Jeremy Hanzel scores twice, T-Birds beat Winnipeg 6-3 in Game 3 of WHL Championship
Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Jeremy Hanzel (No. 4) celebrates a goal scored in the first period of Seattle's 6-3 victory over the Winnipeg Ice in Game 3 of the WHL Championship series. (photo by Brian Liesse / Seattle Thunderbirds)
KENT, Wash. - The Seattle Thunderbirds scored a trio of goals just 45 seconds apart in the first period as they cruised to a 6-3 victory over the Winnipeg Ice in Game 3 of the WHL Championship series.
Jeremy Hanzel scored twice and had an assist for the Thunderbirds as they grabbed a 2-1 series lead in Seattle’s first home game of the best-of-seven series.
Thomas Milic, the WHL’s goaltender of the year, made 35 saves on 38 shots for the Thunderbirds in the victory.
Hanzel scored on the power play for Seattle to break a 1-1 tie with 6:36 left in the opening period. Brad Lambert followed just 23 seconds later with a clean drive in on net as he beat goaltender Daniel Hauser with a backhand finish to extend the lead. Then Jared Davidson beat Hauser off a backhand pass from Nico Myatovic to give the Thunderbirds a 4-1 advantage.
"Shifts after goals are really important," Thunderbirds head coach Matt O'Dette said. "You want to be focused on those, heightened awareness. If we can get pucks back into their end quickly, we want to do that and keep the momentum going. We've done that really well over the course of this series."
Seattle has scored four times over the last two games within 30 seconds of a face-off at center. Reid Schaefer scored eight seconds after a Lambert goal in Game 2 as part of a 4-2 victory for the Thunderbirds. Then in Game 3, Kyle Crnkovic scored at 25 seconds into the game on Tuesday night, and Lambert and Davidson followed with goals after Hanzel's power play tally.
"When we got down 2-1, it's like we wanted to make it up in one shift," Winnipeg head coach James Patrick said. "We started gambling. Our (defense) pinched on a play you shouldn't pinch and we had a forward cover for him that didn't play it properly. I like the way we played the rush the previous two games but we didn't do a good enough job today."
Crnkovic's quick goal immediately got the crowd at the accesso ShoWare Center into the contest. In a goal that closely resembled Davidson’s goal later in the period, Crnkovic got a clean look in front of the net off a backhand setup pass from Lucas Ciona that he finished by Hauser
It took just over a minute for her Ice to find an answer. Conor Geekie — the younger brother of Kraken forward Morgan Geekie — picked the puck off defenseman Bryce Pickford’s stick at the Seattle blue line and dished to Carson Latimer for a finish past Milic for the tying goal.
"We did a good job first shift getting one and getting the crowd into it," O'Dette said. "They responded right away and we responded back. So, really liked our first period."
The three goals in quick succession broke the game open for Seattle. In fact, if not for a big save from Hauser, the damage could have been even worse for Winnipeg. Dylan Guenther had a breakaway chance shorthanded that Hauser managed to deflect out of play to keep the lead at just three before the end of the first period.
But Guenther would get another chance. After a too many men on the ice call against Winnipeg, Guenther collected a rebound of a Lambert shot and found the back of the net for a second power play goal on the night for Seattle and a 5-1 lead.
Zach Benson clawed one back for the Ice. With play at 4-on-4, Benson found space at the edge of Milic’s crease and redirected a pass from Matthew Savoie into the net to trim Seattle’s lead to 5-2.
Hanzel restored the four-goal advantage before the end of the period. With Benson nearly wiping out Hauser in his own net attempting a diving block, Hanzel ripped a slap shot into the back of the Winnipeg net for s 6-2 Thunderbirds lead.
"I saw the puck squirt out to me in the middle and I looked up and the goalie was kind of along the ice so I just tried to pick my corner and it went in," Hanzel said.
Mason Beaupit replaced Hauser in net for the third period for the Ice ahead of Wednesday’s Game 4.
Zack Ostapchuk added a power play goal for the Ice with under eight minutes left to play to cut into the Seattle lead. Ostapchuk chipped a pass from Benson just over the right pad of Milic to make it a 6-3 game.