2009 Kamloops Storm Awards Banquet

On Sunday Feb 22 the Kamloops Storm held their annual awards banquet and presentation at the McArthur Island Curling Club lounge. It was a good turnout and the potluck meal buffett was absolutely spectacular. Thanks to everyone who brought food . The desserts were decadent.

There were a total of 9 Awards given out. The Award winners are as follows:

The Coaches award sponsored by DICO Holdings/The Mortgage Centre :

David Gore and Anthony Manfredi

A & W Most Points Award:

David Gore

Radio NL Jim Harrington Game Breaker Award:

Jose Reyes

A & W Hard Hat Award:

Devin Gannon

Home Hardware Defenseman of the Year Award:

Shae Naka and Mike McCance

Eastside Marios Fan Favorite Award:

Mick Ludvig

Sandi Dewar Unsung Hero Award:

Scott Kirkham

Canada Logo Rookie of the Year:

Ryan Hanes

The McDonalds Three Star Award Winners:

Devin Gannon and Anthony Manfredi

Playoffs begin on Tuesday Feb 24 and Saturday Feb 28 at 7pm at McArthur Island Sports centre.

Barry Dewar, General Manager - Kamloops Storm

Storm Gathering Strength

Despite Dwindling Bench

The Kamloops Storm continue to create distance between them and the pack in the KIJHL Okanagan-Shuswap division. After 3 divisional games, gathering 5 of a possible 6 points, the Storm is poised to enter the New Year in first place despite the depletion of the roster.

The only blip on the radar this weekend was a 5-4 OT loss to the Posse on Friday night in Princeton. After a convincing 4-0 win over the Revelstoke Grizzlies at home on Saturday, the Storm followed up with a high scoring win, 7-4 over the visiting Summerland Sting.

Kamloops came into the year with a deep roster at all positions. As the year has progressed there have been a number of trades, deletions and injuries that have cut back on critical manpower but to the credit of the management and coaches, the team just keeps rolling along.

Austin Goode (5), Jose Reyes (7), David Gore(6), and Jamie Galbraith(5) all had big point weekends, Galbraith being the most consistent of the bunch as he had goals in every game.

Despite the success, the Storm have had to dip into the AP pool because of various injuries and illnesses. Kyle Graham has gone from AP to a signed back-up goaltender as Christian Pedersen continues to rehabilitate from a knee injury. With the departure of Sheldon McDonald and illness to Mike McCance (mono), James Friedel has filled in one spot temporaily while Logan Hawgood (AP) and Daniel Buchanan (AP) played alternately at home this weekend.

The forward too, have been shorthanded. Players like Duncan Shultz (AP), Rylan Willoughby(AP), Cody Jules (AP) and Ryan Clark (AP) have done an adequate job while Ryan Hanes (ankle) and Tyler Jackson (knee) recover from their injuries. It's unlikely that either of these guys will be back before Christmas.

So, despite the dent in the depth chart, the Storm keep rolling. Let's hope that the New Year brings them health and a full roster.
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The back-to-back games against Chase this coming weekend have more on the line than points and pride.




It's the Men-in-Pink weekend where the Storm will be wearing pink jersys in support for Breast Cancer. H.I.S. Ventures has purchased the pink jersys and helmets for the referees. The jersys will then be auctioned off and the money donated to the Breast Cancer Foundation. You can also purchase T-shirts at the game where $5 from each sale goes to the cause. The T-Shirts sell for $15. If you where pink to the game in Kamloops, $1 will be donated.

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Princeton Gets a Break... Lose only 7 Points for an ineligible player

The Posse caught a break from the league who only assessed a 7 point penalty for having an ineligible player on the roster since Oct 5. They could have lost as many as 22 points if the league stayed with the letter of the law. However that kind of penalty may have had enough negative effect on the team that they would have had to fold, considering they probably would have been eliminated from playoff contention in December, fan support would dwindle and team sponsorships could dry up. A compassionate but necessary decision by the league to help keep a long time franchise above water. As it is the Coach/GM's job to ensure that the rosters are in order, the responsibility falls on them. Therefore, coach and gm, Dale Hladun will be suspended for a total of 9 games for his oversight.

A fair ending to a complicated piece of league legislation.
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Kamloops Storm Split Weekend Points

Grab 3 of a Possible 6 Points.

A win, a loss and an overtime loss is what the Kamloops Storm bring back from this past weekend road trip to the East Kootenay's.

This was the first extensive road trip for the team and although they didn't dominate the competition, they survived. This October road trip has always proved tough on the team as they have to learn to get their road legs, find out more about each others bad habits and most of all, find the guy real leaders on the team.



Obviously, the line of Reyes, Gore and Ludvig have started showing their leadership on the ice. This line contributed a total of 15pts over the weekend and at least one of them was involved in 7 of the 11 goals that the Storm managed to muster up. This is good news for the Storm as this line started the year slow but are now gaining momentum.

