Sixteen-year-old sensation Logan Stankoven had a nine-point weekend in three Blazers wins (Image Credit: Allen Douglas / Kamloops Blazers)

By Chad Klassen

LOGAN STANKOVEN

Stankoven closing in on Blazers rookie goal-scoring record after hot weekend

Feb 18, 2020 | 3:24 PM

KAMLOOPS — Logan Stankoven entered the weekend on a bit of a cold streak, at least by his standards.

The 16 year old from Kamloops had one goal in eight games, only adding two assists in that span. But he changed that in a hurry with a nine-point outburst in three Blazers wins — seven goals and two assists — all happening while his grandma was in town.

“She lives on the Island in Campbell River, so I don’t get to see her too much, but it’s pretty cool to have her in the house. I’m glad we won all three games,” he said.

It snapped a five-game losing streak, and Stankoven seemingly lifted the team on his back. It started with a modest two-point night — a goal and an assist — in Friday’s 5-3 win over Red Deer.

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Stankoven then opened up the flood gates on Saturday, scoring four times in a 5-3 victory over Victoria.

He concluded the brilliant weekend with another two goals and an assist in Family Day Monday’s 7-6 overtime win over the Royals. Stankoven’s willingness to shoot and always being in the right spot has led to the outburst.

“Obviously working on my shot. I’ve worked on it lots over the past few years,” he noted after Monday’s game. “I’ve tried to put that into my game. It helps with the style of play. I like to get lots of pucks on net. It’s probably one of the other things that’s contributing to the success right now is trying to shoot lots. If a play’s open, you make that play, but if it’s not just put the puck on net.”

Stankoven had six goals and four assists before the Christmas break, but has elevated his game to another level with 19 goals and 11 assists since. He credits the recent success to the work he put in over Christmas.

“Shooting pucks. I did a few boxing sessions tried to really work on my cardio and get back to where I was at the beginning of the season,” said Stankoven. “One of the biggest things was my cardio, so I worked on that. Just trying to work on a few skills that may have dropped as the season went on.”

He now has 25 goals on the year — one behind Winnipeg’s Michal Teply in rookie goal scoring. He’s now only four away from Rob Brown’s Blazer record for goals in a season by a 16 year old. Brown had 29 goals in his rookie season in the 1984-85 campaign.

“No, I don’t really think about that at all. Obviously people talk about it. I hear it every once in a while, but it’s not a big deal to me,” he said. “It would be nice to break that record, but you have to keep [things] in perspective, and we have to finish off strong here going into playoffs.”

The Blazers are now 10 points up on Victoria for the B.C. Division lead. They will be leaning on Stankoven down the stretch for more production.