Home is Where the Heart is

The Thunderbirds are halfway through their season longest six game homestand and are 2-0-1-0, earning five of six points.  In fact, the T-Birds are 4-0-2-0 in their last six home games and overall are 6-2-2-0 in ten games so far this season at the accesso ShoWare Center. 

Seattle is set to play eight of their next 12 games on home ice. Currently, they sport a .700 winning percentage at the ShoWare Center.  If they can continue that .700 winning percentage, that would be almost six more wins at home before Christmas, somewhere along the lines of 5-1-2 over those eight games. It would give them the opportunity to go into the break above .500. 

The T-Birds have scored 29 goals at home in their last six home games, or an average about five goals per game in that stretch.  On the other end, Seattle is allowing on average just slightly over two goals against over those same six games.  Shots for are up, shots against are down.  Just about every metric is pointing in the right direction...at home.  

Somehow, some way, the Thunderbirds need to be able to bring that home ice success with them on the road.  As good as their home ice winning percentage is, their road winning percentage of .250 is tied with Swift Current for second worst in the league.  Only Wenatchee struggles more on the road thad do the T-Birds. 

They're going to need to bottle up the home success soon, because coming out of the holiday break, they're going to play seven of eight on the road and those seven roads games will come one after the other. Yep, a seven game road trip and most likely without Braeden Cootes and Radim Mrtka who are most likely to be participating in the World Junior Championships for their respective countries.

That seven game road swing could be the make or break point of the season.

Three Stars for the just concluded week/weekend. The T-Birds played just one game this past weekend, after playing three in five days the previous weekend.

Third Star: D Ashton Cumby. The Chicago Blackhawks prospect has sevnen points on the season and they've all come in his last six games and four of those were picked up in his last four games, including his first goal of the season against the Vancouver Giants. Cumby entered this season with a WHL career plus/minus of -19.  This season he sits at +7.

Second Star: C/W Brock England.  He's still a 16 year old rookie but he doesn't play like one. Fastest T-Bird out on the ice and he uses that speed to create offense.  He registerd six points (2g, 4a) in his first two games since coming back from the U17 Hockey Challenge with a Gold medal. As a result he was named the WHL Rookie of the Week.

First Star: W Antonio Martorana. Marty is off to a terrific start in his thrid full season with the team after injuries slowed down at the start of his 2024-25 campaign.  On the season he is the team's tp point producer with 12 goals and 24 assistst.  Three of his goals are game winners.  He's riding a three game points streak with six points over that span (4g, 2a) and has twelve points (7g,5a) in his last seven games.

Trending in the Right Direction

That was a tough loss Saturday at home against Prince George, especially after the Thunderbirds built a two goal lead with six minutes left in the second period.  There's no solace in saying it was one of the T-Birds better efforts in a contest they lost considering some of their earlier losses have been somewhat lopsided. 

The average margin of defeat for the Seattle this season has been by close to four goals, so losing by one in overtime doesn't seem so bad, especially when you earn a point in the standings. But that's not this team's expectation. They want to win the close ones, especially on home ice and certainly when they have the lead going into the third period.  So rightly, after that loss, point or no point, they were a disappointed group postgame.

For just the second time this season the Thunderbirds held a team without a power play goal.  Doing it against the team that, coming into the game, had the most power play goals in the WHL is no small feat.  That's the good news. The bad news is they had to kill off six Cougars power plays. One of those penalty kills was late in the second and two were in the third period when Seattle is trying to protect their lead.  

In that situation you want to be playing 5-on-5 hockey, or better yet force the opponent to play desperate hockey and draw some penalties and go on the power play yourself. Instead the T-Birds penalties took away their momentum and forced them to defend too much in their own end of the ice, rather than being on the attack. Sure, killing the penalties was great but it also means your top players are spending a lot of energy at the wrong end of the ice at a critical point in the game.

That was the loss. The winFriday over Saskatoon was the best example of not getting frustrated when your work earlier in the game is not being rewarded. In games earlier in the season when that was happening, the T-Brids would start taking short cuts, they'd get off their path and the results were predictable.  Friday, they stayed true to their game plan. They kept up the forecheck. They continued to be direct with the puck, putting lots of shots on goal and jumping on second chance opportunities.

Probably the biggest difference between Friday and Saturday was the T-Birds net front presence. It was there more consistently Friday. The number of rebounds available Saturday, as opposed to Friday, was proably less. Prince George had the better goalie and D-Corps.  But there were chances there against the Cougars. It just meant Seattle had to work a little harder for them.

