T-Birds bear down, beat Silvertips in OT | WHL

For the Reporter

The Seattle Thunderbirds beat the Everett Silvertips 4-3 in overtime at the ShoWare Center on Saturday night.

The game was also the annual teddy bear toss, which saw 3,818 teddy bears thrown onto the ice and donated by the sold-out crowd of 6,149 after Shea Theodore’s goal early in the second period.

Playing with the man advantage in overtime, an advantage that had “made the difference for [the team]” so far in coach Steve Konowalchuk’s eyes, the T-Birds controlled play and worked the puck around the zone to get shots for Theodore and Ethan Bear at the point.

The Silvertips forwards “got in shot lanes early” before the home team found the opportunity they needed. With the entirety of the power play spent in control of the puck, Roberts Lipsbergs scored the winning goal from the side of the net as the power play expired at 1:48.

Taran Kozun started and won for the fifth time in five games as a T-Bird, stopping 25 of 28 and making his record 10-19-2-1. Daniel Cotton was in net for Everett, his third appearance against Seattle, and stopped 31 shots. The loss moved Cotton’s record to 7-2-4-0.

The bears and stuffed animals from the Fred Meyer Teddy Bear Toss were collected and given to the WARM 106.9 FM, which it will give to police and fire departments to give to children in times of emergency and crisis.

In the third period, Everett had a tipped shot through traffic go wide and followed that with the goal that gave them the 3-2 lead on Manraj Hayer’s goal at 11:36.

The T-Birds were given a golden opportunity to tie the game back up at 12:53 when a hooking call gave them their fourth power play of the game. Having already scored twice with the man advantage, the home team peppered Cotton with shots early. Two clearances slowed the attack, but not enough to end it.

With Cotton sprawled on the ice, as was an Everett defenseman, Ryan Gropp put the puck top shelf and tied the game at 14:19. It was the third power-play goal of the game in four chances for Seattle. Justin Hickman and Theodore had the assists on the goal, giving Theodore his third point.

The third period ended with the T-Birds on the penalty kill. Even so, Seattle had the best chances of the advantage, with two breakaways and a 30 second block of time spent in Everett’s zone before drawing a penalty to give the home team 1:47 of 4-on-3 in overtime.

Shots in the third period were 12-7 Seattle and faceoffs were even at six wins each.

The T-Birds play at 5:05 p.m. today against the Kelowna Rockets at the ShoWare Center. After that, Seattle’s next game is in Everett next Friday at 7:35 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – No scoring. Penalties – Hickman, Seattle (major-fighting),16:07. Adam, Everett (major-fighting), 16:07. Adam, Everett (cross-checking), 16:07. Smith, Seattle (major-fighting), 19:42. Winquist, Everett (major-fighting), 19:42. Winquist, Everett (goaltender interference), 19:42.

Second period – 1, Seattle, Theodore 15 (unassisted), :24 (pp). 2, Seattle, Barzal 7 (Gropp, Theodore), 7:56 (pp). 3, Everett, Winquist 30 (Mueller, Hayer), 9:54 (pp). 4, Everett, Khaira 14 (Leedahl, Cochrane), 12:29.Penalties – Barzal, Seattle (high-sticking), 3:12. Theodore, Seattle (hooking), 5:18. Nikolishin, Everett (high-sticking), 6:21. Hauf, Seattle (roughing), 8:54. Theodore, Seattle (hooking), 15:14. Yakubowski, Seattle (major-fighting), 18:21. Mueller, Everett (major-fighting), 18:21. Penalty shot – Everett, Winquist (missed), 15:14.

Third period – 5, Everett, Hayer 13 (Winquist, Bajkov), 11:36. 6, Seattle, Gropp 12 (Hickman, Theodore), 14:19 (pp). Penalties – Winquist, Everett (hooking), 12:53. Wardley, Seattle (high-sticking), 18:04. Leedahl, Everett (hooking), 19:51.

Overtime – 7, Seattle, Lipsbergs 29 (Theodore, Bear), 1:48 (pp). Penalties -No penalties.

Shots on goal – Seattle 9-12-12-2 35, Everett 8-13-7-0 28. Goalies – Seattle, Kozun 28 shots-25 saves (10-19-2-1); Everett, Cotton 35-31 (7-2-4-0).Power plays – Seattle 4-5; Everett 1-4. A – 6,149. Referees – Chris Crich, Ian Croft. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Nathan Van Oosten.