The Seattle Thunderbirds built a two-goal lead just over a minute into the first period and never looked back, doubling up the Prince George Cougars 6-3 Tuesday in Kent, Wash.
The Thunderbirds got goals 18 seconds apart from Kyle Crnkovic and Reid Schaefer just over a minute into the game to take an early lead. The Cougars responded with one of their own from Caden Brown a few moments later to make it 2-1, but Schaefer scored again to restore the two-goal lead in the final minutes to go up 3-1 after the opening 20 minutes.
In the second period, Gabe Ludwig beat Cougars goalie Tyler Brennan for a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.
In the final period, Seattle forward Jordan Gustafon took a feed from Nico Myatovic to make it a 5-1 game.. Koehn Ziemmer scored his team-leading 11th goal and Ethan Samson collected his fifth to bring the Cougars closer but Schaefer found the empty net to cap the scoring late and complete the hat trick.
The T-birds improved their WHL Western Conference-leading record to 10-1-0-0, while the Cougars dropped to 6-7-0-0. They’ll play the Winterhawks tonight in Portland (7 p.m., 94.3 FM, The Goat).
GAME NOTES
- Koehn Ziemmer and Riley Heidt’s point streak has extended to five games
- Ethan Samson sits second in the WHL in power-play goals among all WHL defencemen
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring
Cougars: Brown, Ziemmer, Samson (PP)
Thunderbirds: Crnkovic (PP), Schaefer (3), Ludwig, Gustafson
Goaltending
Cougars: Tyler Brennan (L) 57:27 (5 GA, 29 Saves)
Thunderbirds: Thomas MIlic (W) 60:00 (3 GA, 28 Saves)
Power-Play
Cougars: 1/4
Thunderbirds: 1/5
Shots
Cougars: 31
Thunderbirds: 35
Three Stars:
1.SEA: Reid Schaefer (3G)
2.PG: Koehn Ziemmer (1G)
3.SEA: Thomas Milic (28 Saves)
