Image Credit: Kamloops Blazers/Allen Douglas

By Adam Donnelly

BLAZERS STAY HOT

Kamloops beats rival Rockets 2-1

Oct 19, 2019 | 10:47 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Blazers earned two points in a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Kelowna Rockers at Sandman Centre on Saturday night.

Zane Franklin got the Blazers on the scoreboard late in the first period. The goal was the Blazers captain’s fifth point in two nights and seventh goal of the season.

The middle stanza didn’t feature any goals, but there were plenty of scoring opportunities at both ends of the ice.

There was also a parade to the penalty box, as officials called nine minor penalties in the second period – six against the Rockets and three against the Kamloops. It’s something Blazers head coach Shaun Clouston said he addressed in the second intermission.

“The thing is to play hard, but try to stay five-on-five as much as you can. You don’t want to end up on the wrong side of too many of those calls,” Clouston told the media after the game. “Both penalty kills were pretty good tonight, but there were definitely too many opportunities.”

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The home team added some insurance before the halfway point of the third period. Max Martin threaded a seeing-eye wrist shot through traffic that found the top corner over Roman Basran’s glove to make it 2-0.

Kelowna made it close late, as Kyle Topping scored with 3:11 remaining to make it a one-goal game. The goal also snapped the Blazers shutout streak at 198:56. That streak dated back a full week to last Saturday’s match-up between these two clubs in Kelowna.

The Rockets would keep the pressure on the Blazers, but the home team locked it down defensively to earn the win.

Blazers goalie Dylan Garand finished with 25 saves in the contest, while Roman Basran stopped 37 of the 39 shots he faced.

While missing out on consecutive shutouts stung a little, Garand says all that matters is his team got the win, which was their eighth in the past nine games.

“It wasn’t the end of the world,” Garand said. “We still got the win, which was huge. It was bound to end eventually.”

The Blazers are on the road for the next five contests before returning to the friendly confines of Sandman Centre on November 9th as the Medicine Hat Tigers roll into town.