Heroic Hanzel seals game two victory for Thunderbirds in Western Conference Final
By Charles Hamaker
Kent, WA – In game two of the WHL’s Western Conference Finals, the Seattle Thunderbirds once again came out of their own building victorious, but in much more dramatic fashion than game one. Kamloops came out aggressive early, pushing to a three-to-one lead in the second period. The Thunderbirds were able to survive another slow start, behind two-goals within eight in-game minutes to tie things up and send us to the overtime period, where defenseman Jeremy Hanzel was the hero that Seattle needed. The tight and thrilling game two victory sends the series to Kamloops with Seattle in great position, up by two games, and the Thunderbirds will need them as this Blazers team will certainly not go away without a fight.
Pre-game scenes from the Showare Center ahead of game two of the Kamloops Blazers vs our Seattle Thunderbirds (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Seattle goes down early as Kamloops comes out firing
The Blazers were able to jump out to a lead right before we hit the first intermission, as a puck hanging around in the crease wasn’t cleared by the Thunderbirds and former Everett Silvertip Olen Zellweger and teammate Logan Stankoven were able to work the puck out to the far post where Caedan Bankier had an easy goal to get on the board first. Kamloops kept that early surge going once the teams returned from their respective locker rooms, as Zellweger remained around the play as a pad save by Seattle’s Thomas Milic landed right at the skates of the former Silvertip who easily put it away. In a span of three in-game minutes, the Blazers had jumped up to a two-goal lead and they had taken advantage of a characteristic slow start by the Thunderbirds.
In nearly similar fashion, Seattle was able to respond and cut the Kamloops lead in half as Thunderbirds captain Lucas Ciona’s power play goal came off a rebound from the right pad of Blazers goaltender Dylan Ernst. It seemed that Seattle was going to find their way back into this contest after that power play goal, but Kamloops was able to regain their two-goal lead. For the third consecutive goal, a power play aided the team that scored as the Blazers again took advantage of a rebound in the crease to score. Kamloops’ Matthew Seminoff circled the goal and was able to find the rebound laying around on his final turn around the net to beat Milic and set the score at three-to-one.
The Kamloops Blazers were able to get on the scoreboard three times tonight, much different than game one, and holding a two-goal lead at a point in the third frame (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Thunderbirds trudge back
After the deficit went back to two, Seattle was able to pick up the phone and answer quickly, courtesy of forward Colton Dach. The theme of rebounds remained paramount, as defenseman Kevin Korchinski threw the puck towards Ernst, who deflected it out straight towards the high slot were Dach was waiting and fired away to bring the Thunderbirds back within one. That came right before the intermission, and the big man's goal seemed to give Seattle the juice that they needed heading into the locker room as they applied pressure on Ernst following it. The Thunderbirds continued to challenge the Blazers goaltender, who made a few magnificent saves before Seattle’s Brad Lambert broke through. Defenseman Jeremy Hanzel threaded a perfect pass to Lambert, who was crashing into the crease, as Lambert just held his stick in the right position to redirect the puck under Ernst through the five hole.
The Seattle Thunderbirds offensive attack had to play catch up in game two (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Hanzel plays hero
Seattle defenseman Jeremy Hanzel, coming off the biggest offensive season of his WHL career this regular season with 13 goals. In addition to his regular season performance, Hanzel is already within one point of his total from last year's playoffs, through 14 fewer games. Perhaps the most important tally of this year's playoff that he’s totaled took place tonight, as he became the Thunderbirds hero in the overtime period, just under seven minutes into the extra hockey frame. Seattle had just come off a big save by Thomas Milic and had been grinding the puck along the boards in the Blazers zone. Lambert got it out to the blue line, where Sawyer Mynio sent it out to defenseman pair partner Hanzel, who absolutely ripped the puck from the blue line and beat Ernst and stole game two from a Blazers team that had thought they could grab one before heading home.
Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Jeremy Hanzel’s game winner in overtime, and the ensuing celebration (Photos by Liz Wolter)
What’s next?
Following these two games at the Showare Center and two wins for the Seattle Thunderbirds, the Western Conference Final switches over to Canada as Kamloops hosts games three and four, on May 2nd and 4th respectively. While a two-game series lead may let you think that the Blazers are on the ropes, we very much saw that wasn’t the case in this game especially. I’d expect Kamloops to come out aggressive to defend their home ice, and they likely take one of the next few games and make this a series. The Thunderbirds talked about facing the Blazers in the playoffs, and they were one of the best teams in the WHL for a reason.