Medicine Hat 4 Victoria 3 (OT)
Linus Nassen picked a great time to notch his first career WHL goal. The Swedish import defenseman had piled up 17 assists, including one on the power lay that had allowed his Medicine Hat Tigers (16-10) to force overtime against the visiting Victoria Royals (18-9-3-0). Then he sneaked in on the rush in overtime and got his stick on the ice for a crisp back door pass from Gary Haden, to tap in the OT winner.
Michael Bullion more than did his part in allowing his Tigers to crawl back into a game they trailed 3-1, 18:55 in. That is when he came on in relief and turned away all 12 shots he faced, including one stellar one with his blocker on Matthew Phillips in OT.
Chaz Reddekopp, Tyler Soy and Ihor Martynov helped stake the Royals to a 3-1, road lead. However, with Bullion helping spark them, the Tigers got goals from Mark Rassell and David Quenneville to force overtime. That is when Nassen helped the Central Division leading Tigers to the extra point.
Girffen Outhouse was stellar in defeat as he stopped 37 of 41 shots. Jordan Hollett got the start for the Tigers and turned away five of eight, before gettign pulled in the first.
The Tigers will host the Brandon Wheat Kings Saturday night, while the Royals will continue their road trip in Lethbridge the same night.
Vancouver 5 @Prince George 3
Home-ice has not been comforting to the Prince George Cougars (9-14-2-2) as of late. They are just 4-8-2 at home this year and have dropped three straight at the CN Centre. The Cougars fell behind 4-1 late in the second period and crawled back to within one, but that was not enough. The 5-3 loss to the visiting Vancouver Giants (12-12-2-2), means they have dropped five straight overall.
Tyler Benson led the way for the Giants with two goals and an assist. Dylan Plouffe and Milos Roman each chipped in two points as well and Davide Tendeck turned away 32 of the 35 shots he faced.
The Giants flew out to a 3-0 lead. First, Milos Roman finished off a shooting gallery on Tavin Grant, then Ty Ronning put a move in on Ferguson and flipped a backhand past Grant. Lastly, Benson redirected a shot from Brendan Semchuk.
Bethune finally got the Cougars on the board 5:39 into the second. Aaron Boyd slipped a backhand feed right to him in front and he beat Tendeck for his eighth goal of the season.
James Malm restated the three-goal lead as he backhanded a rebound past Grant on the power play with 6:14 left in the second.
Josh Anderson and Josh Maser (on the power play) scored to make it 4-3 with 2:03 left, but Benson finished off his big night with an empty-net-goal to finish the scoring at 5-3.
Tavin Grant gave up four goals on 34 shots for the Cougars.
The Giants and Cougars will go back at it on Saturday at the CN Centre.
Everett 3 @Kamloops 1
The Everett Silvertips (14-12-1-1) may have a new system under head coach Dennis Williams, but they are winning by the same scores they were posting under the old defensive system implemented by old coach Kevin Constantine. The big reason for that, wears the number 70 and was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers. Carter Hart stopped 32 of the 33 shots he saw and back-stopped the ‘Tips to a 3-1 road win over the Kamloops Blazers (12-14).
Matt Fonteyne had a goal and an assist, while Connor Dewar and Sean Richards also scored.
In defeat, Dylan Ferguson turned away 20 of 22.
Everett will head back home to host the Saskatoon Blades Saturday, while the Blazers play in Seattle Saturday night before hosting the Kootenay ICE on Sunday afternoon.
Kelowna 4 @Spokane 2
The Spokane Chiefs (14-10-1-2) had their chances to get back into the game against the Kelowna Rockets at home on Friday night (16-8-2-1). They were given five, third period power plays, but could only capitalize on one of them. That would mean that they could not overcome the 4-1 deficit they carried with them into the third period and would fall 4-2 to the visiting Rockets.
Dillon Dube had a goal and an assist for the Rockets, as did Carsen Twarynski.
James Porter, who has seemingly gotten better with each game in his rookie season, stopped 31 of 33 and earned his 12th win.
It was the Chiefs, actually who took the early lead as Zach Fischer dove to tip home the rebound of a shot from Hudeon Elynuik 18:56 into the first.
Just 41 seconds into the second, Carsen Twarynsky got that one back on the power play. He made a nifty move off the draw at the Spokane blue line and freed himself up with enough room to snipe a shot past Donovan Buskey.
Under six minutes later, Nolan Foote gave Kelowna the lead as he forced a quick turnover and fired a quick shot that Buskey did not appear ready for.
The Rockets made it 3-1, still later in the second. Twarysnki forced another Spokane turnover and he got the puck to the net. Liam Kindree was there for the loose puck and he banged home his fifth this year.
Dillon Dube the added a short-handed snipe on the rare three-on-one rush to help stake the Rockets out to a three-goal lead.
The Chiefs got a one-timer from Luke Toporowski with 1:16 left to make things a little closer, but that was not enough.
Buskey, got another start as Dawson Weatherill appears to be out. Declan Hobbs joined the team to back up Buskey. Donovan stopped 21 of 25 in the loss.
Kelowna will head back home to host the Kootenay ICE Saturday, while Spokane will head to Kennewick and take on their in state rivals.
