WHL Roundup: Smith scores twice as the Blazers beat the Americans

Colin Smith scored twice Friday as the Kamloops Blazers downed the Tri-City Americans 4-1 in the Western Hockey League.

Smith now has 30 goals in 48 games, which ties him for second in WHL scoring with Nicolas Petan of the Portland Winterhawks. Adam Lowry of the Swift Current Broncos leads all scorers with 31 goals in 47 contests.

Chase Souto and Matt Needham each had a goal and an assist for the Blazers (30-13-5), who won for the first time in three outings, while JC Lipon and Cole Ully had two assists apiece.

Jesse Mychan scored the lone goal for the Americans (26-17-3), who had their three-game win streak halted.

Taran Kozun made 20 saves for the win, while Luke Lee-Knight turned away 29 shots in a losing cause.

Lee-Knight has taken over the starting position for Tri-City after it was announced before the game that Eric Comrie will miss the remainder of the season.

Comrie, who has sat out since Jan. 9th, is expected to miss up to four months to recover from surgery that will take place on Feb. 4th to repair his hip. The 17-year-old goaltender had an MRI on Monday, which showed the damage.

"It sucks right now," Comrie said. "It is better to do it (surgery) while it is minor. The doctors say I will be more flexible, have better range of motion and be pain free."

Though he will miss the remainder of the season, Comrie does not believe this setback will affect his draft status this summer.

"The scouts have seen me play," he said. "By the draft I should be healthy."

Comrie appeared in 37 games this season with the Americans and posted a 20-14-3 record.

Kamloops went 1-for-3 on the power play, while Tri-City scored once on five chances.

Elsewhere in the WHL it was: Lethbridge 5, Portland 4 (SO); Kootenay 2, Regina 1; Saskatoon 5, Moose Jaw 4; Prince Albert 3, Brandon 2; Calgary 5, Prince George 3; Medicine Hat 2, Edmonton 1; Kelowna 4, Spokane 2; Victoria 6, Vancouver 2; and Everett 5, Seattle 1.

At Kennewick, Wash., Mychan opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 2:30 of the first period, however the Americans' offence went silent for the rest of the game.

Needham tied the game 1:52 into the second period and Souto gave the Blazers their first lead of the game just four minutes later.

Smith added two more goals for Kamloops in the third period to blow the game open.

Hurricanes 5, Winterhawks 4 (SO)

At Portland, Ore., Remi Laurencelle and Reid Duke scored in the shootout and Ty Rimmer made 38 saves as Lethbridge (22-20-6) ended the Winterhawks' 14-game win streak. Portland dropped to 37-5-2 on the season.

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Ice 2, Pats 1

At Regina, Jaedon Descheneau scored both goals and Mackenzie Skapski turned away 29 shots as Kootenay (20-25-1) handed the Pats (18-25-4) their fourth straight defeat.

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Blades 5, Warriors 4

At Saskatoon, Matthew Pufahl had a goal and an assist and Andrey Makarov made 27 saves as the Blades (22-20-2) slipped past Moose Jaw (14-24-8), which is winless in its last eight games.

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Raiders 3, Wheat Kings 2

At Brandon, Man., Mark McNeill scored twice on the power play and Luke Siemens stopped 33-of-35 shots as Prince Albert (27-15-4) edged the Wheat Kings (16-26-4).

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Hitmen 5, Cougars 3

At Calgary, Victor Rask and Zane Jones each had a goal and an assist as the Hitmen (31-11-4) beat Prince George (13-25-6) to move into first place in the Eastern Conference standings.

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Tigers 2, Oil Kings 1

At Edmonton, Cam Lanigan stopped 28-of-29 shots and Elgin Pearce's second-period goal stood up as the winner as Medicine Hat (21-22-3) edged the Oil Kings (30-11-5).

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Rockets 4, Chiefs 2

At Spokane, Wash., Jordon Cooke made 38 saves and Ryan Olsen scored twice as Kelowna (33-10-3) doubled up the Chiefs (28-16-1) for its 10th win in its last 11 games.

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Royals 6, Giants 2

At Vancouver, Steven Hodges scored two goals and Alex Gogolev had a goal and two assists as Victoria (24-17-3) crushed the Giants (12-34-0) for its fourth win in as many contests.

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Silvertips 5, Thunderbirds 1

At Everett, Wash., Kohl Bauml scored twice and added an assist while Ryan Harrison had a goal and two assists as the Silvertips (18-26-2) beat Seattle (16-26-3), which is now winless in 15 games.