Wild Night in the 'Whack

The Kamloops Blazers fell 6-1 in Chilliwack in what turned out to be a wild night at Prospera Center for the Bruins home opener. The Bruins went 5 for 14 on the powerplay on the night

Emotions boiled over in the third period as the Blazers had redemption on their minds for two teammates who were hit from behind earlier in the game. Chase Souto was run into the side boards by the team benches and was later taken to hospital for precautionary reasons. Jordan Depape was also checked awkwardly and left the game with an upper body injury.

With the score out of reach, and a 4th Chilliwack PP goal, the Blazers felt payback was in order. They initiated a partial line brawl which saw Brandon Underwood, Tyler Hansen, Ryan Hanes and JT Barnett all get involved on the Blazer side.

The end result was a nine minute Chilliwack powerplay in the 3rd – most of it a 5 on 3 advantage.

The Blazers were miffed with the officiating and felt the stripes weren’t doing enough to protect their players from the dangerous hits. A minor penalty was issued on the hit from behind on Depape, while a double minor was issued for the hit on Souto.

Blazer captain Chase Schaber spoke passionately about it post-game

“ Obviously things got of hand… emotions were at the highest point they could possibly be.”

"Literally, there were family members from our team hurt tonight and we took that to heart. We’re not going to forget about that. We are going to focus on getting back in the win column now and deal with (Chilliwack) when the time comes.”

I asked if Schaber felt it was the right response.

“Absolutely. Fighting for each other, sticking up for ourselves and fighting for the logo on our chest…It’s our pride that we carry and we are going to continue to do that.”

Assistant Coach Geoff Smith joined our post-game show. He feels the issue goes deeper than what happened on the ice.




I’m not sure what will be made of this night. There could be fines or possible supplemental discipline. The league office is set to have a busy Monday morning.



On another note….

The game was delayed over an hour when an apparent pipe under the ice broke causing a delay with warm-ups. It was First Nations night and the Bruins home opener night. All three combined for an 8:12pm face-off.

We hit the airwaves with our pre-game show at 6:30pm… and later scrambled to fill over an hour and half worth of airtime. That length was definitely a first for me. Thanks to Assistant Coach Scott Ferguson, General Manager Craig Bonner and Media Relations/Video Coordinator Tim O’Donovan for stepping in. The delay just extended and we stayed on the air through it rather than break away.

Former Blazer voice Kelly Moore called the station for a chat but there was problems connecting the both of us on-air. The veteran Moore has been in my spot several times and realized the situation. Thanks Kelly.

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