoblauch after the win. “Right now we’re starting to find some chemistry and part of the biggest thing is that we’re starting to have some confidence when we shoot the puck.”
Billed as the battle of two of the WHL’s marquis clubs, Knoblauch cautioned any thoughts that the game was an easy win, despite the score. “The score flattered us,” he said. “It’s wasn’t a 7-3 game. We were able to capitalize on our opportunities while their goaltender didn’t play very well. But if Nathan Lieuwen doesn’t play as well as he did in the first period, it’s a completely different game.”
The Ice opened the scoring in the first with the club on an extended power play courtesy of Blazer 20-year-old D-man Josh Caron’s flying elbow to the head of Ice leading scorer Max Reinhart that earned him a five minute major and a game misconduct. The five minute power play generated little through the first four minutes until Sam continued his torrid point pace of late with a slapshot that Drew Czerwonka deflected down and through the legs of Blazer goaltender Cole Cheveldave. “We went through the first three or four minutes of that power play sleeping but we capitalized at the end of it. Throughout the road trip we haven’t a lot of opportunities on the power play,” continued Knoblauch, whose club was 4-7 on the power play over the last three games. “Tonight we won the game largely because of it.”
The lead didn’t last the period however as the Blazers tied it on a nice redirection by rookie Tim Bozon past Ice starter Nathan Lieuwen off a Blazer rush at 14:23.
A chippy affair for two clubs who meet just once a season the Blazers ended up on the wrong side of the penalty box in the first minute of the second period. With Brendan Ranford sent off for goaltender interference Jesse Ismond took advantage and notched his 10th on the season to put the Ice up 2-1.
And then the floodgates opened.
Max Reinhart’s 12th of the season, again on the power play, at 4:57 gave the Ice a 3-1 lead and the momentum swung completely into Kootenay’s favour as off the face-off three minutes later Ismond sprung Dylen McKinley on a breakaway in which the 19-year-old buried a wrist shot past Cheveldave, chasing the Blazer starter from the net in the process.
The goaltending change didn’t change much as the goalfest continued with back-up Cam Lanigan in the net for the Blazers as Sam notched his 7th goal of the season at 12:29. Two minutes later Brock Montogmery got his 5th on another breakaway just 31 seconds before Joe Antilla made it 7-1, scoring three goals in less than three minutes and sending Lanigan back to the bench after only 7:23 of work.
Brendan Ranford and Bronson Maschmeyer would score for the Blazers in the third but the damage was done.
Tonight’s line-up change featured Elgin Pearce sitting out his game as the fourth veteran of six to miss a game due to a violation of team rules prior to the trip but throughout the line-up juggling with key veterans missing, the club hasn’t missed a beat. “As a coach, it’s easy to juggle the lines when everyone is playing well. We have so many guys playing with confidence and that want to make an impact that it doesn’t really matter who’s playing with who. They’ve all responded.”
The Ice improve to 17-5-1-2 and 37 points on the season, good for first in the Central Division and tied for top spot with the Saskatoon Blades in the Eastern Conference and the WHL.
Quick Hits – Scratched for the Ice were D Jeff Hubic (healthy), LW Eric Benoit (upper body – one week) and C Elgin Pearce (one game suspension – team discipline)… Joe Antilla (goal, assist), Drew Czerwonka (goal, assist), Jesse Ismond (goal, two assists) and Dylen McKinley (goal, assist) all had a multiple-point night… Kootenay was 3-4 on the power play while the Blazers were 2-4… 17-year-old Aspen Sterzer, a forward for the Blazers, hails from Canal Flats… The Ice finish up the first leg of the nine game road trip with game five in Kelowna Friday night.
5 comments:
Wasn't at any of the 4 games but it sounded like teams are starting to target our goaltenders?? Very little called for pentalties on this road trip. Congrats to the guys for the success thus far.
I came to the same conclusion, at least when Lieuwen is playing.
Oh yes sucha big conspiracy. LOL
I was at the game in Vancouver and have seen many games in my time but that was by far one of the dirtiest games Ive seen, at least when it comes to how an opponent treats a goaltender. Lieuwen was run several times, and severely knocked over twice. And Gallaghers blatant slap shot well after the whistle was lucky not to catch an unexpected Lieuwen under the mask in the throat. He got the unprotected glove hand of the blocker on it but still, a shot like that is an attempt at injury. For a goaltender with a concussion history, Lieuwen has bulked up and as a 20 is stronger than and able to push most guys around. I commend dirk for jumping on Makin after he ran Lieuwen, but we need more protection, at least on this trip.
No conspiracy, but cheap shots on any player are anything but LOL.
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