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October 6, 2008Canadians Split Weekend Series with Blazers
The first true road trip for the 2008-09 season featured the Canadians up against the Thompson Blazers at the old Memorial Arena in downtown Kamloops. The Canadians came into the weekend with a 3-0-1 record, while the Blazers came in with a 0-4 record. Both teams were looking for key victories in this young MML season.
The first game featured another come from behind battle for the Canadians as they trailed the host Blazers 1-0 after the first period. Five minutes into the second period the Blazers were able to double up their lead at 2-0. However, the Canadians battled back with goals from Cam Lawson and then another from Jesse Siemens on the powerplay. The second period ended 2-2. In the third the Canadians came out gunning with a goal from Patrick Hayes, which gave them a one goal edge at 3-2. The Blazers responded to tie the game until Riley Sweeney pulled the trigger on a bullet shot from the blueline for the game winning powerplay goal. Manraj Hayer added an insurance marker with three minutes remaining to give the Canadians a 5-3 victory. Alex Wind took the win with 18 saves.
The second game of the weekend featured a tight, hard-nosed battle. The Canadians skated a depleted line-up with Zach Yuen and Jesse Siemens missing the second game due to injuries from the previous game. The Blazers jumped on the Canadians early scoring a breakaway goal :31 seconds in. The first period would end 1-0 for the Blazers after the teams exchanged powerplays. In the second, Manraj Hayer was able to get his second of the weekend to pull the game to 1-1. The tie was short lived as the Blazers capitalized on a powerplay to retake the lead at 2-1. On their own powerplay the Canadians cashed in after a shot from the point off Dominic Toigo's stick beat the Blazers goaltender glove side. Late in the second the Canadians found themselves in some penalty trouble and as a result gave up a 5-on-3 powerplay goal to the Blazers. Mid-way through the third period the Blazers increased their lead to 4-2. With eight minutes to go Christian Rodriguez chipped in with a goal to cut the Blazers lead to one at 4-3. The remaining five minutes of the game featured a desperate and goal hungry Canadians hockey team that threw everything at the Blazers net. Unfortunately they were not successful in their attempts to tie the hockey game and lost 4-3. Andrew Hunt took the loss with 27 saves.
The Canadians head home to host the Defending MML Champion Cariboo Cougars. Check our schedule section for times and locations.
