Hanes and Goode Dominate Score Sheet

Tory Caldwell Wins 2 Between the Pipes!

With a 2 game sweep of weekend games, the Kamloops Storm are only 1 point out of first place in the division with 2 games in hand. Currently tied with the Chase Chiefs and only 1 point behind the Sicamous Eagles, the Storm are starting to make some noise in the division.

Rookie Ryan Hanes and 3rd year vet Austin Goode dominated on the score sheet this past weekend, scoring 6 of the 7 goals by the Storm, while Travis Cech scored a game-opening, short handed goal in Sicamous on Friday.

Tory Caldwell was impressive, stopping 28/29 on Friday night and 29/30 on Saturday's game for a weekend GAA of 1.00 and Save Percentage of 0.9661... rather stellar I might say and certainly putting a little pressure on regular starter and past MVP, Anthony Manfredi.

On the weak side, the power play was a miserable 0 for 7 while they still managed to score one short-handed marker by Cech. To date the team has 4 Power Play goals and 3 Short-Handed goals, an interesting ratio, would you agree?

Coach Patterson has been putting an awful lot of faith in the inherant first line of Reyes, Gore and Ludvig, who for some reason can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn door these days. You gotta wonder if there is a little shake up in the offering, noting that this line had a total of ZERO POINTS for the weekend. A bit of an underachievement to say the least.

Stay tuned for this weekend's home stand as the Storm hosts division rivals Summerland Sting on Friday and perennial league powerhouse, the Fernie Ghostriders on Saturday.

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What are your comments on the past weekend games?
(click comments below - your views and opinions are welcome - keep it civil - thanx... DaveO)

Only in Canada you Say???

Hockey Night in Sheffield...England

Recently, a friend of mine who is visiting jolly old England needed to get his hockey fix. It was opening night for the local pro hockey team and ... I'll let him tell the story...

I just gotta share this with you - on Saturday night I decided to go see the Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey team play in their home opener against Coventry Blaze - a bitter rival from 60 miles down the M1.

It's the first time I've been since I was here back in 2004 and I was quite looking forward to getting my hockey fix. When I arrived it was very obvious that they had gone to great efforts to promote the fact that their product is a Family Affair as they want to fill the seats with whole families to negate the soccer hooligan mentality that permeates sporting events over here. They were handing out pom poms to all the little girls and little boys who came in with their Mom & Dads and they had clowns and mascots all over the place - competitions for the kids - I was really quite impressed - they really had gone all out to promote a family atmosphere.

I guess at game time there was about 6000 in attendance, many of them young families - even the cheerleaders were all under 12 and the little boys and girls were dancing and copying the cheerleaders who were showcased on the big screen - the kids were in their element.

The teams came on and the kids went wild as they lined up for the face off - right off the bat prior to the drop of the puck the Coventry left winger lifts his stick up and tries to castrate his opposite number - you guessed it - 5 on 5 (brawl). I couldn't believe my luck (Ha Ha), the atmosphere changed in an instant - all the fathers resorted to their football mentality and began shouting and screaming obscenities - the little kids stood there with pom poms at their side not knowing what to do - one little girls burst into tears and others where comforted by their mothers shielding their eyes from the mayhem that was ensuing.

It was one of the most surreal sights I have seen in hockey - all these kids brought in at great effort by the club only to be exposed to the most brutal violence sport can offer - I just sat there and watched the reactions of the families around me - it was hilarious - how ironic - some Moms were giving their husbands shit for jumping up and down and swearing, serving to frighten their children as there was blood all over the ice - it was great. It was 20 minutes before sanity was restored and all 12 players were ejected as both goalies were battling.

Sheffield won 5-1 - but I didn't care - all the entertainment was before the first puck was dropped - I'll be going next Sunday.

Only in Canada they say... what a hoot!

Later... DaveO

Storm Battle to a 1-1 Weekend

Leaders by Expectation Finally Step It Up

After a rather unenthusiastic effort in a 4-2 loss to the Golden Rockets, the expected leaders on the team took it up a notch and contributed big time in a 5-4 Saturday night tilt in Revelstoke.

