Skip to Content
ON AIR NOW7:00 PM - 12:00 AMTotally 80's Friday Night
listen live
Home

Local News Now

Blazers at Seattle Thunderbirds, March 7, 2023

Victor Kaisar
Mar 7, 2023 | 10:08 PM


Blazers at Seattle Thunderbirds, March 7, 2023

Matthew Seminoff celebrates his goal against the Seattle Thunderbirds on March 7, 2023.

Matthew Seminoff scored the shootout winner as the Kamloops Blazers beat the Seattle Thunderbirds – the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League – 3-2 Tuesday night.

Caedan Bankier scored the other shootout goal while Dylan Ernst stopped both Dylan Guenther and Kyle Crnkovic as the Blazers snapped Seattle’s 13-game winning streak in what was a battle of the top two teams in the WHL’s Western Conference.

“Yeah, it felt amazing,” Ernst said postgame. “Two great shooters and they both tried to shoot the same place, and then [Bankier] had a great move and [Seminoff] capped it off with a great shot. It was just an amazing night.”

“We’ve had this date marked on the calendar for a while and we only played them once before and we lost in overtime so to come here and beat them in a shootout was awesome.”

Connor Levis scored the only goal of the first period, before Logan Stankoven doubled the Blazers lead early in the second period.

The T-Birds tied the game at 2-2 on a pair of goals from Jared Davidson four minutes apart in the second period before a scoreless final 20 minutes at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington.

Nico Myatovic then had a goal in overtime called off for goaltender interference though the T-Birds killed off the ensuing penalty to Guenther in a frantic five minutes as both teams eyed the game winner in front of 3,677 fans.

“We got some great fans that support us evidently everywhere,” Seminoff said. “It was a lot of fun and we fed off that well and it was just a great night.”

Ernst turned aside 34 of 36 shots in regulation and overtime – including a penalty shot on Brad Lambert – for his league leading 35th win in the Blazers net while Thomas Milic stopped 39 of 41 shots he faced in a losing effort.

Stankoven left the game in the second period and did not return, though as noted by Jon Keen in the Radio NL broadcast, his injury is not believed to be serious but it remains to be seen if Stankoven will play Wednesday night in Everett.

“We’ll know more tomorrow. I don’t think its what you’d call a real serious injury. It might be a day-to-day or week-to-week type of injury,” Associate Coach Don Hay said during After The Buzzer.

The Blazers, who are already without forward Daylan Kuefler, will then host a pair of games at Sandman Centre Friday night and against Vancouver Saturday night.

The Blazers and Thunderbirds will play a home-and-home in the final week of the regular season, Tuesday night, March 21, in Seattle before a rematch the following day at Sandman Centre.

HIGHLIGHTS