My T-Birds Three Stars for the Weekend.

Third Star: Grayson Malinoski G (with a slight nod to Marek Sklenicka). Both goalies gave the team a chanc to win. Malinoski kept the game close Friday until the T-Birds broke through in the third period. He's put together two straight solid efforts. After being a tough luck loser in a few of his earlier starts, he's now won two in a row.  Both goalies are young as far as starts and playing time in the WHL but if the T-Birds can't get solid starts from these two most nights, they'll be in games late. By no means are either polished products but they're trending in the right direction.

Second Star: Coster Dunn C. It's been a bit of a slow start for Dunn, yet he still has ten points (4g, 6a) in 13 games.  He hasn't hit his stride but when he starts looking like he did the second half of last season, look out.  He had three assists Friday and could have had a few more.  He is now one point from hitting 100 points for his WHL career. He's at his best when he's winning puck battles that create offense. Some of that popped through this weekend.

First Star: Antonio Martorana W. Three goals and an assist in the two games, including a game winner. He's never going to be the biggest guy on the ice but he's at his best when hunting pucks around the opposing goal, winning pucks among the bigger players. He's in the mold of a Nolan Volcan or a Sami Moilanen in that he plays bigger than he is and has a knack for scoring big goals in big moments. Well over a point per game player thus far this season (1.29) and I think he can keep that up.

Reunited and it Feels so Good

The T-Birds got the gang back together Saturday night in Prince George and it led to a 4-3 win over the Cougars and, thus a split of their two road games at the CN Centre. With Braeden Cootes back from the NHL's Vancouver Canucks and Radim Mrtka's return from the Buffalo Sabres organization, Seattle is as whole as they have been since training camp.

Of course it is not the same lineup as the T-Birds had at the end of last season when they plowed through the second half and into the playoffs.  There is no Nathan Pilling or Scott Ratzlaff, no Brayden Schuurman and no Hayden Pakkala.  It's great to have Cootes and Mrtka back but it still means other players have to step up and support them.

That happened Saturday.  Late in the game the line of Sawyer Mayes, Brayden Holberton and Colton Gerrior willed that game winning goal into the back of the net.  I believe it was the defensive pairing of Vanek Popil and Tai Riley out on the ice as well on the winning goal. The T-Birds can produce when Cootes and Mrtka aren't on the ice.  They just need to do it more consistently because going forward opposing teams are going to  try and match up their top lines against Cootes and Mrtka whenever possible.

Friday night, just as they did on Saturday night, Seattle jumped out to a two-goal lead. Friday the T-Birds couldn't hold it.  Mistakes were made, leading to PG goals and the T-Birds didn't stay on their path, losing 6-3. Saturday night the 'Birds again lost their early lead. They made a few mistakes that cost them a couple of goals.  But unlike Friday, the team stayed on their path. They didn't panic and never fell behind.  They answered the Cougars pushback with pushback of their own and pulled out the win.

One difference from Friday to Saturday? In Friday's game Seattle surrendered 41 shots.  29 of those Prince George shots came over the last two periods, including 17 in the final period of play.  Saturday the T-Birds limited the Cougars to just 22 shots the entire game. Only five of those PG shots came in the third period.  Call it the Mrtka affect. With the big D-man logging a lot of minutes, Seattle was better at blocking shots and getting the puck out of the D-zone.  

Don't discount the play of goalie Grayson Malinoski who picked up his first win of the season.  He may have only been called upon to make 19 saves but he made key saves at big moments in the game.  He's faced a lot of rubber early on this season and suffered some tough luck losses.  It was nice to see him rewarded Saturday.

The Thunderbirds penalty kill is still a work in progress. They've surrendered at least one power play goal in all but one game so far this season. But maybe, just maybe, a bit of credit goes to the Prince George power play. They're red hot right now. They're just not doing this to Seattle.  That being said, the T-Birds know they are going to take penalties, so a strong PK is essential. Some of the penalties they are taking the coaches will accept. It's the avoidable ones that are hurting Seattle right now and they know they have to clean those up.

The T-Birds power play is starting to come to life.  Friday they were just off as they hit at least three posts with the man advantage. Saturday they misfired at an open cage early on a first period power play but came right back and scored moments later.  With Mrtka and Cootes back, the power play should improve.

