T-birds | Rai gets first goal after 19 assists

After 19 assists, Prab Rai finally scored his first goal of the season to help the Seattle Thunderbirds rout the Portland Winter Hawks 7-1.

Rai, a talented playmaker with plenty of speed, could only grin after helping the T-birds score the most goals of the season while beating Portland for the second consecutive night.

"It's been a while," Rai said. "I was getting chances, but they just weren't going in. Finally one went in. It's kind of unheard of to have that many assists and no goals, but it shows the other guys were finishing. I just hope they just keep going."

Rai, a center from Surrey, B.C., said he thinks the T-birds (13-10-5-1) might have turned the corner even though both victories came against Portland, owner of the WHL's worst record at 5-25-0-0.

"It was a big weekend and it makes [tonight's] game [at home against Chilliwack] even more important," Rai said. "This is a big confidence-booster and we just have to stay on the same page."

The T-birds shared the wealth with seven different players recording goals, including the first of his WHL career by rookie defenseman Brenden Dillon.

In all, 13 players had at least one point with David Richard scoring a goal and adding two assists.

"Prab is a really skilled player and he actually has a great shot," Seattle coach Rob Sumner said. "This is just the start of things to come. He should never hold back on taking his shot because he has a good one."

Ian McKenzie got the T-birds off to a fast start with his seventh goal of the year at 2:23 of the first period.

After Travis Ehrhardt tied it for Portland, Lindsay Nielson, Bud Holloway and Richard scored to make it 4-1 after the first period.

Jim O'Brien, Dillon and Rai added markers in the second period for Seattle, which won for the fourth consecutive time over Portland this season.

The T-birds now have outscored the Winter Hawks 16-2 this season.

There are eight games remaining between the teams.

"It's nice to have some offensive success with all lines contributing," Sumner said. "We've been building toward that and now [tonight] comes another test."

The T-birds chased Portland goaltender Kurtis Mucha in the first period when they scored four goals on 10 shots to put the game away.

THUNDERBIRDS 7, WINTER HAWKS 1

Portland	1 0 0 — 0
Seattle	4 3 0 — 7

First — 1. Seattle, I. McKenzie (7) (D. Richard, J. Boyer) 2:23; 2. Portland, T. Ehrhardt (7) (T. King, L. Walker) 10:15; 3. Seattle, L. Nielsen (8) (G. Scott, J. O'Brien) 11:12; 4. Seattle, B. Holloway (12) (P. Rai, D. Richard) 14:18 PP; 5. Seattle, D. Richard (3) (J. Schappert, S. Chaffin) 19:08. Second — 6. Seattle, J. O'Brien (4) (P. Rai, B. Dillon) 0:29; 7. Seattle, B. Dillon (1) (I. McKenzie, J. Boyer) 1:48 PP; 8. Seattle, P. Rai (1) (J. Eberle, S. Acolatse) 18:18.