O'Brien leads T-birds' win

Even after missing so many chances to score the first hat trick of his Western Hockey League career, Jim O'Brien was hardly frustrated.

O'Brien scored his 12th and 13th goals of the season and then rang a shot off the cross bar and had several near misses during a 6-3 victory for the Seattle Thunderbirds over the Kamloops Blazers.

O'Brien also picked up an assist, giving the rookie center from Minnesota 32 points in 50 games this season.

"Everybody thinks about a hat trick after they get two," O'Brien said. "You just have to keep playing the team game and make the right play out there. If you start pressing for a goal, it never works out good for you or the team."

The T-birds (27-18-5-2) moved ahead of Everett and into fifth place in the Western Conference standings. The T-birds have won eight of their last 10 and trail Kelowna by eight points for the last playoff spot that comes with home-ice advantage.

"We've definitely picked it up a notch, and I think our team still has another level or two to go," O'Brien said. "We're definitely improving as a team and feeling better as a team."

O'Brien, a first-round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, said the adjustment from college hockey to the WHL is now nearly complete.

"I've felt great out there the past month or so, and I finally think it's starting to come together for me," O'Brien said. "It was a little rough start, but I'm happy with the way I'm playing now, and most importantly the team is playing good, too."

Seattle coach Rob Sumner said the improvement for O'Brien started with his defense.

"He really has become a threat to score most times he's on the ice," Sumner said. "He's an exciting player to watch. His commitment and understanding in our own end has come a million miles, and that leaves him playing less time in his own end."

Kamloops grabbed the lead with a goal on the first shot of the game only 28 seconds into the first period.

Seattle came back behind first-period goals by O'Brien and David Richard.

"We've been playing well, but tonight we weren't great," Sumner said. "We had a lot of holes in our game, but we still made some good plays and managed to win."

THUNDERBIRDS 6, BLAZERS 3

Kamloops	1 1 1 — 3
Seattle	2 2 2 — 6

First period — 1. Kamloops, Dulle 15 (Weibe Kalinski) :28. 2. Seattle, O'Brien 12 (McKenzie) 8:37. 3. Seattle, Richard 13 (Schappert) 13:27. Second — 4. Seattle, Scott 23 (Nielsen, Holloway) :27. 5. Kamloops, Wray 2 (Hall, Golin) 7:03. 6. Seattle, O'Brien 13 (McKenzie) 13:30. Third — 7. Kamloops, Golin 4 (Weibe, Bubnick) 3:27 8. Seattle, McKenzie 13 (Jackson, Wells) 17:16. 9. Seattle, Richard 14 (O'Brien) 19:49 (en). Shots on goal by — Kamloops 13-15-13 — 40, Seattle 12-16-9 — 37. Goal (shots, saves) — Kamloops: LeClerc (L, 19-20-1-1, 39-34); Seattle: Helenius (W, 13-9-5-1, 37-34). Power plays (goals-chances) — Kamloops 0-3; Seattle: 0-3. A — 2,704.