Nice to see Josh Caron back in the lineup. He will be a welcome addition to the blueline.

Ryan Hanes requires minor surgery on his ankle that will keep him on the sidelines for about a month.

No word on Brandon Long (we miss his penalty killing). He's out with a banged up shoulder and was still not skating when the boys left for the road trip.

After 2 very commendable appearances between the pipes in Kamloops, Christian Pedersen faced his first adversity as he got pummeled by Golden on Friday night. He was pulled mid-way through the 2nd period and replaced by Anthony Manfredi. It happens. Christian is going to be a good goaltender for the Storm. Hang in there kid.

game summaries

Thanks to Jeremy Salamandyk for sending the game summaries.
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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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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.

Ghostriders Conquer the Storm

Jordan Reid Does it All for Fernie in KIJHL Road Win

Jordan Reid, a 20 yr old forward from Prince George imposed his will on the Kamloops Storm early in the game and scored all three goals for the Fernie Ghostriders in a 3-1 win at the MacPark Sportscentre in North Kamloops last evening.

And... he did it with variety.

His first goal, at 9:35 of the 1st period was a short-handed tally that had Kamloops captain, Jassi Sangha's head spinning. In Sangha's defense, he was kind of hung out to dry. While on the power play, Sangha was playing his usual point position and received a pass at the middle of the blueline with Reid pressuring. With Reid in his face, Jassi tried to get rid of the puck through his legs. Low percentage, no support. The puck bounced off of Reid's shinpads past Sangha and he had a clear breakaway from the Fernie blueline to Storm goaltender Brennan Jones. Reid chose to shoot from between the circles and beat Jones through the five-hole to put the score up 1-0.

Just over a minute later with Scott Kirkam in the box for kneeing, Reid capitalized on the PP with a lovely 3 way passing play between him, David McIvor and Scott Traverse.

Kamloops came out flying in the second period and at 5:26, Devon Gannon popped his 3rd goal of the season with some hard work from linemates David Gore and Jose Reyes.

Around the middle of the 2nd period, the whole game took a shift for the worse as referee Tom Henetiuk started blowing his whistle to command a parade to the penalty box. There were no less than 14 penalties called in the last 11 minutes of the period and he spent most of his time explaining his point of view to the coaches. It looked like he was having an ongoing feud with Storm bench boss, Ed Patterson regarding line changes and he put on a command performance to steal the show. Completely ruined the flow of the game.

The third period was a little tighter with Fernie holding the edge in play. Brennan Jones did his part for Kamloops, keeping them in the game making save after spectacular save. Reid finally got his chance to complete his hat-trick with an empty net tally just after Jones left the net for an extra attacker.

Fernie has always given Kamloops a tough time, with Kamloops winless against them over the last 2 seasons (4 regular season games and 4 straight in the playoffs last year). Although the Storm were seriously shorthanded with Lundy Treneman still out with an ankle injury and Jake Young leaving the game late in the first period from a blow to the head. The team put in a good effort, particularly in the 2nd period before the melee and some of the young guys got some valuable playing time.

With the win, Fernie now moves into first place in their division with a one point lead over the Creston Thundercats who took it on the chin (5-2) courtesy of the Chase Cheifs last night. The visiting teams will change places tonight with Creston in Kamloops and Fernie wandering down the road to Creston.

Player notes:

Great effort from Brennan Jones, his best home game of the season.
Devon Gannon is steadily improving as is Tod Stephenson who's skating and physical play has come up a notch or two in the last 3 weeks.
Payden Wongstedt and Shea Naka are progressing well on D.
Brock Backus, a recent newcomer is starting to find his place and Jose Reyes was probably the most consistent forward on the evening.

On the downside:

I've seen this before at many levels in hockey and I'm not sure how coach Patterson is going to break the habit. The team is having a tough time scoring goals and part of it is finding a way to capitalize on the deep cycle. There seems to be a lot of work down low in the offensive corners but the puck just isn't getting out for quality scoring chances. In fact, it seems that many times it is the only option (cycling) that the forwards have on their minds as they penetrate the offensive zone.
A little creativity and foot movement may go a long ways in beating this rap.

See you at tonight's game against Creston or listen up for free while it lasts on the streaming video broadcast provided by the Kamloops Storm and the KIJHL.

Your comments are welcome but keep it clean.

Kamloops Storm Grounds Golden Rockets

Jake Young Scores Hatrick in Lopsided Win!

After a sloppy and boring first period where both teams and the crowd needed a wake-up call, the Kamloops Storm scored 5 goals in the 2nd period of last night's game to bury the Golden Rockets.

