T-Birds battle past Americans | WHL

Published 9:46 am Sunday, December 6, 2015

For the Reporter

The Seattle Thunderbirds celebrated 100 years of hockey in Seattle on Saturday night with a 3-2 WHL win over the Tri-City Americans in front of a season-high 6,192 fans at the ShoWare Center.

The Metropolitans, the first hockey team in Seattle, beat the Victoria Aristocrats 3-2 on Dec. 7, 1915, their first ever game.

The T-Birds wore special throwback Seattle Metropolitans jerseys. The Stanley Cup and Metropolitans artifacts from the Hockey Hall of Fame were on display, where fans could take pictures during the game.

Defenseman Jared Hauf scored the game-winning goal with 1:39 left in the third period.

Keegan Kolesar came around the Tri-City net right to left and found Hauf with a pass as the defenseman pinched down from the left point. Hauf beat Tri-City goalie Evan Sarthou low for his first goal of the season. Ryan Gropp had the second assist on the goal.

Seattle (17-8-2-0) scored a greasy goal at 6:35 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead. Ethan Bear took a slap shot from inside the blue line with Keegan Kolesar in front of Sarthou. Sarthou stopped Bear’s shot but Kolesar got several whacks at the rebound. The puck popped to Mathew Barzal to the left of the net and he banged the rebound into the net.

Seattle outshot Tri-City 11-1 in the first period.

Tri-City (11-17-1-0) tied the game 1-1 at 12:56 of the second period on the power play.

The Americans went in front 2-1 on the power play at 16:44 of the second.

Barzal tied the game 2-2 with an unassisted goal with 22 seconds left in the second period. Barzal intercepted an Americans up ice pass in the high slot and came in alone on Sarthou. Barzal deked to his backhand, brought the puck backhand to his forehand and put the puck over Sarthou’s glove into the top right corner of the net.

Tri-City outshot Seattle 19-7 in the second period and led 20-18 in shots after two periods.

The T-Birds were called for an interference penalty with under two minutes left in the game. The Americans pulled Sarthou for a two-man advantage and had several chances. Kolesar cleared the puck off the goal line in one instance after the puck got behind Burman.

Burman made 26 saves on 28 shots to improve his record to 7-3-0-0.

Sarthou had 24 saves on 27 shots and his record is now 10-16-1-0.

Chiefs are next

The T-Birds play the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m., then host the Chiefs on Friday at 7:35 p.m.

Tickets are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Barzal 8 (Kolesar, Bear), 6:35. Penalties – Valimaki, Tri (holding), 16:07.

Second period – 2, Tri-City, Bowles 16 (Williams, Wotherspoon), 12:56 (pp). 3, Tri-City, Rasmussen 8 (Williams, Bowles), 16:44 (pp). 4, Seattle, Barzal 10, 19:38. Penalties – Hauf, Sea (roughing), 9:47. Eansor, Sea (hooking), 11:27. Gropp, Sea (slashing), 16:04. Ottenbreit, Sea (roughing), 16:04. Carlo, Tri (roughing), 16:04. Watson, Sea (high-sticking), 17:29.

Third period – 5, Seattle, Hauf 1 (Kolesar, Gropp), 18:21. Penalties – Wotherspoon, Tri (interference), 4:44. Rayman, Tri (holding), 7:14. Coghlan, Tri (delay of game), 13:33. Eansor, Sea (interference), 18:22.

Shots on goal – Seattle 11-7-9 27, Tri-City 1-19-8 28. Goalies – Seattle, Burman 28 shots-26 saves (7-3-0-0); Tri-City, Sarthou 27-24 (10-16-1-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-4; Tri-City 2-5. A – 6,192. Referees – Duncan Brown, Steve Papp. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Nathan Van Oosten.