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WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

T-Birds Dominate Cougars

January 20, 2008 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


Seattle, January 20, 2008 - Bud Holloway scored two goals and Greg Scott had a goal and two assists Sunday night to pace the T-Birds to a 5-1 victory over the Prince George Cougars in front of 3,781 at KeyArena.

The T-Birds improved to 21-16-5-2 in the US Division standings and are now in sixth place in the Western Conference playoff standings. They are one point ahead of the Chilliwack Bruins and seven points behind the Everett Silvertips for fifth place in the conference with five games in hand.

Seattle took a 1- 0 lead at 14:18 of the first period on the 22nd goal of the year from Holloway. Greg Scott brought the puck into the Prince George zone on the left side. The puck squirted loose from Scott's control to Holloway coming down the slot. Holloway controlled the puck and with a Cougar defender harassing him from behind and beat Prince George goalie Real Cyr through the legs.

The T-Birds took a 2- 0 lead at 16:25 of the first on a goal by Scott. Goalie Riku Helenius stopped a Cougars dump in behind his net. He passed the puck to Thomas Hickey who streaked up on the left side and into the Cougars zone. At the bottom of the left circle Hickey centered the puck to Scott coming down the slot. Scott tipped Hickey's pass past Cyr for the goal. The assist by Helenius was his first point in the WHL.

Seattle outshot Prince George 16-4 in the first period.

David Richard put the T-Birds in front 3-0 at 4:45 of the second period. Jim O'Brien kept the puck in at the blue line on the left side on an attempted clearing pass. He skated down the boards and then backhanded the puck to Prab Rai in the high slot. Rai put a shot on goal that rebounded to Richard to the left of the goal. Richard put the rebound past Cyr for his eighth goal of the year.

Richard was awarded a penalty shot at 8:09 of the second when he was hooked from behind on a breakaway. Richard shot just wide right on the attempt.

Seattle went ahead at 18:17 of the second when Holloway scored his second goal of the night. Scott came down the right wind and put a shot on goal from the top of the right circle. Holloway was crashing the net on the shot and he poked the rebound through Cyr's legs for the goal. Lindsay Nielsen has the second assist on the goal.

The T-Birds outshot the Cougars 16-10 in the second period and led 32-14 in shots after two periods.

Dana Tyrell scored at 4:16 of the third period to put the Cougars on the board. Matt Cumming and Greg Gardner had the assists.

Sena Acolatse made it a 5-1 Seattle lead when he scored on a slap shot from the blue line at 14:39 of the third. Nielsen brought the puck into the Cougars zone on the right side and made drop pass to Acolatse at the left point. Acolatse's slap shot beat Cyr high on the glove side. Hickey had the second assist on Acolatse's fourth goal of the year.

Seattle had 16 shots in the third period while Prince George had 13 shots. The T-Birds finished the game with a 48-27 advantage in shots.

Helenius stopped 26 of 27 shots and his record improves to 11-9-5-1.

Cyr faced 48 shots and made 43 saves and his record is now 7-18-0-1.

The T-Birds next game is Wednesday, January 23, at the Kamloops Blazers at 7 p.m. The T-Birds travel to Spokane to face the Chiefs on Friday, January 25, at 7 p.m. They are home on Saturday, January 26, to take on the Everett Silvertips at 7:05 p.m. at KeyArena.

Season tickets are currently on sale for 2007-08 at KeyArena. Fans purchasing 2007-08 season tickets will have the highest seating priority for the 2008-09 season as the Thunderbirds open the new Kent Events Center. Priority can be established right now by calling 206-448-PUCK (7825) or for more information go to www.seattlethunderbirds.com.

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