Tri-City evens T-birds series

KENNEWICK — Rob Sumner is ready to cast his vote for best actor on a big hit that failed to cause an injury.

Colton Yellow Horn came off the deck to score a natural hat trick as the Tri-City Americans scored four power-play goals to beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-0 and even their Western Hockey League Western Conference semifinals playoff series at one game apiece.

Yellow Horn played a major role in all the game's key plays. Only 29 seconds in, Yellow Horn was hit by Greg Scott at mid-ice. Yellow Horn went down like a shot, rolled around on the ice for several minutes and had to be helped to the Tri-City dressing room.

Scott was assessed a five-minute major penalty and given a game misconduct. Yellow Horn returned in time to play the majority of that power play.

"Yellow Horn lays there like he was seriously injured and then logs more minutes than anyone on the ice," said Sumner, the T-birds coach. "It's a shame that the refs bit on it and he gets rewarded for it. He wasn't hurt, and it definitely impacted the game."

Tri-City coach Don Nachbaur disagreed.

"When you stick your knee out, you're liable for it," Nachbaur said. "Obviously, I thought it was the right call. The league made it mandatory the player is responsible for the hit."

Shaun Vey opened the scoring with a goal at 3:54 after Scott's penalty and Yellow Horn had two power-play goals in the second period and another in the third. The series now heads to KeyArena for Tuesday's Game 3.

Seattle captain Thomas Hickey, who took a knee to the head during Game 1, warmed up but did not play.

Chet Pickard, who gave up six of the Seattle goals in Game 1, stopped 22 shots to pick up the shutout.

Playoff series
Best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals between Seattle and Tri-City:
#	Result
1	Seattle 7, at Tri-City 1
2	At Tri-City 4, Seattle 0
#	Matchup
3	Tuesday, at KeyArena, 7:05 p.m.
4	Wed., at KeyArena, 7:05 p.m.
5	April 11, at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
*6	April 12, at KeyArena, 7:05 p.m.
*7	April 15, at Tri-City, 7:05 p.m.
*if necessary

AMERICANS 4, THUNDERBIRDS 0

Seattle	0 0 0 -- 0
Tri-City	1 2 1 -- 4

First -- 1, Tri-City, Vey 2 (Fast, Procyshen) 3:54 (pp). Second -- 2, Tri-City, Yellow Horn 3 (Procyshen, Fast) :42 (pp), 3, Tri-City Yellow Horn 4 (Resse, Vey) 16:02 (pp). Third -- 4, Tri-City Yellow Horn 5 (Procyshen, Reese) 9:15 (pp). Shots on goal by -- Seattle 8-10-4 -- 22, Tri-City 13-12-7 -- 32. Goal (shots, saves) -- Seattle: Helenius (4-3, 31-27, DeSerres 12:13 of 3rd, 6-6); Tri-City: Pickard (4-1, 22-22). Power plays (goals-chances) -- Seattle 0-7; Tri-City 4-7. A -- 4,069.