Clouston says top players among culpable after Blazers blow lead in loss to Americans

“We came out strong,” Blazers’ forward Cooper Moore said. “Halfway through the second, we got away from it.”

Tri-City opened the scoring at 11:18 of the first period, when Mason Mykichuk got behind Blazers’ defenceman Isa Guram on the right wing and went far side to beat Kamloops netminder Logan Edmonstone, who made 31 saves in a losing effort.

Kamloops was in danger of going two goals down when captain Ryan Michael was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a brief tilt with Cash Koch, the extra two minutes gave the Ams an opportunity on the power play.

Clouston had a long talk with a referee prior to the resumption of play, expressing his discontent and noting a hit that sparked the fight could have been penalized.

“I just thought it was a hit from behind on [Blazers’ defenceman] Rhett Ravndahl,” Clouston said. “You miss that one. Maybe, by the rule, Mikey confronted the player, so he gets the unsportsmanlike. I just thought the guy hit him from behind.”

The Americans failed to capitalize and soon conceded an equalizer.

Diminutive centreman Cooper Moore wrestled a draw away from Jake Gudelj, the puck squirting loose to fellow Junior A transfer Josh Evaschesen, who seemed to surprise Tri-City netminder Xavier Wendt with a quick snapper that tied the game at 1-1 with less than a minute to play in the opening stanza.

“He uses his size to his advantage in a way, protecting the puck using his small frame, I guess, to slip off defenders really well,” Evaschesen said of Moore. “It’s a treat playing with him.”

The line of J.P. Hurlbert, Tommy Lafreniere and Nathan Behm is menacing offensively, among the most fearsome units in the WHL when clicking, and it was threatening early in the second period.

Hurlbert, the leading scorer in the Canadian Hockey League, exercised patience and guile to set up Behm, emerging from behind the net and moving the puck to his forehand to freeze Wendt before dishing to the league’s second-leading scorer.

Behm’s 17th of the campaign made it 2-1 Blazers at 1:06 of the second period, with Moore earning the second assist and Hurlbert extending his point streak to 13 games.

Moore continued his strong game and season a few shifts later, the former Lloydminster Bobcat clawing a puck loose to Ty Bonkowski, whose pass knifed through two Americans to Evaschesen, who notched his second goal of the contest and 13th of the campaign.

“He’s playing his best hockey,” Clouston said of Moore. “He’s gotten better. He’s adjusted to the league. He’s crafty. He’s intelligent. He’s competitive.”

The Blazers went to the power play less than 30 seconds after Evaschesen’s marker, up 3-1 and in position to pull away.

Instead, they relinquished momentum and Alexander Laing tallied for the Americans less than a minute after Tri-City killed the penalty.

Clouston was asked about the play of Behm, Lafreniere and Hurlbert.

“Obviously, they’re having a great season offensively,” Clouston said. “We don’t want to take anything away from that. I just think that there are times … when it was 3-1, they gave a little bit of momentum back by trying something that maybe wasn’t there. And that’s a fine line. We’ve given those guys lots of leeway to be creative and tonight I thought their defencemen did a good job. We tried to beat guys one-on-one or one-on-two and they were able to turn pucks over and come back at us.”

Koch pounced on a loose puck and wired a shot past Edmonstone to tie the game at 3-3 at 18:18 of the second period.

Wendt made 27 saves to pick up the victory between the pipes, with Tri-City outshooting Kamloops 35-30.

The Blazers were 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Americans were 0-for-1 on the man advantage.

Tri-City (16-13-2-0), Kamloops (14-12-3-3) and the Spokane Chiefs (17-16-0-0) are tied for sixth in Western Conference standings.

The Seattle Thunderbirds (12-14-2-1) will play host to the Blazers on Friday, a 7:05 p.m. start in Kent, Wash. It’s their final game before the WHL’s holiday break.

by Marty Hastings

Clouston says top players among culpable after Blazers blow lead in loss to Americans

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