WHL Roundup: Blazers hold off Thunderbirds’ comeback effort, claim 6-5 victory
By The Canadian Press on March 22, 2023.
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Caedan Bankier scored the game-winning goal with 6:17 left in the third period as the Kamloops Blazers held off a Seattle comeback effort and edged the Thunderbirds 6-5 on Wednesday. Dylan Sydor, Logan Stankoven, Ryan Hofer, Fraser Minten and Olen Zellweger also scored for Kamloops (48-12-4-2), which got 44 saves from Matthew Kieper. Dylan Guenther, Jeremy Hanzel, Colton Dach, Nolan Allan and Nico Myatovic replied for Seattle (53-10-1-2). Scott Ratzlaff stopped 31 shots. The Blazers held a 5-1 lead when Hofer scored at 6:32 in the second period. But the Thunderbirds scored four unanswered goals within the rest of the frame to enter the third tied at 5-5. Kamloops now sits seven points back of West-leading Seattle in the conference standings at second. — WARRIORS 6 ICE 4 WINNIPEG – Brayden Yager scored twice, Jagger Firkus and Ryder Korczak each had a goal and two assists and the Moose Jaw Warriors defeated the Winnipeg Ice 6-4. Josh Hoekstra and Atley Calvert added the others for Moose Jaw (40-23-0-3). Jackson Unger made 34 saves. Zack Ostapchuk, with two goals, Matthew Savoie and Evan Friesen replied for Winnipeg (55-10-1). Mason Beaupit stopped 30-of-35 shots. — HITMEN 3 HURRICANES 2 LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. – Keagan Slaney scored the game-winning goal 8:44 into the third period as the Calgary Hitmen edged the Lethbridge Hurricanes 3-2. Sean Tschigerl, Oliver Tulk and Keagan Slaney added the others for Calgary (30-28-5-3). Brayden Peters stopped 27 shots. Hayden Smith scored twice for Lethbridge (35-25-3-3), which got 38 saves from Bryan Thomson. — TIGERS 8 OIL KINGS 2 MEDICINE HAT, ALTA. – Brendan Lee picked up a hat trick along with one assist and the Medicine Hat Tigers earned an 8-2 blowout win over the Edmonton Oil Kings. Oasiz Wiesblatt, Dallon Melin, Andrew Basha, Gavin McKenna and Hunter St. Martin also scored for Medicine Hat (29-28-8-1). Beckett Langkow made 13 saves. Mason Finley and Cole Miller put Edmonton (9-53-4) on the board. Kolby Hay gave up five goals on 20 shots before Logan Cunningham stopped 17-of-20 shots in 31:06 of relief. This roundup was generated automatically with a CP-developed application. This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2023. 23-22
