Seattle Thunderbirds win first of the season against Victoria | Slide Show

Branden Troock scored two goals on pink ice Saturday night at ShoWare Center to help lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 5-4 victory over the Victoria Royals.

The ShoWare Center ice was pink for the T-Birds first ever “Pink The Rink Night” in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Valley Medical’s Glow Women’s Health and Wellness Program. The first 3,000 fans received a pink T-Birds baseball cap courtesy of Glow and the T-Birds players wore pink laces in their skates and had pink tape on their sticks.

The T-Birds opened the game by scoring 61 seconds into the game. Troock carried the puck across the blue line on the right side. He fed the puck low to Tyler Alos who quickly centered the puck to Justin Hickman in the slot. Hickman snapped the puck past Victoria goalie Braden Gamble as he lunged across the crease. The goal was not only Hickman’s first of the season, it was also his first career WHL goal.

Victoria’s Hayden Rintoul scored a power-play goal at 3:38 of the first period to tie it 1-1. Jamie Crooks and Kevin Sundher had the assists.

Seattle (1-3-0-0) quickly answered back when Dave Sutter scored a power-play goal at 6:05 of the first. Luke Lockhart won a faceoff in the right circle back to Sutter at the right point. Sutter carried the puck across the blue line and put a slap shot on goal with traffic in front of Gamble. Sutter’s shot beat Gamble low for his first goal of the season.

The T-Birds made it a two-goal lead at 6:43 of the first. Brendan Rouse fought for the puck behind the net and backhanded it to Burke Gallimore in the right corner. Gallimore made a hard pass to Mitch Elliot in the slot who slapped it past Hamilton for his first goal of the season.

Victoria (4-4-0-0) goalie Keith Hamilton replaced Gamble at 13:17 of the first period. Braden Gamble did not stop any of the three shots he faced.

The Royals led in shots on goal 13-12 at the end of the first period.

Kade Pilton scored the Royals second goal and the only goal in the second period in 4-on-4 play with an assist going to Steven Hodges at 17:40.

Victoria continued to lead in shots on goal 28-21 at the end of the second period by outshooting the T-Birds 15-9 in the period

Troock extended the T-Birds lead to two goals at 6:40 of the third period with a power-play goal. Sutter had the puck at the right point and passed it to Gallimore in the high slot. Gallimore took a shot that rebounded off of Hamilton and towards the right goal line. Gallimore got the rebound and slid the puck through the crease to Troock at the left post. Troock slapped the puck past a lunging Hamilton for his first goal of the year.

Sundher scored the Royals third goal of the night at 10:52 of the third period. Logan Nelson and Jesse Pauls had the assists.

Austin Carroll scored at 13:30 of the third period to tie it up 4-4. Crooks and Jesse Zgraggen had the assists.

Troock gave the T-Birds the win at 17:03 of the third period. He was pressuring a Royals defender who fanned on a pass. Troock got the loose puck and skated in alone on Hamilton. Troock beat the goalie with a quick snap shot over the glove the game-winning goal.

Hamilton made 27 saves on 29 shots on goal and was credited with the loss and his record is now 3-3-0-0.

T-Birds goalie Calvin Pickard made 39 saves on 43 shots on goal to improve his record to 1-3-0-0.

The T-Bird next game is Friday, October 14, in Vancouver against the Giants. They are home at ShoWare Center on Saturday, October 15, to face the Saskatoon Blades at 7:05pm.

T-Birds single game tickets for the 2011-12 season 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 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

T-Birds season tickets are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Hickman 1 (Alos, Troock), 1:01. 2, Victoria, Rintoul 4 (Crooks, Sundher), 3:38 (pp). 3, Seattle, Sutter 1 (Lockhart) 6:05 (pp). 4, Seattle, Elliot 1 (Gallimore, Rouse), 6:43. Penalties – Gallimore, Sea (hooking), 1:38. Hauf, Sea (slashing), 3:29. Pilton, Vic (roughing) 6:00. Troock, Sea (holding), 16:22.

Second period – 5, Vic, Pilton 2 (Hodges), 17:40. Penalties – Sundher, Vic (hooking), 3:24. Hauf, Sea (slashing), 5:39. Doty, Sea (10-minute misconduct), 13:00. Frank, Sea (roughing), 13:00. Traber, Vic (double minor – roughing), 13:00. Pauls, Vic (checking from behind),16:59. Hickman, Sea (checking from behind), 16:59.

Third period – 6, Sea, Troock 1 (Gallimore, Sutter), 6:40 (pp). 7, Vic, Sundher 3 (Nelson, Pauls), 10:52. 8, Vic, Carroll 1 (Crooks, Zgraggen), 13:30. 9, Sea, Troock 2, 17:03. Penalties – Pilton, Vic (holding), 6:25.

Shots on goal – Seattle 12-9-11 32. Victoria 13-15-15 43. Goalies – Seattle, Pickard 43 shots-39 saves (1-3-0-0); Victoria, Gamble 3-0 (1-1-0-0), Hamilton 29-27 (3-2-0-0)Power plays – Seattle 2-4; Victoria 1-4. A – 3,242. Referee – Adam Byblow, Nathan Wieler. Linesmen – Kevin Boris, Nathan Van Oosten.

Slide show by Charles Cortes