Cole Ully, a winger for the Kamloops Blazers, is at a loss to explain the peculiar statistics he has accumulated in his first WHL season.

"It's kind of luck . . . and timing - I don't know," Ully, a Calgarian who turns 17 on Feb. 20, said after practice Thursday at the Interior Savings Centre.

Ully and the Blazers are scheduled to play a pair of games against the Kelowna Rockets this weekend. The teams will meet today, 7 p.m., at ISC, before Saturday's rematch in Kelowna.

Ully has played 42 games in his WHL career, but already has made his mark with the Blazers (38-12-1-3), who boast the best record in the 22-team league.

His 14 points are decent numbers for a 16-year-old, as are his eight goals.

But the statistic that stands out is the fact that Ully has scored five game-winning goals. Five game-winners out of eight - that's an incredible success rate.

"I'm just trying to contribute out there," said Ully, who is tied for 15th in the league in game-winners. "If my goals happen to be game-winners, great. But I'm just trying to score when I can and help out the team."

Another of Ully's interesting statistics is his penalty-minutes total.

Through 41 games this season, Ully has only picked up two penalty minutes - they came on a tripping minor he was assessed during a 3-0 victory over the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes on Jan. 18.

It should be noted, however, that the man Ully was pinched for tripping, defenceman Spencer Galbraith, also received an embellishment minor on the play.

Ully is one of two Blazers players not responsible for an opposing power play this season - Jordan DePape, who was injured in his sixth game and has yet to return, is the other.

"I like to stay disciplined," shrugged the 5-foot-11, 155-pound Ully. "That's one of the key words of our team - defence and discipline."

Silly statistics aside, Ully really has been a fine contributor for the Blazers this season.

Kamloops took him in the second round, 30th overall, of the 2010 bantam draft. He played the 2010-11 season for the midget AAA Calgary Flames, scoring 34 goals in 32 games, and also won a bronze medal with Alberta at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax in February.

Ully made his Blazers debut in Lethbridge on Feb. 23, 2011, earning an assist - it came on a post-game scoring change - in a 5-4 overtime victory.

He made the team out of training camp in September, scoring four exhibition goals, but was a healthy scratch for four of the Blazers' first 14 games. He missed five games in November with a mild concussion, but finally found a consistent spot in the lineup in mid-December, and has played every game since.

Ully's productivity has improved since a rough December, in which he played 11 games, didn't record a point and was minus-6.

He had two goals and two assists and was plus-6 in 12 January games, and has recorded one point in each of the Blazers' four February games.

He also is on his first goal-scoring streak, having bulged twine in three straight games, including game-winners against the Thunderbirds in Seattle on Saturday and the visiting Tri-City Americans on Wednesday.

It's all part of the natural progression of a 16-year-old in the WHL.

"I'm starting to feel more comfortable," Ully said. "As I get more experience in the league, I get more confident, and things have been going good lately."

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As clutch as Ully has been (in terms of game-winners), Moose Jaw Warriors centre Kenton Miller has him beat.

Miller, 20, has scored the winner in each of his team's last five victories. Moose Jaw has won five of six games, its lone setback a 6-2 loss to the Blades in Saskatoon on Friday.

Miller is tied for second in the league with seven game-winners, behind Medicine Hat's Emerson Etem, who has nine. Tied with Miller is Kamloops forward Brendan Ranford, and Blazers captain Chase Schaber is tied for fifth in the league at six.

Neither Ranford nor Ryan Hanes practised Thursday, but Blazers head coach Guy Charron said both are nursing minor injuries

"It's a precautionary thing; they're good to play," Charron said. "With what we had planned today, there's really no reason to put them in the position to aggravate their injuries."

Kamloops forward J.C. Lipon, who missed the last three games with a concussion, will play this weekend, Charron said.

JUST NOTES: The Rockets (24-24-2-4) are sixth in the Western Conference. They last played Wednesday, when they lost 2-0 to the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds. . . . Ranford and F Colin Smith are on five-game point streaks. Ranford has eight points, including six goals, on his streak, while Smith has three goals and three assists. . . . The Blazers' power play is 9-for-64 over its last 13 games, but their penalty kill is 16-of-17 over five games. . . . According to the WHL's weekly injury report released Tuesday, the Rockets will be short a few players tonight. D Mitchell Chapman (upper body), RW Filip Vasko (lower body), C Spencer Main (upper body), LW Brett Bulmer (illness) and RW Jessey Astles (upper body) are all expected to miss the weekend's fun. . . . LW Brett Lyon, who once played for the Blazers, will be serving the second game of a six-game suspension he received for a check to the head of Prince George Cougars F Jarrett Fontaine on Friday.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca