Image credit: CFJC Today/Anthony Corea

By Marty Hastings

WHL PLAYOFF RACE

Blazers plan to play urgent, desperate hockey against visiting Wild

Mar 12, 2025 | 11:51 AM

KAMLOOPS — Expect to see desperation on Wednesday (March 12) at Sandman Centre.

The Kamloops Blazers are scheduled to host the Wenatchee Wild in Western Hockey League action and victory is of paramount importance for both teams in their quests to stay alive in the Western Conference post-season race.

“Time’s running out,” Blazers’ associate coach Don Hay said. “We’re running out of games. We have to have success. We have to find a way to play well for 60 minutes and get two points.

“Urgency is the right word. I’m not sure the difference in meaning between the two (urgency and desperation), but we have to be desperate and urgent at the same time.”

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Kamloops (22-35-4-1) is 10th in Western Conference standings, three points behind ninth-place Wenatchee (22-33-7-1) and six points behind the eighth-place Seattle Thunderbirds (25-32-4-1).

Both the Blazers and T-Birds have played 62 games and have one game in hand on the Wild.

The top eight teams in the conference will qualify for the post-season.

“It’s a little bit of desperation,” Blazers’ captain Emmitt Finnie said. “We know every game is a must-win. We can’t control what Seattle does, but we can control ourselves. Every game is a must-win for us.”

Creating offence has been a focus during practice this week, with Hay noting his Blazers – who have scored once in their last 90 minutes of hockey — have been encouraged to hold onto pucks and make smart plays under pressure.

“From the last couple of games, we had numerous chances where we couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Blazers’ alternate captain Harrison Brunicke said. “We kind of got down on ourselves and from there they capitalized on that and we find ourself losing the hockey game.”

Kamloops has allowed nine goals over its last two contests, both losses.

“Physicality is huge right from the get go, putting pressure on teams,” Brunicke said. “We want to limit our time in the D-zone, so closing guys quickly, breaking out pucks quicker, finding open guys and moving pucks north. That’s what we’ve got to look to do.”

Game time on Wednesday is 7:00 p.m.

“I think ‘desperation’ is the word,” Brunicke said. “The next games here they’re all kind of do-or-die games if we really want to be playoff team.”