The Kamloops Blazers are absolutely on fire right now and are definitely the team to watch if interested in junior hockey. This organization has pushed passed all of their competition throughout the season and currently rank first place in their conference. Having already clinched a playoff spot, the next goal in mind is winning the WHL championships.
Before talking about where they currently stand, it’s essential to mention how they got to this position. After finishing second in their conference during the 2020-2021 regular season, the Blazers were extremely motivated to come back and prove themselves once again this year. A short but meaningful offseason saw a lot of off-ice training, as well as the signing of crucial players to this years roster. In the five preseason games the Blazers came out hot winning the first four and losing the fifth game in a tough shootout. It’s without a doubt that they were ready for the regular season.
Picking up directly where they left off, the Blazers started the regular season with a dominant 17-3 record. In these first 20 games, they outscored their opponents 97-35 and proved they were a top team in the Western Hockey League. A star studded roster helped the Blazers coast through the early stages of this years season but did not come without any challenges. The high energy and momentum from the first 20 games was suddenly disrupted due to an injury in the loss to the Vancouver Giants on December 3rd. Defenseman Mats Lindgren who was a cruical part of the teams success experienced an ankle injury that sidelinded him for the next couple games. His current stats show that he’s an extremely selfless player who completely changes the dynamic of the teams offense. He has only scored 4 goals throughout the season, but has 34 assists which was a definitive factor in the teams shift in success. The loss of his presence resulted in the Blazers going 6-9 over the next 15 games and dropping their first place spot.
Proving just how good of a team the Blazers really are, the dynamic in the locker room once again became exemplary of a winning franchise. By learning from the hardship in the last three weeks, the team went on to begin a nine game win streak. They then followed this exceptional play by winning the next 8 out of 11 games bringing them to where they are today.
With 13 games left to go in the regular season, the Blazers still stay on top of the rankings. An impressive record of 39-14 puts them three games ahead of the second place Everett Silvertips. This organization is full of great talent and truly embodies the meaning of teamwork. After coasting through the regular season, the Blazers are highly motivated for the playoffs and taking home the gold.
References
Blazers to host rockets in Final home preseason game. Post. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://blazerhockey.com/article/blazers-to-host-rockets-in-final-home-preseason-game
Blazers, K. (2019, September 21). Recalled! D mats lindgren has been called up for the remainder of the weekend. pic.twitter.com/dyq9ofebhp. Twitter. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://twitter.com/blazerhockey/status/1175540510074781697
Kamloops Blazers 2021-2022 regular season schedule. Hockey Fights. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.hockeyfights.com/teams/5004/schedule/reg2022
Kamloops Blazers – official site of the Kamloops Blazers. Post. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://blazerhockey.com/standings/275/
Training camp day 2 summary. Post. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://blazerhockey.com/article/training-camp-day-2-summary-2
Outline
1 – Goal: The goal of this story is to provide context in regards to how the team is doing throughout the season. The title of the website is “Chasing Championships”, and I will use this assignment to outline their progress of winning the WHL playoffs.
2 – Audience: I want this to be an easy read for anybody. I hope that I can write this story so that anybody regardless of their knowledge of hockey can comprehend the teams progress. The whole purpose is to give a breakdown of how good the team is, how they are doing throughout the season and how close they are to their goal.
3 – Core Information: The most essential part of this story is the position they are currently in. The blazers are in first place right now, and I would like to show how they got here.
4 – Detailed outline (each paragraph must have a main topic/information):
a) Title: The Long Road to Greatness
b) Introduction: Context and hook
c) 1st paragraph: The Pre season
d) 2nd paragraph: The ups and downs throughout the season. Bring up the main conflict.
e) 3rd paragraph: The bounce back from hardship to get to where they are now
f) Conclusion: How close they are to their goal and what the future holds for them
g) Where are photos going to be placed? : In between each body paragraph there will be a photo