Blazers at Thunderbirds 03/04 | WHL Highlights 2024-25
By Colton Davies – Follow Colton on X
The Kamloops Blazers rolled into Seattle looking to make a statement against the Thunderbirds in a pivotal road matchup
The Blazers were hit with some unfortunate news as veteran rearguard Ryan Michael will miss the remainder of the regular season with an upper-body injury.
But on a brighter note as Blazers’ play-by-play caller Jon Keen announced, a big congrats to Blazer veteran Oren Shtrom who will be headed to the NCAA following this season to play for Alaksa-Anchorage.
The opening period had action on both ends early, but Blazers netminder Dylan Ernst was locked in from the jump, making a key stop just minutes in. The physicality ramped up right after a faceoff in Seattle’s zone when Kamloops’ Bryce Minten and Thunderbirds defenceman Tai Riley dropped the gloves. Minten got the better of Riley in that tilt, setting the tone for what was to come.
Not long after the tilt, the Blazers cashed in on a powerplay as Tommy Lafrenière sniped his 24th goal of the season, giving Kamloops the 1-0 lead. Lafrenière has been buzzing all year, and that tally has him sitting fourth in team goal-scoring. Then the Blazers struck the lamp again, it was captain Emmitt Finnie off the rush firing the puck five-hole past Ratzlaff to give Kamloops a 2-0 lead. Then, before the period was done, Jordan Keller buried his 27th of the season to stretch the lead to 3-0. Lafrenière picked up his second point of the night on that one, continuing to drive the offence.
Seattle came out in the second looking to get back into it, and they got an early power play after a Beau Courtney holding call. But Ernst stood tall. He turned away a pair of key chances—first with the blocker on Braden Cootes, then a toe save on a tipped shot from Radim Mrtka. The urgency continued as Seatle then pushed for offence once more as the powerplay winded down, but Ernst came up big stopping yet another deflected shot.
Trying to inject some life into their lineup, Seattle’s Brayden Holberton squared off with Blazers defenceman Jager Gugyelka. The Blazers fed off that energy with rush chances from Lafrenière and Matteo Koci, and Lafrenière nearly set up Josh Kelly for another tally with a slick saucer pass, but Kelly just couldn’t h get his handle on it.
The third saw some slow-paced action between both teams during the opening minutes as Kamloops played a very conservative style of hockey. Seattle finally broke through just over two minutes in when Nathan Pilling beat Ernst to cut the deficit to 3-1. Then following a faceoff draw behind the Blazers blueline it was Thunderbirds defenceman Vanek Popil wiring a slapshot that bounced in past Ernst for his first career goal. Lafrenière came through the offensive zone and dangled Hyde Davidson trying to snap a shot blocker side on Ratzlaff but was denied. A few minutes later, tempers flared as Harrison Brunicke and Matej Pekar got tied up, leading to some four-on-four action. During the extra space, Beau Courtney dangled past a Thunderbirds defender and had a prime chance to extend Kamloops’ lead, but his shot just missed wide.
With 1:17 left in the game, the Thunderbirds pulled Ratzlaff and began firing the rubber on all cylinders toward the net and Ernst came up massive with a save on a Cootes one-timer. The Blazers held on for a crucial 3-2 victory, pulling within four points of Seattle and keeping their playoff hopes alive.
