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Ernst stops 45 as Blazers outplay first-place Winterhawks in 5-1 win

Blazers beat 'Hawks 5-1

Dylan Sydor scored a pair and Dylan Ernst made 45 saves Wednesday at Sandman Centre as the Kamloops Blazers beat the first-place Portland Winterhawks 5-1.

Olen Zellweger, Dylan Sydor (2), Matthew Seminoff and Logan Stankoven were the goal scorers for the Blazers. Kyle Chyzowski scored the lone Portland goal.

The Blazers led 3-0 after two periods before Portland started to apply pressure in the third. Chyzowski scored at 12:56 to give the Winterhawks life and bring them within a pair, but Sydor and Stankoven answered back in short order to put the game back out of reach.

Dylan Ernst made 45 saves on 46 Portland shots to earn his 25th win of the season in net, which is tied for the WHL lead. Dante Giannuzzi stopped 35 of 39 Kamloops shots in a losing effort.

The Blazers were scoreless on two power-play opportunities and the Winterhawks could not score on three chances. Stankoven’s empty-net goal was scored short-handed.

Announced attendance at Sandman Centre was 5,389.

With the win, the Blazers improve to 28-10-4-2 on the season, first place in the WHL’s B.C. Division and second in the Western Conference to the Winterhawks, who fall to 34-9-2-1 with the loss.

The Blazers will be back in action with a busy three-game weekend. The will host the Prince Albert Raiders (18-25-3-0) on Friday, take on the Vancouver Giants (18-21-4-2) in Langley on Saturday and then host the Victoria Royals (14-29-4-1) on Sunday.



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