Needing a Flicker

Photo by Kelvin Harrison

Before I get to the topic of the day, Canada has looked good in their first two games, but will need to figure out who their starting goaltender moving forward, as Carey Price and Roberto Luongo have started a game each.  The U.S. (as of this writing) is in a deadlock with Russia entering the second period.

Now, on to the topic at hand, and the reason for the picture above.  I know what you're thinking, and no, I won't wax poetic about the Portland Winterhawks this time.  Rather, today is about the fall from grace that the Kamloops Blazers have endured this season.  As of this morning, the Blazers are waking up to a now 11-game losing streak and are currently dead last in the WHL standings.  Yes, that means Lethbridge is no longer the worst team in the WHL.  So, what went wrong for the Blazers, who were in the Conference Finals just last year and took Portland to seven games in the semis the year before that?  Prior to the season, Guy Charron stepped down as head coach and Dave Hunchak was named to take his spot.  Last month, Hunchak was exiled from the team and Charron stepped back in on an interim basis.  This would be an indication that the players on the team were clearly tuning out Hunchak, who simply seemed in over his head on a Blazers team that lost their top two scorers from last season in J.C. Lipon and Colin Smith, as well as Brendan Ranford to graduation and Cole Cheveldae in a trade.  Early in the season, Tim Bozon asked for and received a trade to Kootenay, further weakening a Blazers team that needed all the offense they could get.  Taran Kozun played pretty well despite the lack of offense, but now, he's putting up better numbers in Seattle.  As for the last time Kamloops won, it was January 22, when they beat Lethbridge (yes, the same team that was the worst for much of the season) 7-1.  The Blazers are currently the second worst offense in the league, with Lethbridge being worse, and are the fourth worst defensive team in the league.  Cole Ully is currently the only player who is above the 50 point mark and Chase Souto is the only other player besides Ully to have 20 goals or more.  Goaltending isn't as bad as people think, as no one on the current roster has a GAA above 4.00.  However, none of them have a GAA below the 3.50 mark.  Part of that can be attributed to a defense that simply hasn't been there, with Josh Connolly being a chief offender with a -30 rating despite being the team's second leading scorer.

It's been a bad season for the Kamloops Blazers, and certainly, they are in line for the first overall pick in the Bantam Draft.  Where the help will come from is anyone's guess, and figuring out who will coach the team next season is most likely a question they will need to answer, as Charron is likely finishing out the season for his handpicked successor that couldn't finish the season.