| Hardworking Effort From Blizzard Earns Them Key Point In Playoff Race | |
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 While not getting the win will sting for the Blizzard, in the big picture getting a point from a 4-3 overtime loss is very important to this team's playoff chances. They got a point on the road, against a good team and a team that had lost 3 straight prior to Wednesday's matchup.For awhile though it looked like the Blizzard may not even get a chance to tie the game if not for 3rd period goals by Kory Kimpinski at 15:12 and TJ Constant's equalizer at 18:56 with goaltender David Aime on the bench. The Stampeders are very tough to come back on at home and have not lost too often in the Centennial Arena. The Stampeders were not their best last night and may not have even scored if not for 3 Blizzard turnovers resulting in the first 3 Stamps goals. Chris Reimer scored twice for the home side with the nicest goal being the 3rd goal at 18:34 of the 2nd which looked for awhile like the back breaking goal. Good teams capitalize on their chances and although the Blizzard had more chances than the Stamps did, they did not make the most of their's. Two examples would be the Gui Vallee breakaway in the 1st period without getting a shot on goal and a Blizzard 2-on-1 also in the 1st and again no shot on goal. After being outshot 11-5 in the opening frame the Blizzard dominated the shot clock with a 41-27 mark overall in the game. But as Shelby Gray showed, it only takes 1 shot sometimes and that was the case 28 seconds into overtime. Gray has arguably the hardest shot in the league and he simply beat Aime with a good clean shot glove-side to win the game. The Blizzard remain winless on Wednesdays but are now 0-5-1 after picking up a point. Wednesday was also at least the 3rd time this season the Stamps have beaten the Blizzard on a Wednesday after losing the night before. That quirky stat led Stamps coach Dwayne Kirkup to joke before the game that maybe they should schedule games on every Wednesday next year. Next up for the Blizzard is their final 3-in-3 road trip of the season starting in Friday in Portage where the Blizzard have won once before this season. All 3 games can be heard on CJ 1240 with the pre-game show at 7:10 each night. 3 Stars  1-Chris Reimer: 2 goals  2-Jayme Janzen: 38 saves  3-JB Voyer: 2 assists Crunch of The Game TJ Constant on Dylan Trowell in the 2nd period Hardest Worker Jory Geddes: Assisted on Constant's tying goal but he continues to struggle to score. However he did work hard, had a couple of scoring chances and also set up some other chances. Race For The Crossover As of right now the Blizzard have 53 points to the Blues' 52. OCN has 9 games left with 4 at home (Selkirk X2 and Wayway X2) and 5 away (Portage X2, Wayway, Swan Valley and Dauphin). Winnipeg South has 8 games left also with 3 at home (Winnipeg, Wayway and Selkirk) and 5 on the road (Dauphin, Winnipeg, Winkler, Selkirk and Portage). The Blues have arguably the tougher schedule and can do no better than 68 points so that shows how many points would unquestionably get the Blizzard in the playoffs. But even if the Blues go 4-4, the Blizzard would only need 8 points in their final 9 games. Clearly winning is the best thing for the Blizzard but to think they will go 9-0 is silly so a little help from some other teams wouldn't hurt either. |
| Last Updated ( Friday, 05 February 2010 16:55 ) |