If I had said back on September 29th that the T-Birds would be 5-7 through the first 12 games using a lineup in most of the those games that was missing two NHL first rounders would you accept that? Don't forget Simon Lovsin missed five of those games too.  I think Seatle is in a good place as we head toward November.  

Seattle needs consistency in effort. Saturday's strong showing has to carry over to this weekend's two games.  The T-Birds have yet to win back-to-back games.  Let's see if they can accomplish that at home Friday when they host the Saskatoon Blades.

My T-Birds Three Stars for the just concluded weekend:

Third Star: D Radim Mrtka. he played in just one of the two games but his presence in the lineup was felt.  He eats up big minutes and plays a complete 200 foot game. As mentioned above, his return will enhance the team's first power play unit, which in turn, should make the second power play unit more effective.  99-percent of the time, he's going to make the right play with the puck.

Second Star: C  Brock England.  A goal and an assist in the loss Friday.  He creates offense seemingly out of nothing with his speed.  He's not just a one way player though.  He's willing to go into board battles and win pucks and his 200 foot game is deceptively good.  He's only 16 and still maturing physically so he won't be perfect but his hockey IQ is tremendous.

First Star:  C Braeden Cootes.  He's a leader who wants to lead with his play on the ice.  He's never satisfied.  I'm guessing he was a little frustrated with the missed power play chances Friday but he kept with it and finally broke through Saturday.  His pass on the 2-on-1 with Brendan Rudolph in the first period of the second game was a thing of beauty. He put the puck through the eye of the needle right on to Rudy's stick. His goal late in the second period of the same game was an NHL caliber shot against arguably the best goalie  in the WHL.

We've Only Just Begun

 It's early. Very early. We're not yet ten games into the season. There's lots of hockey to be played still.  And through eight games I'm not sure what this version of the T-Birds is going to be.

We've seen stretches of good play but, we've also seen some hockey that's been, how will we say, not up to par.  The quest is to bring the level of good play up and bring the stretches of poor play down. Somewhere between that is T-Birds hockey.

Reality can be two things here. The Thunderbirds have been playing with less than a full deck. For much of the first eight games no Cootes, no Mrtka and no Cumby.  They've dealt with some self inflicted wounds with suspensions to Hartmann and Lovsin. The other reality is, that is life in the WHL.  Your stars may just not return. It's a possibility they stick at a higher level, afterall, that is what you are grooming them for. Maybe it's just for a few games as in the case of Cootes. Maybe it is for much longer as appears to be the case with Mrtka. Maybe they come back, maybe they don't. You have to play the hand your dealt. 

Matt O'Dette said since day one of the season that you can't wait for players to come back, because there is no quarentee they will. The players who are here have to step up. In that regard it has been an inconsistent performance by those players.

Now that Cootes and Cumby have returned, the T-Birds are fairly whole.  It's not out of the possibility that Mrtka stays the season in the AHL. If you're waiting for him to come walking through the door, you're  not focused on your job.  Now, I don't think that's the case. Rather, Seattle has some young defenseman seeing significant minutes in the WHL for the first time. It's an adjustment. It takes time.

Seattle has had a travel heavy first month of the season.  By the time we get to November, the T-Birds will be done with the vast majority of their road games in British Columbia. After two early games there, they don't return to Kamloops again until early March. By the end of next week, they'll have put Prince George in the rearview mirror.  By the end of November they'll be through with road trips to Penticton and Victoria.  What's left after that beside that March foray to Kamloops? Three games in February. One more in Kelowna and two short jaunts up I-5 to Langley to face the Vancouver Giants.

Yes, they have their yearly trip out to the east, a five game road trip to Alberta in early January,. But everything else is "local", that is, road trips within the U.S. Division.  In December, the fartherst they travel is one trip to Kennewick. Outside of the trip east, the longest road trip of January is Wenatchee. In February it's that last Kelowna road game while in March it's the aforemention drive up to Kamloops.  

So for Seattle, it's all about getting through this next month and a half. It should help that ten of the next 15 games are on home ice. They've just about survived this rough travel patch.  They have Cootes and Cumby back in the fold.  Now, it's time to got to work.

