Cougars Use Everett Silvertips Listed Goalie In Seattle, Lose 4-1

By 250 News

Luke Siemens probably never thought his first start in the Western Hockey League would be with the Prince George Cougars.  The 17-year old from South Delta, BC is a bantam draft pick of the Chilliwack Bruins and now a listed goalie for the Everett Silvertips, but started Saturday night for the Cougars in Seattle on an emergency basis, with injuries to both Cougars netminders, Alex Wright and Hudson Stremmel.  Siemens, though, couldn't get the Cougars a victory to end their three game road trip, as the Cougars fell 4-1 to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Wright had started the last four games for the Cougars, with Stremmel out with a concussion at the start of the new year.  Wright came down with an injury of his own after playing against Tri-City Friday night in a 3-2 loss to the Americans.  Siemens was listed by the Silvertips and is a 2007 bantam draft pick of the Chilliwack Bruins, who took Siemens in the seventh round that year.  He has spent much of the 2009-10 hockey season with the Quesnel Millionaires of the BCHL, where he has played 16 games, with a 5-7-0 record and a 4.17 goals against average to go along with an .878 save percentage.

While the Cougars had dropped their last three games, the Thunderbirds were in a bigger slide, losers of their last six games.  But the Thunderbirds came out well in the first period, taking a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Charles Wells at 4:19 and Prab Rai at 7:31.  Seattle out-shot the Cougars 10-3 in the opening frame.

The Cougars, however, turned things around territorially in the second period and cut Seattle's lead in half before the mid-way mark of the period.  Bruin McDonald would notch his second goal of the season, both on the power play, at 9:15, with Kurt Torbohm and Marek Viedensky drawing assists.  But the Thunderbirds got their two goal lead back 1:37 later, when Burke Gallimore scored to make it 3-1 Seattle.  Gallimore was playing in his first game with the Thunderbirds, after being acquired in a trade with Saskatoon on Friday.  The Cougars out-shot the Thunderbirds 19-12 and the shots were even after 40 minutes at 22.

Seattle would ice the victory in the third period at 7:43 when Wells earned his second goal of the game for a 4-1 Seattle win.  The Cougars out-shot the Thunderbirds 10-6 in the final period and 32-28 in the game.  For Siemens, he stopped 24 shots he faced for the Cougars in his WHL debut, while Calvin Pickard had a 31 save performance in goal for Seattle.  The Cougars went 1-for-4 on the power play and their penalty killing was perfect, going 3-for-3, a night after being unsuccessful on three occassions against Tri-City.  The Thunderbirds improve their record to 14-23-2-4 and move six points behind Kelowna for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.  The Cougars drop to 9-32-1-1 and have now lost four in a row.

The WHL trade deadline hits at 2:00 Pacific Time on Sunday.  The Cougars will then try to get back in the win column next Wednesday as they kick off a seven game home stand against the Red Deer Rebels.  Puck drop is 7:00 and tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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