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Edmonds slams door on T-birds

Keegan Kolesar has officially been eliminated from Ty Edmonds' Christmas list. Kolesar's goal with three-tenths of a second left in the game is all that separated Edmonds from his first shutout of the season Friday night in Kent, Wash.
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Keegan Kolesar has officially been eliminated from Ty Edmonds' Christmas list.

Kolesar's goal with three-tenths of a second left in the game is all that separated Edmonds from his first shutout of the season Friday night in Kent, Wash. Fortunately for the Cougars, they already had the game well in hand, winning their fourth straight -- a 3-1 triumph over the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The Thunderbirds were outshot 40-27 and nailed three goalposts but forced Edmonds to make some tough saves early and often, creating several dangerous scoring opportunities in the first two periods.

Kolesar's goal came with Seattle goalie Logan Flodell on the bench for the extra skater.

Cougars right winger Jari Erricson kept up his torrid scoring pace, notching his eighth goal of the season to provide some insurance early in the third period.

Erricson, a 20-year-old who missed all but three games last season with a concussion, is on pace for a 48-goal season.

Jared Bethune made his WHL debut Friday playing on a Cougar line with Chance Braid and David Soltes and it didn't take long for the 17-year-old former Minnesota high school star to get on the scoresheet. Bethune fed a pass to Braid and the big winger fired a shot that found the net, 16:01 into the second period.

Listed by the Cougars last season, Bethune started the year with the Lincoln Stars of the USHL but decided to make the jump to the WHL when he learned the Stars were about to trade him. Bethune attended Hockey Canada's under-18 national team camp in Calgary in the summer.

Bethune had two shots at an open net when Seattle pulled Flodell but missed on both of them.

Jansen Harkins opened the scoring 12:43 into the first period, his third goal and team-leading 16th point of the season. Harkins pounced on the rebound of Joseph Carvalho's point shot and found the net with a backhander.

The Cougars dominated the third period and were outshooting the T-birds 12-2 at the midway point of the period when Cats defenceman Marc McNulty came to the aid of teammate Aaron Boyd, who was flattened by an illegal hit from Seattle defenceman Sahvan Khaira. McNulty instigated a fight with Khaira, and a subsequent scrap on the same stoppage between Cats D-man Wil Tomchuk and Seattle forward Calvin Spencer left the Cougars with just four blueliners for the rest of the game.

The Cougars finish off their two-game roadtrip tonight against the Vancouver Giants. The Cougars beat their B.C. Division rivals twice last weekend at CN Centre, edging the Giants 2-1 both nights. The Giants drew first blood Oct. 5 in Vancouver, defeating Prince George 6-1.

The win moved the Cougars (7-4-0-0) into second place in the B.C. Division. Seattle dropped to 4-5-0-1, fourth in the U.S. Division.