Watching Tai Riley play the point on the power play, and seeing him get a lot of his shot attempts blocked, was reminding me of something. I've seen that before.  Then it hit me.  That was Shea Theodore who as a 16 year old went through the same thing. But the coaches kept tossing Theo out there and eventually, the shots started getting through and he became a lethal power play weapon.  There was a little bit of that with Kevin Korchinski too. I'm not saying that is what Riley will become but the more opportunities he gets, the better he will become.  I really think at some point it will start clicking for him. The coaches wouldn't continue to put him in that spot if they didn't believe in him.

Too many avoidable penalties.  Under Matt O'Dette the Thunderbirds have always been a solid penalty killing team, but if you're shorthanded six times per game, eventually the opposition is likely to find the back of the net and the T-Birds have now allowed at least one power play goal against in every game this season. There are penalties the coaches are willing to accept but the avoidable stick infractions, the hooks, the slashes, the trips, are the ones hurting the T-Birds. Just an area that needs to be, and can be cleaned up. O'Dette said that was a point of emphasis at practice all week.

As always, defensive zone play isn't always about how your defensemen play inside your blueline or the saves your goalies make.  Defense is a team concept.  Forwards coming back on the back check is integral.  Better yet, spend less time in your own end.  That means winning races to the puck in the O zone. It's winning board battles and having clean offensive zone entries. All that should improve with the return of Cootes but it has to be more than one player committed to that concept.

The two-Headed Monster

At the Major Junior level of hockey, there are two objectives: win championships, such as a Chynoweth Cup or Memorial Cup (heck, why not both) and to develop players for the pro level, preferably, the NHL.

Over the last decade, the Thunderbids have been in four WHL Championship series and won two Chynoweth Cups. They've certainly hit the first objective. Meanhile, since 2010 the T-Birds have had, I believe, some 25 players drafted by NHL teams.  Another half dozen who weren't drafted eventually signed pro contracts. Many of those 30-plus have reached the NHL level. I think you can put a check mark behind objective number two.

The Thunderbirds have found their greatest success reaching both objectives in the the last six years thanks to the LaForge-O'Dette partnership. It almost sounds like I'm talking about a law firm, but of course I'm speaking of General Manager Bil LaForge and Head Coach Matt O'Dette.

Matt O'Dette took the reins as Thunderbirds head coach in the summer of 2017.  Seattle was coming off their first ever WHL title.  O'Dette was promoted from assistant coach to head coach when his predeccesor, Steve Konowalchuk, left for the NHL.

Bil LaForge came on board the following summer. Long time GM Russ Farwell had moved "upstairs" taking on the position of Vice President of Hockey Operations and  the T-Birds landed on LaForge, who had been the head scout for Everett, as his replacement.

Often when a new GM comes on board, one way they put their stamp on the organization is to bring in a new head coach. Instead LaForge's first move was to give O'Dette a ringing endorsement. The rest as they say, is history. Together the partnership of LaForge and O'Dette, in the two key hockey operations positions on the team, has produced nothing but positive results.

In six years working together this tandem has brought to the T-Birds two Western Conference titles, a U.S. Division banner, two appearances in the league championship series, one Chynoweth Cup and a berth in the championship game of the 2023 Memorial Cup.

But it doesn't stop there. In those six years 22 players who have played under their regime, heard their names called at an NHL draft.  There are hundreds of draft eligible players from all over North America and Europe who are hoping to be selected on draft day every summer. To have just one of your player's names called is a statistical longhost. To average almost four players per draft over a six year time frame is astronomical. But that's what Team LaForge-O'Dette has done.

But they don't do it alone. As they say, it takes teamwork to make the dream work.  To get those players on the podium on draft day mean hiring the right scouts. It means bringing on board the right assistant coaches. It means having the right people in place to help with player development. And LaForge and O'Dette have done that.

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Back at the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, the T-Birds were set to select 15th in the first round but as the top nine picks came off the board, LaForge and his team of scouts saw one player still available. A player they had given a top five grade. So LaForge made a phone call and sent that 15th overall pick and a third round pick to Prince Albert to move up to the tenth spot in the draft.  They used that #10 pick on Braeden Cootes. The same Braeden Cootes who just got drafted 15th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft by the Vancouver Giants. LaForge and his team know what they're doing.

