KAMLOOPS 6
VICTORIA 4
(Blazers lead series 2-0)
Everything that went wrong for Kamloops sport on the hardwood Saturday night went right on the ice.
The Kamloops Blazers took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round Western Hockey League playoff series against the Victoria Royals with a 6-4 victory before 4,505 fans at the Interior Savings Centre.
That took some of the sting out around town of much-heralded emerging Kamloops sporting hero Kelly Olynyk and top-seeded Gonzaga being bounced out of the NCAA basketball tournament by Wichita State despite Olynyk鈥檚 26 points.
It also forced the Royals into a must-win situation as the series against the Blazers now swings to the capital region for the third and fourth games Tuesday and Thursday at home-away-from-home Bear Mountain Arena.
The Royals have vacated their usual venue, Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, for the upcoming 2013 world men鈥檚 curling championships.
Whether on Blanshard Street or in Colwood, one thing is for sure 鈥� the Blazers come in this week with the upper hand. But the Royals are conceding nothing.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no pressure on us,鈥� insisted Victoria head coach Dave Lowry.
鈥淲e鈥檙e playing one of the best teams in the country [the Blazers are the eighth-ranked major-junior team in the Canadian Hockey League] and no one expected us to win. All we heard before this series is that we would be done in four. It鈥檚 our responsibility to make sure that doesn鈥檛 happen.鈥�
Yet the Blazers have now won six consecutive playoff games against the Royals, dating back to last year鈥檚 first-round 4-0 sweep.
The Western Conference sixth-seed Royals were a franchise-record 35-30-7 in the 2012-13 regular season and the third-seeded Blazers 47-20-5 for their second-consecutive 99-point season.
That disparity between the clubs showed early Saturday before a desperate Royals rally fell just short.
鈥淲e ramped it up in the third period. Our guys competed hard and played hard,鈥� said Lowry.
I was an unlikely offensive candidate on such a high-octane scoring team 鈥� defenceman Joel Edmundson 鈥� that gave Kamloops the lead with two goals in the first period. But the six-foot-four blueliner, obtained mid-season from the Moose Jaw Warriors for a Blazers playoff run, certainly has a pedigree as a 2011 NHL second-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues.
Jamie Crooks, the 21-year-old 33-goal regular-season scorer, brought Victoria to within one on the power play at 11:49 of the second period. But then came three goals in four minutes for the Blazers in the second period as Swiss-import Tim Bozon scored twice and Brendan Ranford short-handed to give Kamloops a seemingly-commanding 5-1 lead before the Victoria rally went wanting in the third period.
Forward Tyler Soy, a first-round 2012 bantam draft pick and 15-year-old Midget call-up, Austin Carroll and Brandon Magee scored to bring Victoria to within one at 5-4 in the third period but the Royals could come no closer. Blazers captain Dylan Willick sealed the deal into an empty net at 19:52 of the third.
Kamloops goaltender Cole Cheveldave made 20 saves for the win while Patrik Polivka made 25 saves for Victoria.
ICE CHIPS: Royals captain, the 21-year-old defenceman Tyler Stahl, missed his 10th consecutive game as fellow-blueliner Jordan Fransoo once again wore the 鈥楥鈥� . . . Blazers defenceman Sam Grist of North Saanich was minus-2 on the night.
