WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

T-Birds Strike Five Times to Defeat Pats

November 14, 2008 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


Regina, SK, November 14, 2008 - Thomas Hickey scored twice and Jacob DeSerres made 27 saves Friday night at the Brandt Centre to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 5-3 victory over the Regina Pats.

The game was the fourth game of a seven-game road trip for the T-Birds. They are 2-1-0-1 on the trip so far and face the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Luck Lockhart gave the T-Birds a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Charles Wells battled for the puck in the left corner of the Pats zone. The puck squirted along the boards towards the Pats net where Lockhart was stationed. Lockhart carried the puck towards the net along the goal line and put a shot on goal. Regina goalie Damien Ketlo made the save but the puck lay in the crease. Lockhart kept going towards the net after the shot and put the rebound through the goalie's legs. Brenden Dillon had the second assist on Lockhart's second goal of the season.

Thomas Hickey put the T-Birds in front 2-0 at 11:02 of the first. Lindsay Nielsen carried the puck up the center of the ice. He fed the puck to Devon LeBlanc on the right boards at the Regina blue line with Hickey charging up the ice after Nielsen. LeBlanc held the puck and then passed it to Hickey to create a two-on- one with Nielsen. Hickey skated in and beat Ketlo with a backhand shot over the glove.

Jordan Eberle scored at 11:37 of the first to cut the Seattle lead to one goal. Jordan Weal and Michael MacAngus had the assists.

Regina's Brett Leffler made it a 2-2 game at 12:03 of the first when he scored. Graham Hood and Mitch Czibere had the assists on the goal.

Seattle (8-11-1-2) outshot Regina 16-11 in the first period.

Prab Rai converted a pass from David Richard on a two-on-one to put the T-Birds up 3-2 at 6:13 of the second period. Richard carried the puck into the Pats zone on the left side. The Regina defenseman went to the ice in front of his goal to take away the pass but Richard skated around him to the goal line and centered the puck. Ketlo was hugging the left post and couldn't get across the crease to stop Rai who put the puck into an empty net. Jeremy Schappert also had an assist on the goal.

MacAngus scored a five-on-three power-play goal at 8:30 of the second to tie the game 3-3. Eberle and Weal had the assists.

The T-Birds took a 4-3 lead on a power-play goal with 25 seconds left in the game. Jim O'Brien won a face off in the right circle of the Pats zone behind him. Rai came in from the slot, got the puck and sent it to Hickey at the right point. Hickey faked a slap shot making the Regina forward at the point go down try to and block the shot. Hickey skated around the defender to center ice and wired a slap shot through traffic past Ketlo.

The T-Birds led 30-19 in total shots after two periods by outshooting the Pats 14-9 in the second periods.

Seattle went in front by two goals with just over four minutes left in the third period. Chris Cloud sent a puck from the Seattle zone up ice to Jeremy Boyer to send him on a two-on-one break with Charles Well. Boyer carried the puck into the Pats zone on the left side. He crossed the puck to Wells who quickly snapped the puck past Ketlo over the glove.

Seattle outshot Regina 12-11 in the third period and finished with a 42-

Seattle goalie Jacob DeSerres improved his record to 3-5-0-0 by stopping 27 of 30 shots.

Ketlo stopped 37 of 42 shots and his record is now 4- 2-0-0.

Left wing Chance Lund and goaltender Calvin Pickard have been selected to take part in the Under-17 World Championships from December 29 to January 4 in Port Alberni, British Columbia.

Lund, from Fairview, Alberta, is one of 11 players from Alberta selected to play on Team Pacific. The other 11 members of Team Pacific are from British Columbia. Pickard, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, is one of 11 players from Winnipeg chosen to play for Team West. Saskatchewan will provide 11 players that will make up the remainder of Team West.

The Under-17 World Championships features five teams from Canada (Team Ontario, Team West, Team Quebec, Team Atlantic and Team Pacific) and teams from Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Russia and the United States.

The T-Birds take on the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in Brandon in the fifth game of their seven-game road trip.

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Western Hockey League Stories from November 14, 2008


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