Blizzard 6 - Stampeders 4

Another early lead and solid goaltending to back it up led to a 6-4 victory for the OCN Blizzard.

Brandon Beaulieu turned aside 35 of 39 shots fired hos way and once again was cool as a cucumber in the Blizzard goal.

Beaulieu has been a revelation of sorts over his last three starts, he's a big body (6'3) who sets himself up big in the goal and does a good job in conserving his energy. His rebound control has been phenomenal and his calmness in goal seems to be rubbing off on his defenders.

Wilson Dumais scored the games first goal after tipping in an Evan Zdunich point shot, Dumais would add another before the game was out.

Tyler Grove potted two including the second of the game just over six minutes into the first frame.

Brendan Barron and Edward Bayer added the other markers, both players led the NorMan Northstars of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League in scoring in their final seasons of midget.

The Blizzard are in Swan River tonight for the second half of the home and home series.

Puck drop is at 7:30 and will be carried live on CJ1240.

Game Preview: #25 of 60 - vs Swan Valley Stampeders

After picking up four of a possible six points in their last three games the OCN Blizzard (10-13-1)head into what could be a season defining home and home series with the Swan Valley Stampeders (12-13-1).

The Stampeders have a four point lead on the Blizzard for second place in the division but OCN holds two games in hand, if the Blizzard can sweep the series OCN will be tied with the Stamps in points while holding their two game advantage, if OCN loses both they'll drop eight points back.

Swan Valley is without Cole Holowenko for the foreseeable future as the former WHL netminder is out with a leg injury, Nathan Armstrong has taken the starters role while Head Coach Erik Pedersen's son Lasse Pedersen is the back up.

Alex Henry will finish serving his three game suspension over the series and will be eligible to return on Friday night against Waywayseecappo.

Here is how the two teams match up:

LAST 10 GAMES:

Swan Valley: 5-4-1
OCN: 3-7-0

TOP SCORER:

Swan Valley: (94) Max Flanagan - 21 G, 14 A, 35 PTS, 26 GP
OCN: (93) Tyler Grove - 15 G, 14 A, 29 PTS, 19GP

TOP GOALTENDER:

Swan Valley: (94) Nathan Armstrong (8-5), 3.05GAA, .912Sv%
OCN: (95) Brandon Beaulieu (3-1), 3.99GAA, .900Sv%

POWER PLAY:

Swan Valley: 16/111 (14.41%) 8th - 5SHGA
OCN: 13/80 (16.25%) 6th - 2SHGA

PENALTY KILL:

Swan Valley: 91/112 (81.25%) 6th - 1SHGF
OCN: 105/134 (78.36%) 11th - 2SHGF

Puck drops at 7:00PM at the GLMC.

About last night...Blizzard 4 - Blues 2

After a loss to the Portage Terriers in which the Blizzard felt they fought not just the opposing team but the refereeing as well OCN played a strong team game on Saturday night to pick up two points in a 4-2 win.

With Alex Henry serving the first game of a three game suspension, Brandon Beaulieu got the start in goal for OCN and played a superb game.

Beaulieu turned aside 49 of 51 shots his way, the Blizzard did a good job of keeping most of those shots to the outside, scoring opportunities were even in the game. Beaulieu was impressive, his rebound control was excellent, few times did he give the Terriers a second crack at the puck and his calmness in goal seemed to rub off on his defense who seemed less agitated than they did the night before against Portage.

If Beaulieu continues to play like that over the next two games the Blizzard coaching staff will have a tough decision as to who will start once Henry is eligible to return.

The Blizzard celebrate their 4-2 victory.

The game started slowly and slightly sloppily but a Wilson Dumais fight with Mitch Hansen of the Blues pulled some energy into the building and gave the Blizzard enough jump for Edward Bayer to score what could be the goal of the year with 2:59 left in the first. Bayer picked up a head of steam heading down the right wall, danced around the defender and fired a shot past the blocker of Scott Parsons for his fifth goal of the season. The deke and shot brought back memories of Bayer's play with the NorMan Northstars of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League when he was the team's leading scorer and one of the most gifted players in the league in his 17-year old season.

