Blazers, Thunderbirds to decide Western Conference Championship in Game 7 Tuesday
For the first time in 14 years, the Western Conference Championship will be decided in a winner-take-all Game 7.
The Kamloops Blazers host the Seattle Thunderbirds Tuesday (7:00 p.m. PT, Sandman Centre) with the rights to represent the Western Conference in the 2022 WHL Championship on the line.
The series has been close; each of the past three games have been decided by a single goal, with Games 4 and 5 requiring overtime. Seattle’s Lukas Svejkovsky scored the deciding tally 3:28 into the third period of Game 6 to help his Thunderbirds side win 2-1 and force a one-game showdown.
The host Blazers have been led offensively by Dallas Stars prospect Logan Stankoven. The hometown hero has scored two hat-tricks in the series, with seven goals to his credit against Seattle in six post-season meetings.
He leads all WHL playoff scorers with 17 goals and 30 points to this juncture in the 2022 WHL Playoffs. Stankoven has also recorded at least one point in each post-season game contested at the Sandman Centre this spring.
The duo of Svejovsky and Jared Davidson has been a catalyst for the Thunderbirds, combining for 13 points in the series and factoring in on both Seattle goals in Game 6. Davidson is the Thunderbirds playoff scoring leader with 23 points (9G-14A) while Svejkovsky is riding a 10-game point streak.
Goaltenders Dylan Garand (.926 save percentage) and Thomas Milic (.919 SV%) have stood their ground in their respective creases too, with both netminders making north of 30 saves in Sunday’s sixth game.
The Western Conference Championship has not required a Game 7 since 2008, when the Spokane Chiefs collected a 4-1 road victory over the Tri-City Americans en route to WHL and Memorial Cup titles.
The current group of Blazers have not contested a Game 7 to date, with the most recent such event in franchise history having occurred in 2016 versus the Kelowna Rockets.
Seattle, meanwhile, is getting used to do-or-die games. The Thunderbirds are 4-0 in the 2022 WHL Playoffs when facing elimination including a Game 7 victory away from home in Round Two versus the Portland Winterhawks.
It’s been some time, too, since the fans in Canada’s Tournament Capital have been graced with a Game 7 on home ice, a stretch dating back to Game 7 of the 1994 WHL Championship. Kamloops clinched its fifth WHL crown on home ice with an 8-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades before capturing the 1994 Memorial Cup in Laval, Que.
The Edmonton Oil Kings await the winner of Tuesday’s contest in the 2022 WHL Championship series. Game 1 is slated for Friday, June 3 in Edmonton (7:00 p.m. MT, Rogers Place).
Games 3 through 7 of the 2022 WHL Championship series will be broadcast nationally on TSN.
