Kamloops Storm takes 3-0 Series Lead in Penalty Marred Game

Officiating Crew Outshines Teams for Headlines

It took less than one minute for the officiating crew of the game 3 showdown between Kamloops and Revelstoke to steal the headlines of the game. I don't know about you but I have yet to attend a hockey game where the crowd has come to see the referees. Only their mommas. And with their performance last night in the Revelstoke arena, their daddies would hide in shame.

From the opening buzzer to the end of the game the officials made more calls than commodity broker and much like a broker, half of their calls were duds. And to make matters worse, the bad calls made against one team seemed to be alternated soon afterwards to balance the injustices. It was a fiasco at best and resembled the recent television commercial where the referee makes an announcement that he blew the call and that he would for "no good reason" penalize the other team to even things out. Only the crowd never got the courtesy of the announcement.

The Grizzlies got into penalty trouble less than one minute into the game and from there on the officials made it clear that it was their game, not the teams. Poor judgement, missed calls, phantom calls and even changed calls sucked the life out of the crowd, players, coaches and even the announcers of the game. Everyone went home shaking their heads wondering what the heck happened.

Oh yes, Kamloops won 6-1 and now has a stranglehold on the series which could end tonight if Revelstoke can't battle their demons in dealing with the refereeing situation. You could see the Grizzlies frustration building between the questionable calls against them and their inability to crack the Kamloops defensive wall and put the puck in the net when they had the chance. Kamloops on the other hand, although also frustrated, made good on a few of their chances and pulled away steadily, scoring 2 goals in each period to win the game.

As of this writing (10:15 AM - Friday), the boxscores have not been posted so the amount of penaties and the goal scoring summary is not available. Probably overloaded the KIJHL boxscore program. We can tell you that Kamloops got a natural hat trick from Ryan Bullock and singles from Anthony Collins, Darren Mann and supposedly Lundy Trenaman. It was Justin Giroux who fired the shot that seemed to go off of goaltender Colin Stebner's glove. That call was all part and parcel of one of the most poorly managed games we have seen.

Revelstoke had the parade to the box in the first period while Kamloops seem to take the brunt of the calls in the second. When Kamloops went up 3-0 in the 2nd, Grizzlies coach Brad Fox changed up his goaltenders, substituting Jordan Barry in for Stebner. The Grizzlies seemed to regroup for awhile, scoring one goal on the power play but reverted back to their black hole of frustration when Bullock scored his first goal late in the second period to put Kamloops up 4-1.

With the game seemingly out of reach, the Grizzlies frustration seemed to overflow in the 3rd period and again the boxes were full. At one time Revelstoke had 4 men in the penalty box and Kamloops had 2 resulting in a Storm 5 on 3 power play. One could only feel that the referee was just looking to penalize the players. He blew a number of other calls too like when the puck clearly hit an overhead beam and rebounded back to the ice. Instead of calling the play dead, he let it go, giving Revelstoke a 2 on 1 break when Cody Kightley took a penalty for hauling down the Grizzlie puck carrier. The ensuing power play resulted in Revelstoke's only goal by Brent Madlung. If the right call had been made, the power play doesn't happen and Manfredi keeps his shutout.

The shutout is a mute point. Both coaches were frustrated. In the end Kamloops ended up taking a late time out and replaced goaltender Anthony Manfredi with back-up Brennan Jones with about 3 minutes to go as Revelstoke looked prepared to take their frustrations out on the Storm players. Good move by coach Bryant Perrier.

There was only one fight in the game with Brent Meissinger duking it out with Justin Giroux (I think... gosh I need those box scores). Without knowing the final count, there must have been at least 40 penalty calls during the game. There was very little flow and very little even strength play.

Your guess is as good as mine as to what game 4 will bring tonight. Revelstoke will be fighting for their playoff lives and had better bring their work ethic and a huge dose of discipline. If Kamloops manages to start pulling away in this one it may end up as this weeks version of Friday Night Fights as revenge and a reminder for next season is all that the Grizzlies will have left to compete for.

Having the opportunity to see this series played in both rinks, I would have to say that I was impressed as much with Kamloops ability to adjust their game on the smaller ice surface as I was with Revelstoke and how they played at the Mac Island Sports Centre on an olympic-sized surface. Kamloops was able to block dozens of shots and showed poise and skill in making successful defensive zone transitions, getting themselve out of trouble time after time.

Our 3 stars of the game were:

1) Ryan Bullock - 3 goals
2) Darren Mann - speed, persistence and a goal made him a solid choice
3) Derik Yuskiw - Revelstoke's brightest light- blocked shots, punishing body checks and solid forechecking

In other action:

Fernie takes a 3-0 lead in their series defeating Creston 7-2 in Creston.

In Beaver Valley it was the NiteHawks taking a 2-1 series lead over favoured Nelson with a 4-3 win.

All series resume tonight so get out and cheer your favorite team.