WHL Roundup: Schaefer’s clutch play leads Thunderbirds to 3-2 OT win over Hurricanes
By The Canadian Press on January 21, 2023.
KENT, Wash. – Reid Schaefer capped a clutch two-goal effort with the game-winning goal 1:18 into overtime and the Seattle Thunderbirds squeezed by the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-2 on Friday. Down 2-1 in the third period, Schaefer knotted the contest at the 6:58 mark to eventually send the game to overtime. Jared Davidson added the other for Seattle (31-7-1-1) on the power play. Scott Ratzlaff stopped 21-of-23 shots. Cole Shepard and Hayden Smith replied for Lethbridge (24-15-3-2), which got 25 saves from Bryan Thomson. — REBELS 8 COUGARS 5 RED DEER, ALTA. – Kai Uchacz’s two-goal, three-assist effort led the way as the Red Deer Rebels defeated the Prince George Cougars 8-5 en route to a fourth straight win. Mats Lindgren had two goals and an assist, while Jayden Grubbe added a goal and three helpers for Red Deer (30-8-1-3), which saw its early 3-0 lead turn into a 4-3 deficit before taking control again with four unanswered markers. Koehn Ziemmer, with two goals, Ondrej Becher, Jaxsen Wiebe and Viliam Kmec replied for Prince George (18-20-4). — WINTERHAWKS 7 ROYALS 6 (OT) PORTLAND, OR. – Kyle Chyzowski scored the game-winning goal midway through overtime as the Portland Winterhawks narrowly escaped with a 7-6 win over the Victoria Royals. Robbie Fromm-Delorme and James Stefan each had two goals and an assist, while Gabe Klassen contributed another two goals for Portland (29-8-2-1), which snapped a two-game skid. Teague Patton, with two goals, Alex Thacker, Reggie Newman, Marcus Almquist and Jake Poole scored for Victoria (12-26-4-1), which held a 6-4 lead with under six minutes remaining in the third period. — AMERICANS 8 BLAZERS 2 KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Parker Bell strung together a hat trick, Tomas Suchanek had 48 saves and the Tri-City Americans powered past the Kamloops Blazers 8-2. Jordan Gavin, with two goals, Elouann Lemonnier, Deagan McMillan and Adam Mechura also scored for Tri-City (20-16-3-1). Harrison Brunicke and Connor Levis replied for Kamloops (25-9-4-2), which led 2-1 entering the second period. — BLADES 6 RAIDERS 1 SASKATOON – Misha Volotovskii scored his second and third goals of the season and the Saskatoon Blades cruised past the Prince Albert Raiders 6-1. Tanner Molendyk, Egor Sidorov, Jordan Keller and Brandon Lisowsky provided the rest of the offence for Saskatoon (28-9-3-1), which went up 5-0 by the two-minute mark of the second period. Sloan Stanick was the lone scorer as Prince Albert (15-25-3) dropped its second in a row. — WHEAT KINGS 4 HITMEN 2 CALGARY – Nolan Flamand had a goal and two assists to push the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. Brandon (18-20-4) also got goals from Quinn Mantei, Luke Shipley and Calder Anderson. Carson Bjarnason made 34 saves. London Hoilett scored two goals for Calgary (22-15-3-1), which lost its third in a row. Brayden Peters stopped 31-of-34 shots. — BRONCOS 4 PATS 2 SWIFT CURRENT, SASK. – Josh Davies scored twice and added an assist as the Swift Current Broncos topped the Regina Pats 4-2. Josh Filmon and Drew Englot also scored for Swift Current (21-17-0-2). Reid Dyck stopped 25 shots. Connor Bedard, with his league-leading 37th, and Parker Berge replied for Regina (21-20-1-1), which got 26 saves from Drew Sim. — SILVERTIPS 5 CHIEFS 2 EVERETT, WA. – The Everett Silvertips had four players with multi-point efforts as they defeated the Spokane Chiefs 5-2 for their third straight win. Ben Hemmerling, Aidan Sutter, Beau Courtney and Caden Zaplitny each had a goal and an assist for Everett (22-19-1), while Kyan Grouette added the other. Will McIsaac and Chase Bertholet replied for Spokane (8-29-1-2). — ROCKETS 4 GIANTS 1 LANGLEY, B.C. – Carson Golder scored twice to lead the Kelowna Rockets to a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Giants. Grady Lenton, on the power play, and Gabriel Szturc, with a short-handed goal, added the others for Kelowna (14-23-3). Talyn Boyko stopped 29-of-30 shots. Ty Thorpe was the lone scorer for Vancouver (16-20-4-2), which has dropped four straight. Jesper Vikman also made 29 saves. This roundup was generated automatically with a CP-developed application. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2023. 47-46
