Blazers Slip Past T-Birds in Overtime
December 1, 2016 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
KAMLOOPS, BC - Kamloops Blazers goalie Connor Ingram made 52 saves Wednesday night at the Sandman Centre to lead the Blazers to a 4-3 overtime win over the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Deven Sideroff scored the overtime game-winning goal for the Blazers on the power play at 1:03 of the extra period.
The T-Birds had a season high 55 shots on goal in the game. They had 18 shots in the first period, 20 shots in the second period and 17 shots in the third period.
The T-Birds have back-to-back home games at ShoWare Center this weekend. They play the Kootenay Ice on Friday at 7:35pm and the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday at 7:05pm.
Kamloops (15-12-1-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead 17 seconds into the first period on goal by Rudolfs Balcers. Garret Pilon and Ondrej Vala had the assists.
Seattle (13-9-2-1) tied the game 1-1 with 18 second left in the first period. Scott Eansor passed the puck to Nolan Volcan on the right wing on a two-on-two rush. Volcan charged the net with the puck and got a shot off. Ethan Bear put the rebound past Kamloops goalie Connor Ingram for his eighth goal of the season.
The T-Birds outshot the Blazers 18-5 in the first period.
Mathew Barzal put the T-Birds in front 2-1 at 7:50 of the second period. Ryan Gropp got around a Blazer defenseman in the neutral zone and entered the Kamloops zone on the left wing. Gropp took the puck to the net and his shot rebounded off Ingram's left pad to Barzal just outside the crease. Barzal put the puck over Ingram for his second goal of the season.
The Blazers tied the game 2-2 at 19:07 of the second on an unassisted shorthanded goal from Sideroff.
Seattle led 38-9 in shots after two periods by outshooting Kamloops 20-4 in the second period.
Spencer Bast scored two minutes into the third period to give the Blazers a 3-2 lead. Pilon and Conner McDonald had the assists.
Ryan Gropp tied the game 3-3 with a power-play goal at the five-minute mark of the third. Barzal had the puck in left circle and crossed the puck to Gropp in the right circle. Gropp beat Ingram with a wrist shot over the goalie's glove for his sixth goal of the season.
The T-Birds outshot the Blazers 17-9 in the third period and 55-21 in the game.
Seattle goalie Matt Berlin made 17 saves on 21 shots and his record is 3-0-1-0.
T-Birds single game tickets for the 2016-17 season are currently on sale. Fans can purchase single game tickets online or at the ShoWare Center box office.
T-Birds 2016-17 season tickets are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period - 1, Kamloops, Balcers 16 (Pilon, Vala), :17. 2, Seattle, Bear 8 (Eansor, Volcan), 19:24. Penalties - Bishop, Kam (slashing), 7:17. Vala, Kam (interference), 9:46.
Second period - 3, Seattle, Barzal 2 (Gropp), 7:50. 4, Kamloops, Sideroff 13, 19:07 (sh). Penalties - Balcers, Kam (tripping), 8:47. Shirley, Kam (slashing), 17:17.
Third period - 5, Kamloops, Bast 5 (Shepard, McDonald), 2:00. 6, Seattle, Gropp 6 (Barzal, Kolesar), 5:00 (pp). Penalties - Ormsby, Sea (roughing), 3:13. Shepard, Kam (double minor-roughing), 3:13. Davidson, Kam (high-sticking), 6:49. Eansor, Sea (tripping), 19:30.
Overtime - 7, Kamloops, Sideroff 14 (Pilon, Shirley), 1:03 (pp). Penalties - No penalties.
Shots on goal - Seattle 18-20-17-0 55, Kamloops 5-4-9-3 21. Goalies - Seattle, Berlin 21 shots-17 saves (3-0-1-0); Kamloops, Ingram, 55-52 (12-9-1-0). Power plays - Seattle 1-5; Kamloops 1-2. A - 3,184. Referees - Jeff Ingram, Nick Swaine. Linesmen - Riley Balson, Spencer Lockert.
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