Thunderbirds secure berth in Memorial Cup semi-final
Jared Davidson and Kyle Crnkovic counted three points each, while Thomas Milic made 30 saves as the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Kamloops Blazers 6-1 to close out the round-robin portion of the 2023 Memorial Cup presented by Kia Wednesday.
The Thunderbirds booked their ticket to Friday’s semi-final, while the Blazers are now forced into a tie-breaker Thursday versus the Peterborough Petes to keep their tournament hopes alive.
“That’s more to the identity of the team that we can be,” Thunderbirds coach Matt O’Dette said following the contest.
“We’ve had multiple high-quality games in the playoffs; that was clearly our best game of the tournament.
Seattle started brightly, forcing a tough save out of Dylan Ernst inside the first 30 seconds, and hitting a post in the first 90. The Thunderbirds grabbed the lead at the 4:02 mark when captain Lucas Ciona lifted a rebound past a prone Dylan Ernst.
The Blazers fired eight shots at Seattle netminder Thomas Milic in the opening frame, evening the score at 1-1 with 9:10 to play when Washington Capitals prospect Ryan Hofer ripped a snapshot past Milic’s blocker hand from the top of the right-wing circle.
Seattle reclaimed the lead 6:39 into the middle frame, when a puck caromed to forward Dylan Guenther in the neutral zone.
The Arizona Coyotes first-round pick zipped a cross-ice pass to linemate Jared Davidson, who then proceeded to beat Ernst with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Eight seconds later, the Thunderbirds extended their lead through centre Jordan Gustafson, who strode into the Kamloops slot before accepting a pass from behind the net from fellow forward Kyle Crnkovic before notching his second goal of the tournament.
Seattle outshot Kamloops 16-11 in the second period, coming close again in the dying embers of the middle stanza on a floating puck in the Blazers crease. However, Ernst caught sight of the disc at the last possible moment, pulling it off the goalline to preserve the scoreline at 3-1 through 40 minutes of play.
The Thunderbirds struck quickly again in the third period, scoring twice in a 1:04 span beginning with a long-range wrister from Kyle Crnkovic at 5:33.
The product of Chestermere, Alta. tied the tournament lead with his fourth goal of the Memorial Cup, and his tally was quickly followed by by Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop’s first of the tourney, after the defenceman found a loose puck in the Kamloops slot.
Chicago Blackhawks draftee Colton Dach rounded out the scoring with 5:32 to play.
The line of Ciona, Crnkovic and Davidson combined for three goals and seven points Wednesday.
“They’re playing really well,” said O’Dette, “they’ve got multiple elements to the line.
“They can put the puck in the net, they can be physical, they can defend well and play against other teams’ top lines.”
“We kind of know how to play with each other,” Davidson added.
“Ciona’s a big body, forechecks hard, [Crnkovic] is so shifty and smart with the puck, we all kind of gel together.”
“It wasn’t our best game, I thought we looked a bit nervous,” Blazers head coach / GM Shaun Clouston said following the game.
“Some guys just need to find a bit more confidence against that team.”
Seattle outshot Kamloops 42-31 on the night.
The tournament continues Thursday, June 1 with the first Memorial Cup tie-breaker in eight years, a matchup between the Blazers and Peterborough Petes (6:00 p.m. PT, Sandman Centre, TSN).
Thursday’s winner will face the Thunderbirds in Friday’s semi-final (7:00 p.m. PT, Sandman Centre, TSN).
