Saturday

The Blazers will look to get a weekend split against BC division teams as they host the Vancouver Giants tonight. The Giants lead the pack in the division and are coming off a 3-0 home ice win over Prince George.

Last night, the Blazers broke a 1-1 tie with 8:11 to play vs Chilliwack. The Bruins tied the game with just under four minutes to play when Curt Gogol found a floating puck, knocked it down and then put it home.

F Dylan Willick was called for a last minute penalty, a questionable hooking call that drew the ire of the fans at ISC with 46 seconds left. The Bruins took the PP to overtime where D Brandon Manning put the game away on a one-timer 4-on-3 just 21 seconds into extra time.

The Blazers pick up a point, but were in a great position to get two.

For me, Bruins Head Coach Marc Habscheid has to get some credit for the two points. He had the ear of referee Pat Smith for over a minute as he disputed a non-call in the 2nd period. The conversation was one-sided, Habscheid talked, Smith took it. I felt at the time the conversation definitely changed the way the game was being called.

The "reminder" by the Bruins coach got them the next and last three PP's of the game including one with 6 minutes to play in the third period in a one-goal game and the eventual PP that led to the winning goal in overtime.

Call it good coaching or a veteran move, it produced the desired effect.

It was a fun game though. A real back-and-forth chess match in the third period after a wide open 2nd period that saw both goaltenders Lucas Gore and Jeff Bosch shine.

-----------

- D Josh Caron left the game in the 2nd and didn't return. He was checked over for some pain in his shoulder/collarbone area but should be ok to play tonight vs the Giants.

- Bruins F Curt Gogol got into it on the bench with Blazers back-up goaltender Cam Lanigan. The two exchanged some pokes at the benches. Lanigan sprayed Gogol with a water bottle to earn a bench minor. Gogol was served with a 10 minute misconduct.

- F Thomas Frazee worked hard to get back into the line-up for the Blazers after spraining his knee just six days prior. He was a surprise addition to the line-up.

- F Matt Needham could conceivably join the Blazer full time in a month. His season of games would be over at the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy. He's played nine games already with the Blazers collecting three goals and four assists as a 15 year-old call-up.

---------