Conner Bruggen-Cate, Keltie Jeri-Leon and Conner Roulette each had a goal and an assist Saturday night to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-3 Western Hockey League win over the Everett Silvertips on Fred Meyer Teddy Bear Toss Night presented by WARM 106.9 at the accesso ShoWare Center.
Seattle (17-20-2-1) has seven wins in their last 10 games and are in the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference, four points ahead of the Tri-City Americans in the standings. They are only one point behind the Vancouver Giants (17-18-2-2), who lost to Spokane on Saturday night, for the first wild-car playoff spot.
Seattle goalie Roddy Ross made 16 saves in the first period.
Everett took a 1-0 lead at 17:10 of the first period on a goal from Cole Fonstad.
Seattle quickly came right back and tied the game 1-1 on the power play at 19:05. Andrej Kukuca passed the puck from the right wall to Simon Kubicek at the midpoint. Kubicek took a slap shot with traffic in front of Everett goalie Dustin Wolf that rebounded off the goalie and into the air. Conner Roulette was to the right of the net and batted the puck out of the air and into the net.
After the goal the sellout crowd of 6,160, the biggest of the season, threw teddy bears and stuffed animals onto the ice. The WARM 106.9 Teddy Bear Patrol collected the donations, which will be distributed to police and fire departments and local hospitals to give to children in time of emergency and crisis.
Roulette has a four-game goal streak.
Kukuca has a six-game streak of six goals and seven assists.
The Silvertips took a 2-1 lead on Gage Goncalves’ goal at 19:50 of the first period.
Max Patterson tied the game 2-2 for the T-Birds at 14:01 of the second period, one second after a power play ended. Bruggen-Cate passed the puck from the right corner through the crease to Patterson in the low left circle. Patterson one-timed the pass and beat Wolf on the stick side. Jeri-Leon had the second assist, sending the puck to Bruggen-Cate at the goal line.
Bruggen-Cate struck at 16:39 of the second on the power play to put the T-Birds up 3-2. Kubicek passed the puck up the right wing to Payton Mount as he entered the offensive zone. Two Everett defenseman collapsed on Mount, but he passed the puck to Bruggen-Cate as he skated into the zone, putting him in alone against Wolf. Bruggen-Cate beat Wolf with a quick snapshot.
With the assist and goal Bruggen-Cate has an eight-game point streak of seven goals and eight assists.
Jeri-Leon extended the T-Birds’ lead to two goals 1:02 into the second period. Tyrel Bauer sent the puck behind the Everett net to Roulette. Roulette played the puck off the boards to gain some space and then centered the puck to Jeri-Leon, who controlled the puck and then whipped it past Wolf.
Jeri-Leon has a five-game point streak with four goals and four assists.
Everett cut the T-Birds lead to one at 13:10 of the third on Jackson Berezowski’s power-play goal.
Notes
The T-Birds return to the ice on Friday, Jan. 17 against the Regina Pats at the ShoWare Center.
Single-game tickets are on sale online on the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare box office. … Fans who purchase the 24-flex ticket package will be able to select any available premium seat for any game, in any ticket combination, during the 2019-20 season.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Everett, Fonstad 9 (Kindopp), 17:10. 2, Seattle, Roulette 14 (Kubicek, Kukuca), 19:05 (pp). 3, Everett, Goncalves 19 (Kindopp, Fonstad), 19:50. Penalties – Christiansen, Evt (holding), 18:49.
Second period – 4, Seattle, Patterson 6 (Bruggen-Cate, Jeri-Leon)m, 14:01 (pp). 5, Seattle, Bruggen-Cate 11 (Mount, Kubicek), 16:39 (pp). Penalties – Gottfried, Sea (roughing), 4:15. Ashton, Sea (delay of game), 7:24. Fonstad, Evt (hooking), 12:00. Anderson, Evt (interference), 15:36.
Third period – 6, Seattle, Jeri-Leon 17 (Roulette, Bauer), 1:02. 7, Everett, Berezowski 12 (Fairbrother, Seeley),13:10 (pp). Penalties – Patterson, Sea (tripping), 11:58.
Shots on goal – Seattle 7-9-7 25, Everett 17-10-10 37. Goalies – Seattle, Ross 37 shots-34 saves (14-14-2-1); Everett, Wolf 25-21 (17-7-1-0). Power plays – Seattle 2-3; Everett 1-3. Referees – Mike Campbell, Sean Panter. Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Nathan Van Oosten.
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After Seattle’s first goal the sellout crowd of 6,160, the biggest of the season, threw teddy bears and stuffed animals onto the ice. The WARM 106.9 Teddy Bear Patrol collected the donations, which will be distributed to police and fire departments and local hospitals to give to children in time of emergency and crisis. COURTESY PHOTO, Brian Liesse, T-Birds
