T-Birds Fall Just Short in Portland
February 11, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
PORTLAND, February 11, 2018 - The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-3 Sunday night at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
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The T-Birds next game is Friday, February 16, at 7:35pm against the Everett Silvertips at accesso ShoWare Center.
The T-Birds are tied with the Tri-City Americans for the first wild card playoff spot in the Western Conference. They are three points behind the third place Spokane Chiefs.
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Seattle (27-20-6-2) took a 1-0 lead at 4:48 of the first period. Noah Philp passed the puck up the left wing to a streaking Dillon Hamaliuk. Hamaliuk had a partial breakaway, skated into the left circle and snapped the over the left shoulder of Portland goalie Shane Farkas.
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Portland (35-18-1-3) tied the game 1-1 on a shorthanded goal by Joachim Blichfeld at 13:16 of the first.
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The T-Birds took the lead back on the power play at 19:11 of the first. Austin Strand had the puck at the right point. Strand passed the puck to Turner Ottenbreit at center ice. Ottenbreit took a slap shot with traffic in front of Farkas. Ottenbreit's shot beat Farkas low on the blocker side. Donovan Neuls had the second assist on Ottenbreit's seventh goal of the season.
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Both teams had 10 shots on goal in the first period.
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The Winterhawks tied the game 2-2 at 15:30 of the second period on a goal from Lane Gilliss. Jake Gricius and Dennis Cholowski had the assists.
Seattle took the lead back with one minute to go in the second with a power-play goal. Ottenbreit had the puck at center ice and he passed it to Strand in the left circle. Strand one-timed the pass. Matthew Wedman's tipped Strand's shot past Farkas for his 13th goal of the season.
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Portland outshot Seattle 9-8 in the second period and led 19-18 in shots after two periods.
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Ryan Hughes tied the game 3-3 for Portland at 8:48 of the third period on assist from Gricius and Cholowski.
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The Winterhawks took a 4-3 lead when Alex Overhardt got a rebound from a Blichfeld shot past Seattle goalie Dorrin Luding.
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Seattle killed a late Portland power play and then pulled Luding with 45 seconds left in the game to try and get the tying goal. Blichfeld was able to chase down a loose puck and score an empty-net goal with 20 seconds left to seal the win for Portland.
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Luding made 31 saves on 35 shots and his record is now 8-12-1-0.
Farkas made 19 saves on 22 shots and his record goes to 9-5-0-0.
T-Birds single game tickets for the 2017-18 season are currently on sale online on the T-Birds website and at the accesso ShoWare Center box office.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period - 1, Seattle, Hamaliuk 13 (Philp), 4:48. 2, Portland, Blichfeld 19, 13:16 (sh). 3, Seattle, Ottenbreit 7 (Strand, Neuls), 19:11. Penalties - Kaluski, Sea (roughing), 8:16. MacLean, Sea (roughing), 8:16. Gilliss, Por (roughing), 8:16. MacKenzie, Por (slashing), 11:36. Ottenbreit, Sea (roughing), 14:40. Hughes, Por (roughing), 14:40. Gilliss, Por (high-sticking), 17:29.
Second period - 4, Portland, Gilliss 4 (Gricius, Cholowski), 15:30. 5, Seattle, Wedman 12 (Strand, Ottenbreit), 19:00 (pp). Penalties - Strand, Sea (hooking), 8:50. Newkirk, Por (high-sticking), 18:38.
Third period - 6, Portland, Hughes 11 (Gricius, Cholowski), 8:48. 7, Portland, Overhardt (Blichfeld), 13:02. 8, Portland, Blichfeld 20, 19:40 (en). Penalties - Katzalay, Sea (charging), 2:05. Blichfeld, Por (hooking), 2:54. Huo, Sea (hooking), 17:22. Ottenbreit, Sea (10-minute misconduct), 20:00.
Shots on goal - Seattle 10-8-4 22, Portland 10-9-17 36. Goalies - Seattle, Luding 35 shots-31 saves (8-12-1-0); Portland, Farkas 22-19 (9-5-0-0). Power plays - Seattle 2-4; Portland 0-4. A - 6,122. Referees - Adam Griffiths, Jeff Ingram. Linesmen - Adam Brastad, Mark Heier.
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