T-birds slide past Ice, 4-1

Thomas Hickey added a new chapter to his legendary Seattle Thunderbirds career on Friday night.

Operating on little or no sleep after captaining Team WHL over a Russian Select team in Prince Albert on Thursday night, Hickey arrived in Seattle on Friday just in time to score the game-winning goal in the T-birds' 4-1 win over the Kootenay Ice at KeyArena.

But there was no rest for the weary. Hickey and his Seattle teammates showered quickly and boarded a bus bound for Portland directly after the game. The T-birds will play the Winter Hawks at noon today in a game that was rescheduled in order not to conflict with the Oregon-Oregon State football game, set for 4 p.m.

Hickey scored on a wicked slap shot in the second period to put the T-birds up 2-1, a goal that stood up as the game-winner when goaltender Jacob DeSerres stopped 21 of 22 shots.

"Today was a long day; I don't know if I slept or not," Hickey said. "I think I was playing off adrenaline and tried to use my mind more than my body, and that was key for me tonight."

Hickey said it was a complete game for Seattle (11-13-1-2).

"We were strong in all three zones of the ice tonight," he said. "It's something we've been working on all season."

The Thunderbirds hit three posts in a scoreless first period, but Seattle coach Rob Sumner knew it was only a matter of time before the team broke through.

"Those weren't just through broken plays; we really created those opportunities," he said. "It was a matter of not getting frustrated and eventually it would come, and it did."

Four different players scored for the Thunderbirds. Jonathan Parker opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 9:35 of the second period. After Andrew Bailey tied it for Kootenay, Hickey's power-play goal regained the lead for Seattle.

Devon LeBlanc and Chris Cloud scored for the T-birds in the third period to help snap a six-game winning streak for the Ice (15-10-2-3).

The Thunderbirds improved to 6-1 at KeyArena. Seattle will play the vast majority of its home games in the second half of the season after it moves to the new Kent Events Center in January.