I can quite imagine that coach Ed Patterson was aging rapidly waiting for some production from his designated first line of Mik Ludvig, Dave Gore and Jose Reyes. It took until game 4 to start hitting the scoreboard and I was wondering how long they were going to retain their status.
Through in some lackluster play from vets Austin Goode and Taylor Stuart and a knee injury to rookie speedster Sean Menton, things were not looking too good for offense.

On the bright side 3rd year Storm player, Scott Kirkham, has put on some more size and weight over the summer. His improved speed, strength and much improved shot have made him the team's leading scorer.

Also on the bright side, the young defensive corps have stood up very well. They seem to have mastered the art of d-to-d passing and limiting the low percentage stretch pass that turns too often into icing and disrupts the flow of the game. Doug Orr and Sheldon McDonald have been solid contributors and newcomer, Danie Medland Marchan was steady in his Storm debut on Friday's game against Golden.

Nice to see Darren Mann back. With Brandon Long, Kirkham and Tyler Jackson the Storm should rank very well in the PK by season's end.

The Storm is blessed with a lot of talent. Let's hope that the boys can start gelling before the Xmas break this year.

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Just some business to clean up...

I have been getting comments on the blog that would be more appropriate in an email. Unfortunately, I did not know that my kamloopsstormhockey address had been de-activated. I apologize to anyone who has tried to contact me in that manner. The email is again ACTIVE so please send your email comments or questions through the blog (there is a little "envelope" at the bottom of the post). The email is then sent directly to my inbox and I will be contacted that it is there.

The comment block on each posting is designated for comment on the recent games or topics written in recent blog entries. Sorry if this has caused any challenges.

To the listener that was requesting "highlight tape", I'm sorry, you will have to contact Barry Dewar. I just yak and write on the blog. The cameras and tape are in his hands. However, I might add, the cameras that bring you the game are stationary (mounted on the beams of the arena) and don't produce any better footage than what you are getting. We lost our game recording parent, Bruce Trenaman, who had tackled that task for the last 2 years.
Any takers? contact Barry Dewar.

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Funny Thing happened at the game against Golden...

Jose Reyes lost a skate blade near the end of the first period. I had not heard whether he could dig up another pair of skates or not. Near the end of the first intermission I looked along the concourse at the Mac Park centre and saw Jose dressed in street clothes talking to his Dad. At this point I'm wanting to get back on the air for the second period with some news. I asked Joe Cocco, who was sitting in the booth as the camera operator, if that was Jose. He said yes so I enthusiastically approched him and said "so Jose, what's the scoop, your not dressed anymore and your Fans want to know?" At this point I got the queerest look from the kid and I started asking again. He finally said to me, who do you think I am? I am not Jose, I'm his brother.

Well you coulda fooled me... we all had a laugh and when the period started the real Joses Reyes was on the ice as usual.

Storm Steal One from the Posse

Newcomers Show Some Dazzle

It was opening night and the Kamloops Storm and the Princeton Posse were meeting for the 4th time in less than 2 weeks.

The game started out a-blazing as the Storm scored an early short-handed goal by Brandon Long, a nice 2-on-1 with 3rd year vet, Scott Kirkham.
Princeton came back 3 minutes later when Nick Ceccone slipped a lost puck past Kamloops goaltender Anthony Manfredi who had just taken the puck in the facemask on a hard wrister from Spencer Brooks.

Princeton tallied the only goal in the 2nd period, on the power play when Brooks Christensen finished off a nice 2 on 1 with a nice feed from Wade Masch.

Both goaltenders stepped it up until late in the 3rd period. The Storm's Manfredi and Craig Stewart for the Posse came up with a number of big saves to keep the game close. However, late in the 3rd period, Travis Cech was awarded a penalty shot when he was hauled down on a breakaway. Cech, who had been showing some nice hands throughout the game, made a nice deke on Stewart and tied the game with 4 minutes left. Neither team seemed to want the 2 points as they traded marginal penalties through the end of the period and into the overtime period.

It was Sean Menton who stole the show with a highlight reel, end-t0-end rush that pulled the fans off their seats and settled the score at 3-2 for an opening game win. Menton and Cech, both newcomers, displayed some nice chemistry as well as individual talents that earned them #1 and #2 stars of the game respectively. Wade Masch, for the Posse, was the 3rd star.

The Storm play again, Sunday, Sept 14 at 2pm