The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 8-3 Saturday night in front of 5,638 at the ShoWare Center.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tonight was the T-Birds annual Teddy Bear Toss, where fans throw teddy bears and other stuffed animals onto the ice after Seattle’s first goal. The WARM 106.9 FM Teddy Bear Patrol collected 4,832 teddy bears for local police and fire departments. The stuffed animals help benefit children in times of emergency.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Portland (33-14-2-1) opened the first half of the first period with three goals. Cam Reid scored the first goal of the night for the Winterhawks at 4:07. Brad Ross and Brendan Leipsic had the assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Leipsic scored the second goal for Portland on a power play at 8:07. Marcel Noebels and Reid were credited with the assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Chase De Leo scored to give the Winterhawks 3-0 lead at 13:05. Sven Bartschi and Ty Rattie had the assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle (18-27-1-1) got on the board at 13:40 of the first on a goal from Connor Honey, his first career WHL goal. Brendan Rouse carried the puck over the blue line and passed it to Honey, who was waiting on the left. Honey carried the puck over the left circle and took at slap shot towards the goal. Branden Troock got the rebound at the top of the crease and sent the puck back to Honey. Honey took wrist shot that beat Portland goalie Mac Carruth over the glove.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Oliver Gabriel scored at 16:28 of the first. Tyler Wotherspoon and Taylor Peters were credited with the assists on Portland’s fourth goal of the night.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Troock scored the T-Birds second goal of the night at 19:22 of the first. Luke Lockhart won the face-off in the left circle and sent the puck to Shea Theodore at the blue line. Theodore passed the puck to Troock, who carried the puck between the circles and beat Carruth over the blocker to score his ninth goal of the season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Portland led Seattle 20-17 in shots after one period of play.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bartschi scored an unassisted goal for Portland at 6:23 of the second period to make it a 5-2 lead.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Portland took a 6-2 lead at 6:47 with a goal from Taylor Leier. Wotherspoon and Noebels were credited with the assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Daniel Cotton replaced Calvin Pickard in the net at 13:13 of the second. Pickard made 19 saves in 25 shots after 26:47 minutes of play and is credited with the loss bringing his record to 18-22-1-1.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The T-Birds led the Winterhawks 37-33 in shots after two periods of play.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Chance Lund scored the T-Birds third goal of the night at 1:06 of the third. Lund beat a Portland defender to get the puck and took a shot on a partial breakaway at the top of the crease. Carruth stopped the shot and the puck rebounded to Justin Hickman trailing the play. Hickman took a shot but it was stopped by Carruth as he slid out of position making the save. Lund got the rebound and slammed it into an empty net for his 13th goal of the season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bartschi scored his second goal of the night for Portland at 7:01 of the third to give Portland a 7-3 lead. Noebels and William Wrenn had the assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Leipsic scored his second and the Winterhawks’ eighth goal of the night at 16:06 on a power play. De Leo and Wrenn were credited with the assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle led Portland 54-47 in shots after three periods of play.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Carruth made 51 saves on 54 shots for the Winterhawks increasing his record to 30-12-1-0.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Cotton made 20 saves on 22 shots for the T-Birds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle plays the next two games at the ShoWare Center. First up, the T-Birds face the Kelowna Rockets on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Then, the Spokane Chiefs travel to Kent to play the T-Birds on Tuesday, January 31, at 7:05 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
T-Birds single game tickets for the 2011-12 season are available online at the T-Birds website<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n