Logo courtesy of the Bellingham Blazers
Bellingham Blazers Win WSHL Divisional Semifinal Series
March 24, 2019
T.J. Prexler tallied 4 goals to help lead the Bellingham Blazers to a series clinching 10-6 victory over Southern Oregon Saturday night in the opening round of the Western States Hockey League playoffs. The Blazers took the best-of-three divisional round series 2-games to none and will play in the NW Division Championship next weekend.
Prexler added 4 assists for a 6 point night on home ice at the Bellingham Sportsplex. The forward helped solidify the victory with 3 goals in the third period.
Aidan McNabb scored twice for Bellingham, while teammates Timon Prexler, John Macdonald, Tommy Steven and Robbie Eicrhelberger each found the back of the net.
Southern Oregon got the first goal of the game at the 7:46 mark of the 1st period on a strike by Artem Popov, who led the Spartans with 2 scores on the night. Bellingham would respond with 2 goals within the next 7 minutes to take the lead. The Blazers would not trail again as Edward Coffey would turn away 33 shots for the victory.
Bellingham move on to play the Seattle Totems for the division title beginning March 29th in Seattle. The Totems won the regular season series with the Blazers taking 8 of the 12 match-ups.
-Doug Lange
*Information from www.wshlstats.com used in this story.