WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

Blazers Trip Up T-Birds

Published on January 17, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


Kent, WA - The Kamloops Blazers needed two goals from Brendan Ranford and a 45 save effort from goalie Jon Groenheyde to defeat the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-2 on Saturday night at the ShoWare Center in Kent.

Seattle outshot Kamloops 11-8 in the first period.

The Blazers (22-20-2-3) jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 2:26 of the second period with a shorthanded breakaway goal by Ranford. The goal by Ranford was unassisted. The T-Birds (14-25-3-4) tied the game 1-1 a minute later with Colin Jacobs' sixth goal of the season at 3:54. Tyler Alos controlled the puck behind the Blazers' goal and fed a centering pass to Jacobs who was standing alone just outside the crease. Jacobs fired a quick one timer that beat Groenheyde five hole. Tanner Muth had the second assist on the goal.

Kamloops regained the lead with a power-play goal by Ranford at 18:27 of the period. It was Ranford's second goal of the night and 17th of the season. CJ Stretch and Chase Schaber earned the assists.

Seattle outshot Kamloops 22-10 in the second period and held a 33-18 shot advantage through 40 minutes of action.

Jordan DePape gave the Blazers a 3-1 lead at 7:58 of the third period with his 10th goal of the season. Schaber had the lone assist.

Prab Rai cut the Blazer lead to 3-2 with just under a minute remaining. The T-Birds pulled goalie Calvin Pickard for an extra attacker with two minutes remaining and held the puck in Blazers' zone. Rai carried the puck behind the Blazer net and beat Groenheyde with a wrap around shot for his team leading 25th goal of the season. Jeremy Schappert and Jacobs picked up the assists.

The T-Birds added a flurry of shots in the final minute but could not score the equalizer.

Seattle outshot Kamloops 14-5 in the period and 47- 23 in the game.

Groenheyde faced 47 shots and made 45 saves. His record improves to 7-9-1-1.

Pickard made 20 saves on 23 shots. He is now 12-21- 3-4.

The T-Birds face the Everett Silvertips Sunday evening at the Comcast Arena in Everett. Game time is 5:05 p.m.

T-Birds single game tickets for the 2009-10 season are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

T-Birds Group tickets are currently on sale. Group tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

Check out the Seattle Thunderbirds Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from January 17, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central