Wednesday's loss to Victoria was a frustrating game for Seattle. Why? It was a game that screamed out, "follow the game plan and you can win". But because they didn't follow up their two, well played, games on the weekend with another, they were saddled with a loss. Somewhere between Saturday night's win over Saskatoon and the Victoria loss, they got off the rails a bit.
They were really never out of the game. Once again, outside the late empty-netter, they played a third straight one goal game in which they surrendered just three goals against. Once again though, the offense got stuck at two goals. The breakouts weren't crisp, the passing was off and there were other puck management issues. And, according to head coach Matt O'Dette's postgame comments, some players tried to do too much individually. Some of those issues were from older players. Let's hope they get it back going into the weekend. Coaches always say they will live with the results if you put forth your best effort. Straying from the game plan is not your best effort. As young as this team is they still need their veteran players doing well to succeed.
That being said, something has been brewing with those young players recently. On occasion we've seen one rookie have a good game on a Friday, only to fall off on Saturday while a different rookie, who didn't show up the game before, steps up and delivers. We just haven't seen them collectively all have solid games at the same time and do it in back-to-back games. Going back to that 3-2 loss last Friday against Kelowna though it was hard not to notice, that as a group, those young rookie forwards all started to impact games together for three successive contests.
The obvious ones show up in the box score with goals from Matt Rempe and Kai Uchacz. Since returning from the U-17 Tournament, Uchacz has been a different player then he was the first month of the season. He looks more like they guy we saw over five games late last season. He's playing physical and hustling to engage in battles for pucks.
Rempe has been that way almost from his first shift after missing 15 games due to injury. He's learning each game how to utilize his 6'8" frame to his advantage. Both players are performing well in the faceoff circle which is important because they are your third and fourth line centers. Like Uchacz, Conner Roulette is back from the U-17s, as well as a minor injury, and while he hasn't scored a goal since his return, the chances are coming, mostly off his own creation. Meanwhile Lucas Ciona, who also missed time with an injury, has come back into the lineup and picked up where he left off. He and fellow rookie Brendan Williamson have earned their time on the penalty kill because they have gained the trust of the coaching staff to be put out on the ice in that situation.
Those five rookie forwards weren't a liability in the lineup the last three games. Together they were assets. Wednesday night, representing the bottom six forward group, they may have been the best "effort" players on the ice for Seattle over the course of the game. We are a third of the way into the season and it might just be that this group has turned the corner in their rookie season. Let's see how they continue to play over the next month going into the Christmas break, but if the last three games are a barometer, then the decision to keep all five on the roster was the right one. They are getting ahead of the curve. For lack of a better description, they are playing comfortably, as though they have mentally made the adjustment to now being full time WHL players. The results may not consistently be in the win column but if we continue to see the growth from that group that I saw this past week, collectively they'll come out of the season the better for it.
The fact that their better, more consistent play coincides with most of them returning to the lineup at the same time, whether from a tournament or an injury, is also telling. Now that almost everybody is available, there is competition for ice time. No one wants to be a healthy scratch. Their job is to make that game-by-game roster decision a tough one for the coaches. This young group knows they have to practice well and play hard to earn their spot in the lineup on game night. But you know who also knows? The veterans. If they're not careful, some of these younger players may just pass them by.
Hopefully that competition for a spot in the lineup is going to sharpen them. A healthy roster means nothing will be handed to them. In a few weeks, that competition will get stiffer, once another rookie, Mekai Sanders is cleared to play. It should push a second year player like center Jared Davidson too. As they compete and play together and (knock on wood) stay healthy, we'll get to see this group, that also includes second year player Payton Mount, grow together. When you add in a couple of players who have come up to play a few games and looked solid doing it, in Sam Popowich and Reid Schaefer, that's a group of 10 forwards, age 17 and 16, who within two seasons will make up your top three forward lines. While you are pondering that, ponder this. The T-birds first round pick last spring, Jordan Gustafson, is also a forward.
Watch these guys as they play together the rest of this season because over the next four years you are going to see a lot of them.
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