By Chad Klassen

“It’s going to be intense”: Blazers ready for winner-take-all tiebreaker game

Mar 19, 2019 | 1:46 PM

KAMLOOPS — It all comes down to one game.

The Blazers and Rockets face off at the Sandman Centre with the winner moving on to play Victoria in the Western Conference Quarter Final, and the loser going home.

A chance at the playoffs all seemed impossible more than a week ago when Kamloops trailed Kelowna by seven points in the B.C. Division. But on Tuesday night, the Blazers host their Interior rivals in a one-game, winner-take-all contest. 

“It’s going to be intense,” said captain Jermaine Loewen, who’s hopes it’s not his last game with the Blazers. “It’s going to be loud, there’s going to be fans coming out to cheer us on, and I’m just excited. This is the craziest, wildest week or so in my junior career.”

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One loss against Kelowna two weekends ago in a home-and-home series and the season would’ve been over. But the Blazers won both games, all part of a 5-0-1 streak to earn the chance for a tiebreaker. 

Nineteen-year-old forward Zane Franklin has been here before, going to two straight Eastern Conference Finals with Lethbridge, playing in one Game 7 along the way. 

“You just got to play every shift all out,” he said. “There’s no reason to save for it, especially in a tiebreaker situation. There’s really nothing else to say. We all live for these moments. We’re hockey players. This is it, right. Game 7s, tiebreakers. These are the games you want to play in, so I think we’ll put our best foot forward.”

That’s the advice to the younger guys who have never tasted the WHL postseason. Thirteen of the 22 players on the Blazers’ roster, including 15 year old Logan Stankoven, don’t have any playoff experience. 

That includes Connor Zary, the WHL’s Player of the Week, who recorded five goals and four assists in four games. 

“It’s exciting. You get the one-game, best-of-one series kind of thing. It’s winner takes all,” said Zary. “So it’ll be pretty exciting. Just kind of think about it as just another game and not get nervous or anything. But you just got to feed off the pressure that comes with this game.”

However, while the Blazers lack playoff experience, they have been playing in a Game 7 for more than a week to keep their playoff hopes alive. 

It’s the 11th meeting between the Interior rivals this season with the Blazers winning six of 10 during the regular season (6-3-1), including back-to-back victories against Kelowna on Mar. 8 (2-1 in a shootout) and Mar. 9 (2-1 in regulation) that started a stretch of five wins in their last six games to get into this tiebreaker position. 

The Rockets, on the other hand, are on a slide, coming into the game 2-4-2 in their final eight games to cough up third in the B.C. Division. 

“We should go into the game with lots of confidence. We can do it and have the guys,” said Loewen. “We’ve had good success against Kelowna this year, and it’s going to come down to who’s going to be move simple and who’s going to stay disciplined because everyone’s going to try to get under each other’s skin, to see who’s going to crack, who’s going to make the mistake. We’ve got to make sure they stay off the power play and make sure we start off hard and physical on their top guys.”