Sunday, December 14, 2008

Yonkman Plays Scrooge in Kamloops

For the 2nd year in a row, the Broncos spoiled the Teddy Bear party,

Like they did a year ago in Cranbrook to the Kootenay Ice, the Broncos did it again. This time the Kamloops Blazers fans and their bears had to sweat it out.

With the fans waiting for the Blazers to score, and Travis Yonkman denying any and every opportunity of that happening, the bears finally came down,

The Broncos Taylor Vause scored into an empty net with 1:11 to play to seal the fate of the Blazers as a stream of teddy bears flooded the ice despite pleads from the P.A Announcer for the fans to stop.

It didn’t work. Soon ten bears was a hundred then a thousand and so on.

The final buzzer sounding after a 10 minute clean-up and the Broncos posting a 2-0 win – their third straight on this road trip through the B.C. division.

The story? A goaltenders duel between Travis Yonkman and Justin Leclerc.

Cody Eakin’s goal 8:29 into the third period broke the ice in the stalemate. For Eakin it was his first game back into the Broncos line-up after missing three weeks with an ankle injury.

Yonkman continued his brilliance right to the end making 28 saves for his 2nd career teddy bear toss night shutout.

“He’s got the eye of the tiger back,” said D Ryan Molle to me after the game in reference to Yonkman.

The game was a physical, fast-paced action packed tilt. It was perhaps one of the best games from an entertainment standpoint.

The fans may have not left happy, but it was a doozy.

The win was #250 career for Broncos Head Coach / GM Dean Chynoweth behind a WHL bench.

The team now takes a well-deserved two days off before taking on the Giants in Vancouver Tuesday night.

Just a few notes:

- I was impressed with the entire volunteer / gamenight staff at the Interior Savings Center. Friendly, cheerful and helpful the whole night. I heard “Welcome to Kamloops” several times upon the teams arrival. They were in a festive, happy mood. They made a good impression on me.

Had a good chat with Gregg Drinnan of the Kamloops Daily News. He jumped on-air with me to help bridge the gap during the ten-minute teddy bear cleanup. Our talk, among other things included the blog fad and the way they are taking over the #1 source of WHL information. His blog, gdrinnan.blogspot.com is commanding 2500 hits a day from around the WHL. The art of waiting until the next day for the paper to come out is a thing of the past. Everything is available almost instantly. The power of the internet, the power of the blog.

The team now has some things planned to make the most of their two days off in Vancouver. I will try and snap some pics along the way.

Have a great Sunday,

Jon

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Two years in a row now, schedualing keeps me from seeing the Broncos in Kamloops. Glad you had a good time in the 'loops.