Seminoff hat trick leads Blazers to 5-1 road win over Thunderbirds

Photo: Kevin Light/Victoria Royals

Matthew Seminoff (13), shown here in action on Oct. 13 in Victoria, scored a hat trick on Saturday in Kent, Wash., where the Kamloops Blazers earned a 5-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Matthew Seminoff scored three times and Logan Stankoven added three helpers on Saturday as the Kamloops Blazers earned a statement road win over one of the top teams in the WHL's U.S. Division.

The 5-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Wash., was the Blazers first game in the U.S. since March 10, 2020.

Seminoff, Daylan Kuefler and Reese Belton were the goal scorers for the Blazers, who improve to 14-2-0-0 on the season. Jared Davidson scored the lone Seattle goal on the night, a power-play marker late in the third period.

Dylan Garand stopped all but one of the 30 shots he saw in the Blazers net, earning his league-leading 12th win of the season. Seattle netminder Thomas Milic stopped 26 of 31 Kamloops shots in the loss, while Scott Ratzlaff was perfect on five shots in relief.

The lopsided defeat was just the fourth regulation loss on the season for the Thunderbirds, who are now 11-4-1-0, good for second in the WHL’s U.S. Division.

The Blazers remain alone atop the B.C. Division standings, a half-dozen wins ahead of the second-place Kelowna Rockets (8-4-0-1), who lost 4-2 on Saturday in Portland.

Saturday’s game was the first in a four-game U.S. Division road trip for the Blue and Orange. They will play the Thunderbirds again in Kent on Wednesday, then head to Portland to take on the Winterhawks (6-9-1-1) on Friday.

A heavyweight bout is slated to take place next Saturday in Everett, where the Blazers will get their first look at the Everett Silvertips (13-0-0-1), who lead the WHL’s Western Conference and are ranked second in the CHL Top 10.

The Blazers are second in the Western Conference and were fourth in the most recent CHL Top 10 rankings.