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Last summer, with the 11th overall pick, Seattle chose Czechian Matej Pekar in the first round of the CHL Import Draft. The T-Birds still had a pick in Round Two, 71st overall. They went back to Czechia and took a flyer on Radim Mrtka, even though it looked like he would stay in Czechia to play professionally in the top men's league.  When rumors started to float around in October that Mrtka could be headed to Seattle I asked LaForge about taking a gamble with that second pick.  He had done it with Sam Knazko and he had done it with Tim Stutzle. No harm in swinging for the fences. The one thing that stuck with me was he said Russ Farwell was the one who went to bat for picking Mrtka.  Great case of a GM listening to those around him, especially someone who has been doing this for a long time. Mrtka was just selected 9th overall by Buffalo in the NHL Draft. 

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In his playing days, Matt O'Dette was a defenseman.  He played for the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL and was drafted in the 7th round of 1994 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers. He played parts of 14 seasons as a d-man professionally.  Now he has become a developer of D-men. As a T-Birds assistant coach he helped guide both Shea Theodore and Ethan Bear into becoming WHL Defenseman of the Year winners. Had Kevin Korchinski come back for his 19 year old season, rather than sticking in the NHL, he may have had a third earn the honor. In his 12 years in the T-Birds organization, first as an assistant coach and now as head coach, a dozen T-Birds defenseman have either been drafted (10) by the NHL or signed pro contracts. The latest two are Mrtka and Ashton Cumby.

The T-Birds acquired Cumby from the Wenatchee Wild in January of 2024 in exchange for a 6th round pick.  Seattle and O'Dette helped turn him into a prospect of the Chicago Blackhawks, who chose him in the 6th round (162nd overall) of the 2025 NHL Draft. 

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I'm not too surprised Cumby got drafted.  At the end of the season he was mulling over five or six offers from NHL team to attend their training camp if not selected in the draft. He was a wanted man.

Another Season for the Books

 

What constitutes a successful season? Someone would argue that success goes only to the team that wins the Cup. Everyone else is in second place. You  know, to the victor goes the spoils.  That's a bit of a myopic view, especially at this level of hockey. The roster turnover is so rapid at this level that it is quite impossible to compete for, let alone win, a championship every season.

So, success looks different for every team depending on where they are in their "championship window". If the T-Birds hadn't won the Chynoweth Cup in 2023, I think a lot of fans would say that team came up short of a successful season.  The expectations for that team were to win a league title. But they met their expected goal, thus the season is deemed a rousing success.

The year prior, 2022, I don't think winning the WHL title was expected. They weren't the favorite that season.  They were considered a contender though, then upset a couple of higher seeded teams in the postseason and they made it to the league championship series before losing in six games to the favored Edmonton Oil Kings. Still, the T-Birds finished that season with the seventh best record in the league and made it within two wins of taking the Cup. I think, as a result of exceeding expectations, that too was a season of success.

So where does this season fall on the "successful season" scale? Is it a success because of how the team started and how they finished the regular season?  It was an unbelievable second half, but we also can't discount the first half. Or does the second half make up for the first half? I think the answer lies in between.  The T-Birds used the first half to find out who they were, to figure out what parts of the roster were working and where changes, whether through addition or subtraction, needed to be made. It's like fiddling around in the kitchen with a cake recipe until you get the ingredients right.

The T-Birds were 11-19-2-1 heading into the Christmas break.  They went into that break, having dropped two in a row and five of seven.  They promptly came out of the break and lost their first three games. They began 2025 with a record of 11-22-2-1, eleven games below the break-even mark after a 6-4 loss at home New Year's Eve. They then lost three of their first four games in the new year. 12-25-2-1 at the WHL trade deadline on January 9th.  A season low point of thirteen games below .500. with just 28 games left.  Doubtful anyone was putting the season into the "success" category at that point.

But the season isn't 40 games long, It's 68.  The cake isn't done baking until the oven timer goes off, and even then, you have to check it to make sure it is baked all the way through. The T-Birds finished the season by going 18-8-1-1, a winning percentage of .642 over that 28 game stretch.  Only six of those games were against teams with a record below .500. And even with some veteran additions to the roster for the second half push, they still accomplished that second half success with one of the youngest rosters in the WHL. They then pushed the team with the WHL’s best regular season record to six games in round one, including a double overtime thriller, before bowing out.

I guess the best way to describe the season is to say while overall, finishing with a sub .500 record usually doesn’t lend one to call the campaign an overall success, there were many successes along the way that left everyone with a good feeling about the just concluded hockey year.

