Blazers sweep 'Hawks, advance to face Seattle in Western Conference final

Photo: Portland Winterhawks

The Kamloops Blazers advanced to the WHL Western Conference final Thursday with an exclamation-point 10-4 win to sweep the Winterhawks in Portland.

Olen Zellweger (3), Matthew Seminoff (3), Logan Stankoven (2), Kyle Masters and Caedan Bankier were the goal scorers for the Blazers. Diego Buttazzoni (2), Ryan McCleary and Jack O’Brien scored for the Winterhawks.

Seminoff opened the scoring 31 seconds in and the Blazers were up 3-0 midway through the first period, but Portland scored two quick goals to make it 3-2 after one.

Then the floodgates opened. The Blazers scored five times in the second period and led 8-4 by the second intermission. Zellweger and Bankier scored unassisted goals in the third to make it a 10-4 final.

Dylan Ernst made 23 saves on 27 Portland shots to improve to 8-0 in the playoffs. Dante Giannuzzi and Jan Spunar split duties in net for the ‘Hawks, combining for 38 saves on 48 shots.

The Blazers scored four times on eight power-play chances. The Winterhawks scored once on three chances with the man advantage.

Announced attendance at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland was 3,834.

With the win, the Blazers sweep the ‘Hawks and advance to take on the top-seed Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL Western Conference final.

The Blazers and the T-Birds have cruised through the postseason to this point — both perfect through eight games in the first two rounds. The four-game regular season series between the two clubs was split down the middle, with each team winning twice.

The series will get underway next weekend with games in Kent, Wash., on Saturday and Sunday. Game 3 will be played at Sandman Centre on Tuesday, May 2, followed by Game 4 on Thursday, May 4.