Swan River - The Blizzard and Stampeders meet for the 7th time this season tonight at the Centennial Arena starting at 7:30. Both teams will be trying to get back on the winning track as well. The Blizzard will also be trying to move back ahead of the Winnipeg South Blues for the final playoff spot while the Stamps will again try to put more distance between themselves and Portage for 2nd place in the Sherwood Division.

For the Blizzard (23-23-2-4=52 pts.), every point they can get will be crucial down the stretch will be crucial towards securing a playoff spot. They have 10 games left while the Blues have 9. The best thing the Blizzard can do is just win as both them and the Blues have tough schedules with the Blues maybe having the tougher one. Getting a win tonight in Swan Valley would certainly be a major step in the right direction for OCN.

No question the Blizzard need to rely on a balanced scoring attack but a couple of players that need to get going are TJ Constant and Jory Geddes. By their own admission they have struggled. In particular is Geddes, whose last 2 goals were January 6th and November 13th. Both guys have to break out sooner or later and tonight would be a great time to do it.

Entering tonight the Stampeders have dropped 3 straight and all on the road so they will no doubt be a surly bunch. At 31-18-2-3=67 pts. the Stampeders by no means have 2nd place in the Sherwood locked up but they still have the benefit of a 5-point lead on Portage, the 1st team to beat Swan Valley in their current losing streak.

A little home cooking never hurt anybody and the Stamps have beaten the Blizzard twice on Wednesday this year at the Centennial Arena after the Stamps have lost the night before. Tonight could be another case of win on Wednesday after losing on Tuesday. The Stamps of course boast arguably the deepest group of forwards in the MJHL. The Blizzard know that first hand even though the last 2 meetings they have kept the top line of Gray-Stevens-Reimer pointless.

Tonight's game will be on CJ 1240 starting with the Murray Dunn GM Pre-Game Show at 6:40.

Woeful Wednesdays

The Blizzard record on Wednesdays this year is 0-5 and 4 of those losses are to the Stampeders with the other being to Neepawa. But the Blizzard don't just lose on Wednesdays, they get beaten badly. In the 5 mid-week losses the Blizzard have scored 14 times but have given up a whopping 31 goals. 

Previous 10

The Blizzard previous 10 games were all in January where they 4-5-0-1 including 0-3 on the road.

The Stamepders are just 5-5 over their last 10 contests with 3 of the wins coming at home.

Season Series

The Stampeders lead 4-2.

September 15th @ OCN - The Blizzard get outshot 40-25 but win 5-2 as 5 players have 2 or more points.

September 16th @ Swan River - The Stampeders open up a 5-0 lead before the game is half done and hang on to win 5-3. This time the Blizzard out shoot Swan Valley 33-32.

November 11th @ OCN - A truly wild night at the GLMC. The Stamps go up 3-0 only to have the Blizzard tie the game. Then Swan goes up 5-3 and again the Blizzard tie things up only to fall 7-5. The Stamps top line or Gray-Stevens-Reimer combine for 5 goals and 13 points.

January 6th @ OCN - At one point the game was tied 2-2 but the Stamps but it open to win 6-2 again getting 13 points from the line of Gray-Stevens-Reimer.

January 19th @ OCN - David Aime clearly was the story of this game as he turned aside all 45 shots thrown his way in blanking the Stamps 1-0. Curtis Brolund scored the only goal.

January 20th @ Swan River - The Blizzard again hold the Stamp's top line pointless but their 2nd line did the bulk of the damage in a 5-1 win. Ryan Marshall scores once, short-handed no less and sets up 3 others while Carter Selinger scores 2 goals.

-Smalley-