The 琉璃神社 Rockets showed some late-game resilience but it wasn鈥檛 enough to stop the Seattle Thunderbirds in Game 1 of the WHL鈥檚 Western Conference final.
Ethan Bear鈥檚 power play goal with just 11 seconds remaining in the third period boosted the T-Birds to a win Friday night in Kent, Wash., in the opener of the best-of-seven series.
The Rockets battled back from a 4-2 third-period deficit on goals by Tomas Soustal and Calvin Thurkauf, before a delay of game penalty to Dillon Dube at 18:00 set the stage for Bear鈥檚 game winner.
Assistant coach Travis Crickard said the end result didn鈥檛 reflect the Rockets鈥� play in Game 1.
鈥淚 really liked our team,鈥� Crickard told AM 1150鈥檚 Regan Bartel. 鈥溾� thought we dominated the play for the most part and unfortunately a couple of bad breaks here and there led to a loss but I feel good about our team and we鈥檒l rebound.鈥�
Reid Gardiner added to his playoff scoring lead with a goal and two assists for the Rockets and now has 25 points (13-12) in just 12 games. Kole Lind also scored for the Rockets who outshot Seattle 33-25.
Game 2 goes Saturday night in Kent, Wash. Games 3 and 4 are set for next Tuesday and Wednesday at Prospera Place.
