Mann to Man

Ouch! Sting Get Stung - Storm Wins 8-2

It took all of 12 minutes for Darren Mann to show his coaches and his fans that he is all growed up now. Mann, on a lightening fast line with Kamloops Blazer product Ryan Hanes and Californian speedster, Shawn Menton left the opposition Summerland Sting swarmed and stung early.

Mann was everywhere, scoring 3 goals in 3 distinct manners. First, he took advantage of a juicy rebound on a howitzer by Hanes. His second goal was a converted opportunity on a loose puck. And his third goal was the result of constant pressure and a pretty passing play between the speedy linemates.

If it weren't for poor positioning by the referee, it could have been 4 goals in the first period, but the goal was disallowed as the official had lost site of the puck.

Mann played for the Storm 2 years ago when he stuck with the team as a 17 year old tenacious, hard checking speedster. He has returned with all the qualities he possessed back then but with a little more size and lot more smarts. The Storm, who haven't shown a lot of offensive savvy so far this season have now found an important piece of the puzzle.

Last night's game was played without the benefit of 2 other speedsters, short-handed specialist Brandon Long (separated shoulder) and Travis Cech (suspension-3 games). With those 2 guys in the lineup Kamloops could be the team to beat this year.

And this was only the first half of the game.

The second period saw much of the same pressure as the first when Jose Reyes, David Gore and Mick Ludvig caught fire. Having Mann, Menton and Hanes attracting a lot of the attention, tihis was the perfect catalyst for a wake up call for this line as they struck for 2 more quick goals in the first half of the 2nd period.

In the middle of the second period, up 6-0, the Storm relaxed a little and found themselves in the penalty box. Summerland, needing to dig deep, turned up the pressure and fired 2 goals of their own, only 1 min-9 seconds apart and carried the play for the rest of the period.

Then Kamloops put it away in the 3rd, again, 2 goals by the Reyes line. David Gore had 2 goals (one in the second period and one in the 3rd, Ludvig one goals and Reyes finished with 1 goal and 3 assists, the line's biggest offensive output of the year.

Daniel Medland Marchen also scored in the first period. Marchen has a very solid game, stepping up into the offensive play, driving the net and hustling back to defend. He is looking more comfortable each time out and will be a steadying force on the blueline.

With the great performances on the evening it's almost a tragedy that we haven't mentioned the Kamloops starting goaltender last night, Christian Pedersen. The 18 year old native from Calgary got his first start of the season and did not disappoint. He moved well and was able to see most of the pucks coming his way. We look forward to seeing him more although the 3 goaltender situation in Kamloops is likely to get broken up shortly with someone being traded. Count on Tory Caldwell finding another home in the future as he is ready to step up into a "starters role".

The love extends to David McIvor and the Fernie Ghostriders tonight at the Mac Island Sports Centre. Fernie took it on the chin, losing 3-2 to a solid Chase Chiefs team in Chase last night. Fernie, still a force in the league will face a team as talented as they were the last 2 years when they won the league championship, disposing of the Storm both times in the final.

Game time tonight - 7pm

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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.