By Adam Donnelly

Blazers slay the Ogopogo, clinch spot in playoffs after win over Rockets

Mar 19, 2019 | 10:37 PM

KAMLOOPS — Six months and 67 games in between, but the result was similar. The Serge Lajoie-era of the Kamloops Blazers began with a win over the Kelowna Rockets, and now the Blazers’ season continues thanks to a win over those same Rockets in a tiebreaker game.

“I’m getting a sense of what it means,” Lajoie said when asked about the rivalry between the Rockets and Blazers. “Some snippets of some of the history of the rivalry between Kamloops and Kelowna. Dan Kordic and I, this is our first year experiencing it.”

Lajoie’s Blazers came out of the dressing room in a hurry to get something done, firing 17 shots at Rockets netminder Roman Basran in the opening frame, and out-chancing the visitors, but unable to light the lamp.

The home team would open the scoring in the second period, on the first power play of the contest. Kyrell Sopotyk walked into the middle off the half-boards and fired a shot past Basran on the stick side just six seconds into the man advantage to stake the Blazers to a 1-0 lead.

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The Rockets struck back less than four minutes later. Kaeden Korczak would receive the hard dump-in, then fire a quick pass to Matt Lewiski. Lewiski shovelled a quick backhand past Dylan Garand to even the game at 1-1.

The Blazers would retake the lead 6:10 in the third period after Dalton Gally turned the puck over at the Blazers blueline. Kobe Mohr and Ryley Appelt worked a mini give-and-go, then Mohr out-waited his defender and cut into the slot, where he beat a sprawling Basran to put Kamloops up 2-1.

Later in the third, with Appelt in the penalty box and the Blazers down a man, Connor Zary would receive a gift from Basran who gave the puck away as he tried to play it behind his own net. Zary curled around the net and slipped home the uncontested wraparound for a shorthanded marker to make it 3-1 Kamloops.

Just 1:38 later on the very same penalty kill, Basran would get tied up with a teammate while out playing the puck, and would gift the Blazers another one, as Brodi Stuart was the recipient this time. 4-1 Kamloops.

That was it for Basran, as Cole Porter replaced him after surrendering four goals on 34 shots.

The Rockets would get a late power play after Stuart was called for tripping, and would pull their goalie, but the Blazers would kill off the penalty, and with 91 seconds remaining, the Captain could cap it off, barging out of his own end and sliding the puck into the empty net.

The Blazers beat the Rockets 5-1 in the only the seventh tiebreaker game in WHL history, and for the five-year vet, Jermaine Loewen, this win over Kelowna was the sweetest.

“Oh crap. It means a lot to me,” Loewen said after the game. “All the battles we’ve gone through and to finally see them out of the playoffs, and to see us in is huge… I thought the boys worked incredibly hard out there today.”

16-year-old netminder Dylan Garand got the win between the pipes for Kamloops, stopping 27 of the 28 shots he faced., and earning praise from his coach.

“I want to give full credit to Dylan Garand, he’s been absolutely phenomenal,” Lajoie said.

The win means Kamloops clinches their spot in the WHL Western Conference quarterfinals against the Royals, a series which starts Friday night in Victoria.