By Colton Davies

Kamloops Blazers beat Kelowna Rockets 3-2 on CCM Cooperall night

Mar 5, 2016 | 9:19 AM

KAMLOOPS — In their retro full-length CCM Propac pants and in front of a national televised audience, the Blazers picked up a crucial two points at home on Friday night in a 3-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets.

Jermaine Loewen opened the scoring for Kamloops 2:35 into the first, and received second-period goals from Nick Chyzowski and Garrett Pilon on quality scoring chances.

The win for Kamloops ends a streak of six straight losses to Kelowna, who had lost 14 of the past 15 meetings between the teams prior to tonight’s victory. The Rockets outshot the Blazers 55-24, and goalie Connor Ingram made a season-high 53 saves to help earn his team the win.

“It felt the same as if it was 30; it’s the same intensity, it’s the same game. It’s a little bit more action but it’s nothing too different”, Ingram said. “If you look at it, they put up a lot of shots but not a lot of scoring chances, so it wasn’t too much. I saw pretty much everything, if you see it you’re going to stop it most times.”

The Blazers hung in defensively against a tough Rockets lineup despite losing Ryan Rehill, who was given a game misconduct in the second period.

Boogie The Bridge

Boogie The Bridge Event Information

Apr 19, 2024

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: Short-term rental rules coming into effect in British Columbia

5h ago

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Board may as well not have asked public about school's name

10h ago

 “I thought they played great [defensively], that’s a big hole to fill and I thought guys stepped up and played good games”, Ingram said.

“Our d-men did a great job. Rehill goes out on the fight… Valentine, Vala, Reagan and Davidson played a lot of minutes, and they really competed hard”, Blazers Head Coach Don Hay said.

Kamloops also was missing forward Gage Quinney, who is awaiting a suspension from the league for a hit on Wednesday night against Spokane, and lost Jake Kryski to injury after taking a blind-sided hit in the second period from Joe Gatenby. The hit led to Rehill and Deven Sideroff squaring off in fights immediately after.

“We lost Kryski due to the hit, so he’ll be evaluated tomorrow. He played one shift after the hit but then didn’t come out after the second”, Hay said.

The Blazers have now won four of their last five games overall, and tonight’s victory came in front a Sportsnet CHL Friday Night Hockey national broadcast, and wearing full length CCM Propac hockey pants to honor WHL clubs from the 80’s.

“I don’t know if it’s a one-time thing or if they’re going to do it again next year”, Hay joked post-game.

Kamloops squares off against the Rockets again tonight (March 5) in Kelowna.