Blazers defeat Hounds in thriller final
Kamloops Jardine Blazers celebrate their victory
Scott Schmidt – Medicine Hat News
Down 4-1 in the third to the most well known hockey school in the country, the Kamloops Jardine Blazers were all but finished in the championship game of the 38th-annual Medicine Hat Hockey Hounds Major Bantam Hockey tournament.
However, after successfully coming from behind to beat the same Notre Dame Hounds in round robin action, the Blazers were not about to give up. A parade of Hounds penalties allowed the Blazers to get within one at 5-4 then Monty Chisholm took over the game.
First he tied the contest with 53.2 seconds remaining sending it to sudden death overtime. Then, with 52.2 seconds left in the first extra frame, he put the winner home to give his club the title.
“It all starts in the room,” said Chisholm. “We have a really tight group, where everyone cheers each other on. We knew if we just kept on going hard and never quit we could get back into it.
“When we do the things that a good team does- skate, hit hard and score big goals – we are hard to beat.”
Alternate captain Chad Butcher took home game MVP honors with a one goal and four assist performance, including assists on the final 3 tallies. Mitchell Barker, Matthew Murray and Ryan Gropp had singles for the Blazers, while Joseph Hicketts pitched in with a pair of helpers.
Jeremiah Addison had a hat trick in a losing cause for Notre Dame, with Joey Ratelle and Josh Uhrich adding a goal each. Addison too home player of the game honors for Notre Dame.
Considering the Hounds from Wilcox, Saskatchewan, pull from a nationwide talent pool, a team completely from the city of Kamloops going home with the title is pretty big.
“They have a lot of heart, and I’m very proud of the way they played,” said head coach Don Schulz. “We were down a little bit after the second period, and Notre Dame was taking it to us.
“But we regrouped in the room and the kids just seemed to rally around each other. This is a special crop of kids; they’re a fun group to coach.”
The event didn’t go as planned for the local squad, as Medicine Hat rode a 1-4 record to a 12th place finish. The only year the home side has won this 38 year event was 1999.
“From our team’s perspective, I think it gave us a good opportunity to see how many great players are out there at this age,” said head coach Jason Bartram. “It was an exciting event and the Hockey Hounds put on a great tournament for us and we are more than proud to be a part of it.”
The good news is the event was a major success even without a strong home result. The two teams to meet in the final put on an n amazing show and the four-day tourney brought hundreds of thousands of dollars to Medicine Hat through hotels, food and other expenditures.
“We always do well with this event, with the number of teams coming in,” said Tournament Chair Brian Varga. “There is no easy game here and that makes it a great tournament.”
“We don’t mind tooting our own horn here. We’ve been around 38 years, and you just have to look around and see how many scouts are here from the Western Hockey League to see what kind of caliber we have here.”