WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

Kolesar Hat Trick Topples Royals

Published on February 14, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


KENT - Keegan Kolesar had a hat trick Sunday night to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-2 win over the Victoria Royals at ShoWare Center.

The Royals entered the game on an 11-game win streak and had a 2-1 lead more than seven minutes into the third period before the T-Birds struck for three goals.

The T-Birds won all four games against the Royals in the four-game season series. Seattle goalie Logan Flodell has won all four games against Victoria this season. He made 33 saves on 35 Sunday night to improve his record to 16-12-3-0.

Seattle is now 31-22-3-0 and five points behind the Everett Silvertips for first place in the US Division.

The T-Birds host the Spokane Chiefs on Friday at ShoWare Center at 7:35pm. They play the Everett Silvertips at Xfinity Arena in Everett on Saturday at 7:05pm.

The hat trick was Kolesar's second of the season. He had three goals against the Brandon Wheat Kings in a 7-2 win at ShoWare Center on October 27. Kolesar has 30 goals this season.

Seattle opened the scoring at 7:06 of the first period. Kolesar skated the puck down the right wing on a two-on-two with Nick Holowko. From the right circle Kolesar crossed the puck to Holowko. The pass hit a Victoria defenseman's stick and went over Victoria goalie Coleman Vollrath's right shoulder for the goal.

Victoria (37-16-2-3) tied the game 1-1 at 10:07 of the first on a goal from Tyler Soy. Vladimir Bobylev and Jack Walker had the assists.

Seattle outshot Victoria 12-10 in the first period.

The Royals took a 2-1 lead at 1:33 of the second period on a goal from Dante Hannoun. Chaz Reddekopp and Scott Walford had the assists.

Victoria led 25-17 in shots after two periods by outshooting the T-Birds 15-7 in the second period.

The T-Birds tied the game 2-2 at 7:36 of the third period on Kolesar's second goal of the game. Scott Eansor passed the puck from the neutral zone to Ryan Gropp skating down the left wing. Gropp centered the puck from the left wing with both Eansor and Kolesar going to the net. Kolesar poked the loose puck through Vollrath for the tying goal.

The T-Birds took the lead 3-2 at 14:12 of the third on the power play. Mathew Barzal passed the puck to Ethan Bear inside the blue line at center ice. Bear put a slap shot on goal that beat Vollrath high for his 13th goal of the season. Ryan Gropp had the second assist on the go-ahead goal.

Kolesar iced the game at 18:33 of the third with an unassisted empty-net goal. Kolesar forced a turnover inside the Seattle blue line, got the loose puck and skated up ice. Kolesar had one defenseman in front of him as he entered the Victoria zone. He fired wrist shot past the defenseman for his 30th goal of the season.

Victoria outshot Seattle 10-8 in the third period and 35-27 in the game.

Vollrath had 24 saves on 27 shots and his record is now 24-13-0-2.

T-Birds single game tickets for the 2015-16 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 am to 5 pm Saturday game days at 10 am and Sunday game days at noon.

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

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 14, 2016


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