Look in the Mirror

All throughout Friday night's 3-1 loss to the Tri-City Americans, I got the feeling T-birds players, especially the returning players, were looking for someone to jump off the bench and lead the way. It seemed they were looking for Nolan Volcan or Noah Philp to hop on the ice or they were checking to see if Matthew Wedman had returned. I get it. When you get used to having players like that beside you for two and three seasons, you get used to following the example they set to get you going right in a tight battle.

But the time for Volcan and Philp to lead this team has come and gone. Wedman may or may not be back. Tyler Carpendale is out injured. Right now, as of today, the leadership mantle is on those returning, veteran players who are going to be in the lineup each and every game. The time for looking around for others to lead is over. Look in the mirror. It's you.

With a staggered and slow start to the regular season I suppose it natural that it may take a few games to understand this. Maybe a game like Friday's is enough for them to say it's time to step up and lead this young team. Guys who were in "secondary" roles are now in "primary" roles. Not to mention the older players on this team have more younger players behind them then the T-birds teams of the past few seasons.

I think Owen Williams gets this. He's now in his third season manning the blue line with the team. And while defense is a team concept, the young D-corps has played well the first two games. There hasn't been much in the way of egregious errors by that group. Williams plays smart and simple. He leads by example.

And to be fair, as Friday's game moved along, as they got past that less then stellar first period, players did begin to step up. The second was better then the first and the third was better then the first two. They weren't perfect because the second Tri-City goal was an indirect result of a couple of wrong decisions, but it did seem as though the light bulb was turning on over the heads of a few. As the third period unfolded, for instance, I got the feeling Henrik Rybinski knew that a third year, NHL drafted guy, has to put a good amount of the load on his shoulders. That doesn't mean you try to do everything by yourself. It means getting your teammates involved. If you want to improve your game for the next level, leadership is part of that development.

One problem for Seattle, if you want to call it that, is because they've gone with such a large group of younger, albeit talented players, they don't have a heavily populated 2000-born age group. Those would be the 19 year olds. The belief is the WHL is a league who's top teams are driven by the 19 year olds on their rosters. Case in point would be the T-birds 2017 Championship team that consisted of eight 19 year olds. 2018 Champions, Swift Current, had 10 and last year Prince Albert had nine. Many of the 19 year olds on championship rosters are NHL drafted players or have played regularly since they were 16 year olds.

By comparison this Seattle team consists of just five 19 year olds. Only one, goalie Roddy Ross, is an NHL draft pick, but he only has a half season of WHL starts to his credit. Carpendale is out with a long term injury. In fact injuries have limited Carpy to just 81 games over the past two seasons. Seattle just recently picked up defenseman Hunter Donohoe who, like Carpendale, is less experienced them most WHL 19 year olds, having played just 79 games in the league prior to his arrival in Kent. Even Williams has just 129 games under his belt. Keltie Jeri-Leon, the 5th of the 19 year olds, is the grizzled vet in that group with 166 games.

It was good to see 16 year old Kai Uchacz in the lineup. He missed opening night, and the second half of the preseason, dealing with an injury. I think he had a bit of rust to shake off but hopefully he'll be up to full speed soon. Uchacz is a natural center and that is a position the T-birds are trying to sort out. Even at age 16 he is going to hold his own in the faceoff circle.

We can all agree the effort against the Americans could have been better. That said, it was another game in which Seattle did not allow an even strength goal. Through six periods of hockey the T-birds have surrendered just three power play goals and one empty netter. Not to discredit Tri-City. They played a strong road game, but this seemed more of a case of Seattle losing the game rather then the Ams winning it. Seattle clanked two shots off posts. I think through the first two games, Conner Roulette has hit the posts or crossbar three times. The game reminds me of that adage about you don't winthe game in the first period but you can surely lose it there with a poor start.

My T-birds Three Stars for Game Two:

Third Star: D Owen Williams. I don't know if he's vocal in the room between periods but out on the ice I thought he played smart and efficient. When he first arrived in Seattle a season and a half ago, he had the label of an offensive defenseman and he did try to be just that. He's become more of a complete defenseman since his arrival and his d-zone play the first two games has been solid.

Second Star: G Roddy Ross. Seattle was on their heals in the first period from the opening faceoff until the final couple of minutes. Ross stood tall and kept the game scoreless as the T-birds were hemmed in their own end. It wasn't until Seattle went to the penalty box that Tri scored a power play goal on a shot Ross had no chance to stop. No question that Ross has been their best player through the first two games.

First Star: C Payton Mount. Mount is essentially learning a new position, having played exclusively on the wing a year ago as a 16 year old rookie. He's holding his own in the pivot. I think he has been the T-birds most consistent forward over the course of 120 minutes of hockey in the early going. One of the biggest steps a WHL player takes is from a 16 year old rookie to a 17 year old sophomore. Mount is primed for the big leap.