Week in Review:

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 vs. Vancouver Giants – Game 3

The Blazers held four leads and they saw each of them whittle away as the hockey club fell 5-4 in overtime Tuesday night. Austin Madaisky scored the first goal of the game as Chase Schaber threw a puck to the net, while Madaisky finished off the play. The Giants replied 6 minutes later on the powerplay to tie the game 1-1 through the first period. Jake Trask and Bronson Maschmeyer each scored second period goals to give the Blazers two different leads, but the Giants replied both times to keep the game at a 3-3 tie through two periods. Once again, the Blazers took the lead in the third period with CJ Stretch scoring on the powerplay. The Giants came back, like they did all night, and tied the game 3 minutes later to send it into overtime. Brett Breitkreuz was the hero as he deflected a shot 2:28 into overtime to give the Giants a 5-4 victory and a 3-0 best of seven series lead. Austin Madaisky paced the Blazers offensively as he finished with a goal and two assists, and leads the Blazers in playoff scoring with 5 points. Kurtis Mucha took the loss in goal stopping 34 of 39 shots that he faced. The Blazers were good on the special teams going 3-for-8 on the powerplay while finishing 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 vs. Vancouver Giants – Game 4

The Kamloops Blazers held the lead for most of the game once again, but when it mattered, the Giants led and won the game 5-4 to eliminate the Blazers in 4 games. For the third time in four games, Colin Smith got the Blazers on the board first as he slid a pass from CJ Stretch underneath Giants’ goaltender Mark Segal to give the Blazers a 1-0 lead through the first period. The Giants replied in the second period as Milan Kytnar got his first goal of the series sliding a shot past Blazers goaltender Jon Groenheyde, who finished with 26 saves. Jake Trask gave the Blazers another lead with his second goal in as many games. The Giants scored twice in the middle of the period to give themselves a 3-2 lead with 5 minutes remaining in the second period. Austin   Madaisky, who finished the series with 6 points, blasted a shot through Segal with less than 5 minutes left to tie the game 3-3 through two periods. The Blazers regained the lead in the third period, as Colin Smith gave the Blazers a 4-3 lead with under 10 minutes remaining in the third period. Two players that haunted the Blazers all series, Craig Cunningham and Brendan Gallagher, each scored in the last 10 minutes to lift the Giants to a 5-4 victory. Cunningham and Gallagher finished the series with 10 points each. A great night on special teams couldn’t translate to a victory as the Blazers were 3-for-3 on the powerplay and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.

Blazers Videos / Highlights

Make sure to check out the Blazers youtube page at

http://www.youtube.com/user/kblazers1?feature=mhw4 to check out all the Blazer highlights from this season and other great videos that will come out throughout the summer.

Three Prospects Win League Titles

Blazer prospects, Aspen Sterzer, Troy Trombley and Brandon Morley all won their respective league championships recently.

Sterzer, who was listed and signed by the club this season, won the Rural Alberta Midget Hockey League title the season with the EDGE Maroon of Calgary. Sterzer had 3 goals and 7 points in the playoffs.

Trombley, a 3rd round bantam pick in 2009won the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League title with the Shewood Park Squires. The 6’5” goaltender had a .914 SV% and 2.21 GAA along with 4 shutouts for Sherwood Park this season.

Morley, a 3rd round bantam pick in 2009, won the BC Major Midget League title with the Vancouver NW Giants. Morley had 2 goals and 3 points in 5 playoff games. In late December, Morley’s Giants also won the Mac’s Midget Tournament in Calgary this season. The Giants will play the Red Deer Optimist Rebels in a best of 3 series to determine the Pacific representative at the Telus Cup in Lévis, Quebec. 

Three Blazers in ECHL

When the Kamloops Blazers season ended on Wednesday, three Blazers found themselves on ECHL rosters by the weekend.

CJ Stretch, who set a franchise record with 341 games in a Blazer uniform, has joined the Ontario Reign in California. The California native has yet to play a game for the Reign but is expected to suit up this weekend.

Former Blazers’ Captain Ryan Funk has joined the Idaho Steelheads. Funk, who finished his WHL career playing in 276 career games, has played two games with the Steelheads, collecting no points with a +2 rating.

Kurtis Mucha made his ECHL debut on Sunday night recording his first victory. The former Blazer netminder played 46 minutes for the Stockton Thunder stopping 15 of 17 shots to lead the Thunder to a 6-5 victory over the Las Vegas Wranglers.  

Blazers on Facebook

You can now check out the Kamloops Blazers on facebook! Go to this link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kamloops-Blazers-Hockey/309165971271 to see the latest pictures, videos and other information about the hockey club.

Team Leaders (Playoffs - FINAL): 

Goals – Austin Madaisky (3)

Assists – CJ Stretch (5)

Points – CJ Stretch (7)

+/- – Ryan Hanes (+2)

Rookies – Colin Smith (4)

PIM – Linden Saip (12)

GAA – Jon Groenheyde (4.80)

SV % – Kurtis Mucha (.865)