A young team got a year of experience. They took their lumps but after bumping into a few walls, they found their path.  They learned to battle for and achieve something, a playoff spot. And they got a lesson in playing playoff hockey and passed that test. Maybe it wasn’t an A on that test, maybe just a solid B, but it should be enough for them to graduate to the next level.

There will be questions to answer before next season. Who will be the three 20 year olds? Is the organization satisfied going into next season with just two 19 year olds? Who will pick up the scoring slack created by the departure of Pilling? And who steps into the leadership vacuum now that Schuurman and Pakkala have moved on? How many of the seven signed 2009s will they carry on the roster next season, outside of Brock England? These questions will all be answered in due course, but let’s spend some time enjoying the successes that came from the 2024-25 season.

All Gas no Brakes

The Seattle Thunderbirds left it all out on the ice in Game Six. If you're going to go out, empty the tank, and they did. I'm sure it's a  tough pill to swallow though.  They did everything but score. Every bounce or deflection turned the puck right when they need it to go left, often inches away from forcing Game Seven. As the eight seed they didn't wilt under the pressure.  They played their opponent, the one seed, toe to toe but came up short. There is no shame in that. No one to lay blame on. That's just playoff hockey. There is always a winner and there is always a loser.

Was there a key point in the series where the balance may have tipped (no pun intended) against them? There are always moments in every game where, when you dissect it afterwards, you says to yourself "if only". Of course, if you spend too much time going over every moment with a fine tooth comb, you'll drive yourself crazy.  

Some might point to the final four minutes of the first period of Game Five. Seattle took four minor penalties and Everett cashed in with three power play goals.  At the time Seattle was winning and driving the play. It definitely changed the complexion of that game, but I'm not sure about the series.

To me, I would go back to the second period of Game Four. Seattle had started the series by getting the road split in Games One and Two. In fact they came close to winning both games in Everett that weekend before the 'Tips pulled out an overtime win in the second game. Still, off that road split the T-Bird came home and came from behind for a 6-3 win in Game Three. Old Mo was certainly on their side.

Game Four started the way Seattle needed it to start. They got the lead. They were playing much as they had played in the first three games. They had bought in and were playing a playoff brand of hockey. They were being physical and wearing down their opponent. They had to have left the ice after that first period of Game Four feeling good about their game, even if it was just a one goal lead. 

But I think Everett realized their season was at stake. The team that finished with the best record in the regular season was in danger of falling behind in the series, three games to one. They probably knew if they ended up in such a hole, the chances of climbing out were bleak.

Give the Silvertips credit. Their desperation mode kicked in and they dominated period two.  The young T-Birds didn't have the proper response and before you could blink Seattle was on their heels and couldn't get back on their toes. Seattle lost that game, 6-2, and I'm not sure if they completely got back to the way they had played the first three games, the rest of the series.  There were moments and definitley chances. Yes, the end of the first period of Game Five felt like falling off a cliff, but I think the second period of Game Four is where the complexion of the series changed. Before that period I thought Seattle was in control. Those twenty minutes got Everett back in it. When you have your opponent down on the mat, don't let them back up.

Does getting six games of playoff experience really push the needle for the young Thunderbirds going into next season? I think it does and you only have to look at the play of two rookie defenseman in the series to see it matters.  Both Tai Riley and Vanek Popil took huge steps in their hockey maturation versus Everett. 

Has Scott Ratzlaff played his last game as a T-Birds? It sure seems that way.  But Seattle has found a way to put a quality player in the crease. Whether through draft or trade, they've had solid goaltending for a long stretch.  Trust the process.  

Seattle doesn't get to the postseason this year without their three 20 year olds.  I really enjoyed Nathan Pilling embracing being a T-Bird since he came over after Christmas in December of 2023. I know he's made an NCAA commitment and if that's where he ends up next season he'll thrive,  but I've got to believe his heart wants a pro contract. 

The T-Birds don't turn their season around without the second half additions of Hayden Pakkala and Brayden Schuurman. A young team needed some veteran guidance and those two gave them that.

This series reminded me a bit of the 2013 first round playoff series against Kelowna. Seattle was a seven seed, Kelowna the two seed.  The Rockets had 28 more wins and 50 more points during the regular season than the T-Birds that year.  Seattle won the first three games in overtime before the Rockets came back to win the final four, but it took overtime in the final two games to do it. But Seattle wore down the Rockets in that series. Kelowna went into round two a beat up team and got swept by Kamloops. It will be interesting to see how healthy Everett will be in round two against Portland.