Early in the second OCN's top line made it's mark on the game as Damien Kulynych made a pretty backhand pass to Tyler Grove who slid the puck under the left pad of Parsons just 1:13 into the period giving OCN the 2-0 lead.

The Blues' offensive fire power came to life just six minutes later on a power play goal by a knuckle puck from Ben Sveinson. That goal was followed up by a Mitch Hansen marker at 16:50 of the second period.

In the third the Blizzard would retake the lead as Rhett Law tipped in a shot from Edward Bayer, the goal was Law's second of the season and the 18-year old looked great on the third line with Bayer and veteran Kirk Chief.

Camacho Lathlin doubled the Blizzard lead with just 4:20 left in the third period after knocking home a Tyler Grove rebound. Lathlin looked good on the back end tonight and used his offensive talents to create some good opportunities earlier on in the game.

The shots were 51-20 in favour of Winnipeg.

Winnipeg went 1/4 on the power play while OCN was 0/1.

The Pire Tire  3 Stars:

1. Brandon Beaulieu (49/51 saves)
2. Edward Bayer (1 goal, 1 assist)
3. Kirk Chief (2 assists)

Return of the blog - Blizzard host Blues (GM #24/60)

I've had a number of fans and MJHL followers ask me to bring the blog back, so I have.

Some stuff here will be posted on the blizzard site, some won't. One reason I brought it back is for extra content, its much easier to post pictures and videos here than it is on the Blizzard website just for formatting.

The blog may switch names, and colour schematics over the next few weeks, but either way it has returned.

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The OCN Blizzard (9-13-1) host the Winnipeg Blues (11-8-3) tonight at the GLMC. The two teams have met just once so far this season, it was a 10-0 Winnipeg win on November 1st at the MTS IcePlex.

NEWS:

Alex Henry has been suspended for 3 games for his fight with Taylor Joseph last night

Assistant Coach Jason Smith has been suspended for 2 games for a gross misconduct received in the third period last night.

TOP SCORER:

Winnipeg: Jordan McCallum - 4G, 16A - 20PTS
OCN: Damien Kulynych - 7G, 21A -28PTS

POWER PLAY RANKINGS:

Winnipeg: 19/117 (16.24%) 5th - 2 SHGA
OCN: 13/79 (16.46) 4th - 2 SHGA

PENALTY KILL RANKINGS:

Winnipeg: 81/101 (80.20%) 8th  - 4 SHGF
OCN: 102/130 (78.46%) 11th - 2 SHGF

RECORD OVER LAST 10 GAMES:

Winnipeg: 6-3-1
OCN: 2-8-0

Tonight's game will be broadcast on CJ1240, and for those wondering it is the same ref crew as last night.

LINEUPS

BLUES

G: #30 - B.Spriggs / #35 S.Parsons

D:

#6 - C.Bresciani / #4 B.Sveinson
# 25 - M. Rafter / #3 C.Danylchuck
#21 - G.Browning / #7 M. Heisinger

F:

#8 K.Nault / #9 J.McCallum / #15 T.Lewis
#10 S.Rowswell / #19 L.Bilton / #20 M.Ramin
#18 G.Keane / #27 M.Hansen / #24 L.Kroeker
#17 W.Kallis / #23 J.Schreyer / #2 C.Comeau

BLIZZARD

G: #35 B.Beaulieu / #25 B.Claeys

D:

#13 C.Robak / #12 E.Zdunich
#4 R.Gratz / #6 N.Speiss
#2 Z.Fontaine / #9 C.Lathlin

F:

#15 W.Dumais / #19 TJ. Constant / #10 D.Cardinal
#16 T.Grove / #21 G.Valiquette / #37 D.Kulycnych
#17 R.Law / #20 E.Bayer / #14 K.Chief
#26 B.MacInnis / #28 B.Barron / #11 T.Potskin

tune in at www.thepasonline.com