KAMLOOPS, November 29, 2017 — Jermaine Loewen scored with 29 seconds left Wednesday night at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, British Columbia, to give the Kamloops Blazers a 4-3 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The T-Birds travel to Kennewick to face the Tri-City Americans on Friday at 7:05pm. The T-Birds return home to accesso ShoWare Center on Saturday to play the Blazers at 6pm.
Seattle (11-12-2-1) took a 1-0 lead 1:29 into the first period. Nolan Volcan brought the puck out from behind the Kamloops net and got a shot off. The puck came off Kamloops goalie Dylan Ferguson to Sami Moilanen to the left of the net. Moilanen took several swipes and the puck and got it past Ferguson for his team leading 14th goal of the season.
Kamloops (12-13-0-0) tied the game 1-1 on an unassisted power-play goal by Ryan Pilon at 7:58 of the first.
The Blazers took a 2-1 lead at 11:08 of the first when Carson Denomie tipped a Joe Gatenby point shot past Seattle goalie Dorrin Luding. Pilon had the second assist.
Kamloops made it 3-1 58 seconds after their second goal when Ondrej Vala scored on a wrist shot from the left point. Nick Chyzowski and Brodi Stuart had the assists.
The Blazers outshot the T-Birds 14-13 in the first period.
Tyler Carpendale scored his first career WHL goal 2:04 in the second period to cut the Blazers lead to 3-2. Donovan Neuls took the puck to the net hard on the left wing. Neuls centered the puck to Carpendale on top of the crease. Carpendale redirected the puck into the net. Austin Strand had the second assist.
Kamloops outshot Seattle 10-9 in the second period and led 24-22 in shots after two periods.
Dillon Hamaliuk scored a breakaway goal on a power play at 2:17 of the third to tie the game 3-3. Goalie Dorrin Luding stopped the puck for Turner Ottenbreit. Ottenbreit made a stretch pass from deep in the Seattle zone to Hamaliuk at the Blazers blue line. Hamaliuk came in on Ferguson and beat the goalie high for his third goal of the season.
The T-Birds pulled Luding after Loewen’s goal for an extra attacker. They got the puck into the Kamloops zone but were not able to secure a tying goal.
Kamloops outshot Seattle 35-34 in the game.
Luding had 31 saves and his record is now 3-8-0-0.
Ferguson made 31 saves and his record is now 9-9-0-0.
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.
Season Tickets for the WHL Champion T-Birds 2017-18 season are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Moilanen 14 (Volcan, Wedman), 1:29. 2, Kamloops, Pilon 13, 7:58. 3, Kamloops, Denomie 2 (Gatenby, Pilon), 11:08. 4, Kamloops, Vala 7 (Chyzowski, Stuart), 12:06. Penalties – Luding, Kam (delay of game-served by Philp), 2:02. Vala, Kam (delay of game), 5:42. Volcan, Sea (slashing), 6:36. Kneen, Kam (tripping), 19:08.
Second period – 5, Seattle, Carpendale 1 (Neuls, Strand), 2:04. Penalties – Lee, Sea (tripping), 14:37. Pilon, Kam (tripping), 15:26.
Third period – 6, Seattle, Hamaliuk 3 (Ottenbreit, Luding), 2:17 (pp). 7, Kamloops, Loewen 12, 19:31. Penalties – Smith, Kam (tripping), :24. Lee, Sea (tripping), 3:12.
Shots on goal – Seattle 13-9-12 34, Kamloops 14-10-11 35. Goalies – Seattle, Luding 35 shots-31 saves (3-8-0-0), Kamloops, Ferguson 34-31 (9-9-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-3; Kamloops 1-3. A – 3,352. Referees – Brett Iverson, Ward Pateman. Linesmen – Riley Balson, Dustin Minty.