The Kamloops Blazers rolled through the Wild Rose province like a stiff Alberta breeze.
The Blazers beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-4 in overtime in a WHL game on Friday. It was Kamloops' ninth straight victory, including four on its Central Division road trip.
Kamloops (11-0-1), which scored earlier victories in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton, will finish its five-games-in-seven-nights trip against the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook tonight.
On Friday, it was Brendan Ranford who played hero. Ranford, who scored in a shootout as Kamloops beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-4 on Wednesday night, scored 3:20 into overtime last night.
It ended an excellent game for Ranford, who had two goals and two assists. Ranford now has 19 points, including seven goals, in 10 games this season.
Dylan Willick had a goal and two assists in the victory, with Tim Bozon and Colin Smith also scoring power-play goals.
JC Lipon, who came into the game having picked up multiple points in seven straight games this month, had an assist on Bozon's first-period score.
Lipon has 28 points, including 17 assists, and leads the league in scoring. He is three points ahead of second-place Smith, who has 25 points, 17 of them assists.
Ranford is tied for third in league scoring, while Bozon, with 18 points, is tied for sixth.
Ranford's heroics came after the Blazers coughed up a three-goal lead in the third period.
Kamloops was ahead 4-1 and cruising right along when the third period started. But the Hurricanes' Russell Maxwell scored 36 seconds into the period, before Jay Merkley cut the lead to 4-3 less than two minutes later.
Maxwell tied the game 6:25 into the third, setting up a furious finish. But Taran Kozun, who ended with 23 saves, shut the door in improving to 4-0-1.
Ty Rimmer made 34 saves for the Hurricanes, whose other goal came from Daniel Johnston.
JUST NOTES: Attendance was 3,492. . . . Kamloops is the only team in the CHL without a regulation loss. . . . Unfortunately for the Blazers, they only have one more trip to Alberta - they will play four games in five days there from Dec. 11-15. . . . The Blazers scratched D Sam Grist, RW Jordan DePape (shoulder), D Jordan Thomson, D Ryan Rehill and RW Chase Souto. . . . Kamloops was 3-8 on the power play, while the Hurricanes went 0-2. . . . After tonight's game in Cranbrook, the Blazers will have a well-deserved break before playing host to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Oct. 26.
