KAMLOOPS 8 - VICTORIA 4
A change of scenery on other side of the border seems to have worked wonders for Luke Toporowski in the Western Hockey League.
The 20-year-old American forward from Iowa is thriving in his new Blazers colours in Kamloops. Toporowski has eight goals and 10 points in the five games since being sent midway through his fifth season with the Spokane Chiefs to Kamloops in a WHL deadline trade this month.
He scored twice as the Blazers defeated the Victoria Royals 8-4 Saturday night in Kamloops. That followed his two goals in Friday’s 6-1 Blazers win over the Royals.
The Blazers (27-11-1), ranked No. 10 in the CHL top-10 poll, extended their win streak to five games. The Royals (12-23-5) are simply trying to stay above the water line. Victoria, which has yet to win in 2022, had its winless streak extended to 11 games. The Island side is 0-7-1 against the Blazers this season.
Kamloops was able to get Toporowski, Spokane’s leading goal scorer and now with 23 on the season, because the Chiefs are at the foot of the Western Conference table and are building for the future. Spokane received a second-round selection in the 2025 WHL prospects draft in exchange from Kamloops, which has championship aspirations for this year and figured Toporowski gives them that edge to push them over the top.
“Luke has been an outstanding Chief both on and off the ice,” Spokane GM Scott Carter said in a statement.
“It’s always hard to trade key players on your roster and Luke’s leadership and tenacity will be hard to replace. We wish him the best in Kamloops.”
That was after Spokane traded its captain and second-round Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick Jack Finley to the championship-minded Winnipeg Ice for two younger forwards and a second-round WHL prospects draft selection.
The Royals, like Spokane are a lowly team in the Western Conference, but Victoria did not pull the trigger at the trade deadline to unload veterans and stock up for the future with high WHL draft picks.
Meanwhile, Dallas Stars-signed second-round NHL draft pick and Canadian junior national team forward Logan Stankoven scored a hat trick for Kamloops on Saturday. Brayden Schuurman, the 58th ranked North American skater for the 2022 NHL draft, scored his 22nd goal for Victoria while Bailey Peach notched his club-leading 25th, both on the power play, while Carter Briltz and blueliner Ryan Spizawka with his first of the season scored the other goals.
The Blazers’ Canadian junior national team goaltender Dylan Garand, the Langford product and New York Rangers-signed prospect, was given the night off as back-up Dylan Ernst made 20 saves for the victory. Royals Tyler Palmer and Campbell Arnold faced a combined 55 shots, the second consecutive night in which the Blazers unloaded 50-plus shots on Victoria.
The only upside on the night for Victoria is that the Chiefs beat the Tri-City Americans 5-4 to keep the Royals one point ahead of the Americans in the race for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference although the Americans retain three games in hand.
It was the Royals’ 10th game in 16 days. They will get nearly a week off before going to Everett to meet the Western Conference-leading Silvertips next Friday before facing the Blazers at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre next Saturday and Sunday.