The first period may have been the sloppiest period of hockey we have seen all season with both teams showing very little in continuity, crispness and accuracy. One of the people in the crowd observed that Kamloops completed two passes in a row only twice in the opening frame. Never the less, the game was tied 2-2 going into the 2nd.
Cody Cringan scored both Golden goals in the first period, the first goal coming at only 0:55 sec of the period. The puck was shot in along the glass when the puck caremed off a glass support to the crease where Kamloops goaltender, Tory Caldwell attempted to cover up the puck. Apparently, the puck was still visible and a sharp and persistent Cringan poked at it until it slipped quietly into the net.
A few minutes later, with Scott Kirkam in the the box for hooking, Lundy Treneman worked his penalty killing magic by stripping the puck from a Rocket defender and went in on a 2-on-0 breakaway with... the hottest sniper in the league right now, Jassi Sangha... fed him the puck and Sangha had no problem burying the biscuit to tie the scored at one.
At 16:53 with Golden on the power play, Cringan scored his second of the period with a quick blast from the left side circle, beating Caldwell cleanly.
Golden forward Luke Rasmussen took a penalty for tripping with only 5 seconds left with the faceoff in the Golden end. This ended up being the "TSN turning point" of the evening as Sangha stepped into the circle, won the faceoff back to Cody Lockwood who fed Jamie Galbraith who let the quick shot go. Sangha, drifting back toward the net took Galbraith's shot in his body or off his stick and the puck went into the net with literally no time left on the clock to tie the score at 2.
From then on, it was all Kamloops, particularly in the 2nd period.
Jake Young started his assault on the evening on a nice feed from Jose Reyes with a laser beam over the shoulder of Rockets goaltender Edwin Weightman. A minute later, Todd Stephenson, the Australian National Team junior benefited from some hard work by David Gore and a sweet pass from Sangha to quickly put Kamloops up 4-2.
The buzz was starting.
Then it was Young getting his second of the evening at 6:28 of the 2nd period on the power play, assisted by Treneman and Lockwood.
Josh Caron scored his first goal of the season when he took advantage of some sloppy play by Golden in their own zone by driving the net and finishing off another sweet feed by Sangha at 14:35. David Gore completed the 2nd period assault by the Storm on the power play with assists from Treneman and Mike Hanes.

With the score under control Kamloops coach Ed Patterson started giving more ice time to his 3rd and 4th lines who matched up well with whatever Golden through at them and Tory Caldwell stood tall in the nets to stop some pretty good opportunities by the Rockets as they tried to make a game of it.
Young capped off his evening with his hat-trick goal at 7:55 on a 2 on 1 pass from Reyes, again a wristed laser beam over the shoulder of Weightman to make the score an unsurmountable 6 goal advantage.

Young ended up being 1st star with 3 goals and one assist.
Sangha had a 4 point game with 2 goals and 2 assists to garner 2nd star honours.
And Cody Cringan, with his 2 goals in the 1st period, captured the 3rd star position.

With the win, Kamloops ties Princeton for bottom spot in the competitive Eddy Mountain - West Division with 12 points on a 6-6 record, but only 4 points behind division leading Summerland who lost a squeaker to Revelostoke last night.

Be sure to tune in for tonight's game or make your way to the MacPark Sports Centre here in Kamloops for a showdown of last years Division finalists, the Revelstoke Grizzlies. Game time is 7pm and we will be broadcasting the game with play-by-play video streaming for your enjoyment.

The Storm Report - by Barry Dewar

Game One of the 2007/08 season is in the books.

The Storm had a convincing 7-3 win over the Kimberley Dynamiters. The Storm scored all seven goals on special teams with 6 power play goals and one shorthanded goal.
Jassi Sangha lead the way with 6 points (3 goals and 3 assists) in another Domino Pizza give away for all the fans. Jassi playing on a line with Lundy Trenaman and David Gore on the power play were pretty much unstoppable. Jassi also scored one shorthanded goal and almost had more as he enjoyed the return to the Storm. Trenaman and Gore also had great nights with Gore getting one goal and 3 assists while Trenaman set up 4 goals for 4 assists.

Some other highlites of the night included our first video webcast. While we still have some technical glitches to fix overall it seems to be well received and word is the games will be archived for review should the need arise.

Other goal scorers for the Storm were Payden Wongstedt of Fort St. John who played a stellar game on defense, Jose Reyes from Kamloops and Dominic Alec also from Kamloops got the other goals. Wongstedt took a great pass from Scott Kirkham on a goal mouth pass while Alec and his line of Riley Marsh and Brandon Long were strong all night long. Reyes who came to the Storm after playing last season fit in nicely in his Storm debut but left the game late in the third period after a cheap shot by one of the Dynamiters injured him. Derek Henderson of Langley answered the bell for his teammate by pummeling the offender in his first fight of the season. Henderson also had a strong game on the blue line as did Cody Lockwood who will be one of the leaders on the defense.

Brennon Jones got the win in net making 33 of 36 saves. Jones was tested early and made a couple of big saves and played a strong game in net.

The win is the first for the coaching tandem of Ed Patterson, Gille Leberre and Chad Ferris who ran an excellent bench.