By Earl Seitz

Corraling emotions to be key in remainder of Blazers-Royals playoff series

Mar 29, 2019 | 3:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Western Hockey League has zipped the lip about its investigation into that stick swinging incident in Wednesday’s playoff game in Kamloops.

Victoria Royals player Kody McDonald was given a match penalty with intent to injure and has been suspended indefinitely. In a statement on Thursday, the league said there would be no further comment until the league’s director of player safety completes a full review, which will no doubt delve into what incited McDonald to swing his stick into the Blazers bench.

Meanwhile, the Blazers and Royals are getting set to meet tomorrow night in Victoria in Game 5.

The way this series began with a 4-0 Victoria win, it looked like it might be over quickly. But after Wednesday’s 6-3 win in game four to tie the series, momentum has clearly shifted to the Blazers’ side — with the way they won. Antagonizing the Royals and getting under their skin while still maintaining enough discipline to be able to pull it off.

“[Wednesday] I think we really showed how we can play,” says Zane Fanklin. “How we can dominate at stretches, and if we just keep building off that, I like our chances.”

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“We talk about mental toughness,” says Blazers head coach Serge Lajoie. “It’s being able to stay in the moment, and now allow external distractions to get you off of your objective, the task at hand, and the goal that you’ve set. It’s going to be a test of will, a test of mental toughness. There’s a lot of players on both sides that I’m sure have gotten under each other’s skin.”

“Yeah, it’s very hostile,” says Victoria coach Dan Price. “I think Kamloops has done a good job of being physical. There’s quite a bit of talk out there — some things after the whistle, behind the play. It’s a good game plan. We just need to try to stay poised and play through all that.”

Chirping is a part of the game, and the Blazers won that side of it in Game 4 — leading to this incident in the third period in a 3-3 tie — after which the Blazers pulled away with three unanswered goals, including two on the power play.

“A power play is only a power play and isn’t worth anything unless you take advantage of it,” says Lajoie. “We made them pay on the power play, and it’s a credit to our guys.”

All players have contributed in some way. Offensively the Blazers are being led by Connor Zary, who has three goals in two games, including the winner on Wednesday, after missing games one and two with an injury.  It’s a carry over from his regular season. Halfway through the season, after 34 games, Zary had 9 goals and 16 assists for 25 points. He finished the season with 24 goals, 43 assists and 67 points in the 63 games in which he played, and finished one point out of the team scoring lead.

“He’s arguably been our — well, he has been our offensive catalyst for the last month to six weeks,” says Lajoie. “And arguably our best offensive player in the second half. So definitely there’s that connection with him and Loewen. We found a really nice fit — Martin Lang the last two or three games has been skating, and when he’s skating he’s a dangerous player. So to have Zary back, it’s reunited that line with Lang and Loewen, and they’re a tough line to contain.   They’re big and strong, they’re multi-dimentional, and Zary has just been tremendous for us.”

So now it’s a best of three series in a burgeoning rivalry, where emotions are running high — and where whichever team is able to best corral that energy into results, is going to come out on top at the end.

“That’s part of the game plan,” notes Price. “We just really need to try to block that out, stay poised, stay focused on just playing hockey, and not engaging in the antics and hopefully that will help us have a good response in Game 5.”

Lajoie adds, “This is playoffs. A rivalry has developed. There wasn’t this kind of animosity in the first game. But it’s building. There are some guys in our dressing room that are relishing in the emotion that has been built up in these four games, and I’m sure that they are as well.