Blazers return home Friday night after three weeks away

“It was kind of weird coming back here and the Scotties was still going on, but it’s good. It’s good to be finally practicing back their, first one in three weeks, so it’ll be good to get the feel back and play in front of the home crowd.”

The Blazers arrived back in Kamloops Sunday morning, the day of the Scotties semi-final and final.

“We came back the morning of the final, so tickets were pretty hard to get. Just watch it on TV,” noted Bankier.

After a long Alberta trip, many weren’t keen to take in the curling anyway.

“No, I’m not a big curling guy,” said Blazers forward Fraser Minten. “I would not watch curling, no.”

Minten is just happy to play hockey back in Kamloops after the six-game Alberta trip that saw the Blazers go 5-1, losing the last game in Medicine Hat 7-3.

“We had 11 straight there, a really good stretch. We were obviously very disappointed with our last game. We didn’t think we played very well and it would’ve been nice to sweep that road trip,” said Minten.

Head coach Shaun Clouston added, “In general had good starts. We were ready to play. We had a couple games that were really tough battles where we had to come from behind or fend teams off.”

The Blazers are second in the Western Conference, 10 points behind Seattle with 13 games left, but they’ve all but wrapped up a fourth straight B.C. Division title. Kamloops can clinch the division on Friday with a win over the Rockets.

Kelowna, meantime, are eighth in the West, two points behind Vancouver for the seventh spot. As the No. 2 seed, the Blazers will play the No. 7 seed, which will either be the Giants or Rockets.

“They’re very important,” noted Minten on the two games versus Kelowna. “Kelowna’s got a good team there. They’re doing really well right now with [Andrew] Cristall being back. He’s obviously a game-breaking talent over there. He can play really well. They’ve got a really good goalie. They’ve got some good players over there, so we’re expecting a really good game.”

by Chad Klassen

Blazers return home Friday night after three weeks away

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