The Winnipeg Ice face a tough loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds after losing 3-1 on Saturday's game.

Both teams played hard and it was a close game as the first period went without a single goal, but it was Seattle's, Sam Popowich who was the first to open the scoring.

Then on a penalty shot in the third, Nico Myatovic brought the score up to 2-0 for the Thunderbirds.

It was Evan Friesen who put the Ice on the board just over five minutes into the third.

However, in an attempt to tie the game, Winnipeg pulled their goalie which didn't work in their favour and Kyla Crnovic scored the insurance goal for Seattle.

Daniel Hauser played an incredible game and made 35/38 saves, but it was Thomas Milic who came out victorious, saving 30/31 shots on net.

"It's heartbreaking in our room right now," says Head Coach James Patrick. "I guess I can start off by congratulating Seattle, they had a great, played a great series. They deserve to win this but saying that, it was as close as it gets. In four of the five games, there are empty nets, they're as close as you can imagine. We threw everything we could at them, their goalie was outstanding and he was probably the best player in the series when it's all said and done."

The Thunderbirds made the most of their second consecutive trip to the WHL Championship, defeating the Winnipeg ICE to claim the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2023 after having fallen to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the spring of 2022.

Seattle beat Winnipeg 4-1 in the WHL Championship series.