Matthew Seminoff scored with eight seconds left to play to lift the Kamloops Blazers to a 5-4 win over the Prince George Cougars Saturday night.
“It was a great play from [Zellweger] to get the puck out of the wall and drop it to [Stankoven]. [Bankier] made a great middle drive and I was lucky enough that [Stankoven] found me,” Seminoff said, post game.
“I just tried to get it out quick. I didn’t really know where the net was, I was just trying to get around the defenceman, and yeah, shot it in.”
Seminoff finished with a pair of goals and an assist for the Blazers who also got goals from Fraser Minten, Connor Levis, and Ryan Hofer to extend their win streak to six games.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT
Nothing like waiting till the very last second to get the job done, eh?@blazerhockey | @DallasStars | #WHLHoN pic.twitter.com/2mvuDWg53h
— The WHL (@TheWHL) February 12, 2023
Cole Dubinsky, Ondrej Becher (2), and Koehn Ziemmer scored for the Cougars in a what was a back and forth game between the top two B.C. Division teams this season.
Goals from Seminoff and Minten had the Blazers up by two before Dubinsky cut the lead to 2-1 in the first period. Levis’ goal in the second period was sandwiched between a pair from Becher as the two teams entered the final period tied at 3-3.
Zellweger with the shot, @levis_connor with the rebound and finish
#whl #blazernation pic.twitter.com/es7oH9sQ1B
— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) February 12, 2023
Hofer and Ziemmer traded goals exactly four minutes apart in the third before Seminoff’s game winner which improved the Blazers to 33-10-4-2 on the season. The Cougars, who trail the Blazers by 20 points in the B.C. Division standings, fall to 24-22-4-0.
The Blazers also killed off a major penalty for a check to the head – assessed against Hofer who was also ejected with a game misconduct – with 7:21 to play in the third period with the scores tied.
“We have a lot of belief. We don’t have a lot of quit in our group,” Seminoff added.
“We didn’t play well in the first two period but we were able to turn it around and had a really good third. That five minute penalty was huge for us to kill off, yeah, lot of belief, a lot of trust in our group.”
It was the second time this week where the Blazers scored in the dying seconds of the third period to earn a win at home.
It’s fun to be a Blazer fan in this rink. It just keeps happening. Crazy. #Kamloops. https://t.co/zmk77FFRyZ
— Jon Keen (@JonKeenNLSports) February 12, 2023
Logan Stankoven had three assists to extend his WHL-leading points streak to 34 games. Olen Zellweger also finished with three assists
Matthew Kieper turned aside 39 of 43 shots to earn his eighth win of the season, while Ty Young stopped 29 of 34 in a losing effort.
The Blazers now head east for a six-game road trip through the Central Division, starting in Red Deer next Friday night, Feb. 17.
Their next home game is against the Kelowna Rockets on Friday, Mar. 3.
