By Chad Klassen

Blazers happy to have full complement of players back

Sep 20, 2018 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — The sight of Dylan Ferguson on the ice at the Sandman Centre on Thursday is a relief to the entire Blazer Nation, but likely no one more than head coach Serge Lajoie, who had two rookie goaltenders at practice most of the week. 

“Definitely happy to see Dylan come back,” said Lajoie after practice on Thursday. “His ability as a goaltender and his experience aside, he’s just a good person. He’s a big part of this team, so I think he’s a big piece of this puzzle.”

Ferguson was re-assigned to Kamloops by Vegas on Wednesday afternoon, solidifying the Blazers’ goaltending situation. Coming back to the River City, Ferguson knows what he needs to do after a tough start to the season last year following his first appearance at Golden Knights’ camp. 

“I think when I came back [last year], I was overconfident,” said the 20-year-old netminder who went 24-28-1-3 last year. “This league is a good league and it humbles you for sure. Anybody will tell you that, so I’ve learned from my mistakes and grown from them. I’m just really excited to get the season going tomorrow and beat the Rockets.”

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20-year-old power forward Jermaine Loewen was also on the ice after his experience at Dallas Stars main camp.

“I can learn just how to be stronger down low in my body and become a leader,” he said, adding that Stars’ camp was eye-opening to see what it takes to make it to the next level. “Take the things I learned in camp and tell the young guys and guys my age this is what we’ve got to do to be a successful team, then carry that out every day that I’m here.”

Loewen skated on a line with fellow 20-year-old Luc Smith and 17-year-old Connor Zary. All three will play together in the season-opener on Friday. 

“I think it’ll be awesome. I’ve got a level of comfort with them. I’ve played with them before, so we’re just going to gel as a line,” he said. 

The third member of the Blazers to come back on Thursday was defenseman Montana Onyebuchi, who was paired with Sean Strange at practice. 

Onyebuchi was disappointed not to play in any preseason games with Tampa Bay, but being around superstars was a great thrill. 

“It was an awesome experience, once in a lifetime playing with all the big guys like Stamkos and Kucherov and Hedman. It was an awesome experience,” he said.

Lajoie feels he’s getting improved, more mature hockey players back, and key members that will help in the Blazers’ turnaround this season. He also realizes it may take them a bit to reintegrate into the team. 

“As much as they know each other and they’re happy to be back and their teammates are happy to have them back, they’ve got to integrate themselves into what we’ve been doing the last two weeks while they were gone,” said Lajoie, who makes his WHL regular season coaching debut on Friday. “Those guys are going to be major contributors and big pieces of our puzzle this year on our team, so excited to have them back.”