February Frenzy Finished

What a last couple of weeks it has been. I sneezed and threw out my back for a couple of days. My home computer crashed and I've spent a lot of time recovering important information, including for this blog, off the old hard drive. I then had a run-in with a coffee table and am dealing with a broken toe. Oh, and the Thunderbirds just completed a ten day stretch in which they played seven games. Just your typical February.

Over those seven games, the T-birds picked up five points. It's not a basketful of points, maybe a handful, but not a basketful. But over that same span, the team with the only chance of keeping Seattle from the postseason, Prince George, was earning just four points. So, in essence, it was a net gain of one point in the standings for Seattle. At the same time, the team directly ahead of the Thunderbirds in the standings, Kelowna, was earning just four points. That means Seattle is just two points in arears of the Rockets for the Western Conference's seventh seed, albeit the Rockets do have two games in hand. The Rockets play those two games midweek up in Prince George.

After this weekend, the T-birds magic number to clinch, at minimum, a play-in game for the conference's eighth seed is 14 points. That is any combination of points Seattle earns and Prince George fails to earn going forward, and the T-birds would face PG in a winner in/loser out game to determine the final spot in the west. Seattle's magic number to outright clinch the final playoff position is 15 points.

With just ten games remaining in the regular season for the T-birds, it may seem as though the Thunderbirds need to win a vast majority of their games going forward. Certainly they'd like to do that but it's not necessary. For instance, if Seattle earned just two wins or four points over their last ten games, Prince George would have to earn 18 points, the equivalent of nine wins, in their final 13 games just to force that play-in game. If Seattle gets six points going forward, the Cougars would have to take 21 of the final 26 points available on their schedule to catch Seattle.

You never say never, but PG is a team with a current winning percentage of .373. Under that scenario it would essentially take them playing .700 hockey down the stretch to chase down Seattle. The remaining Prince George schedule includes ten games against teams with records well above .500, teams fighting for their own playoff position, teams like Lethbridge, Kamloops, Vancouver and Victoria.

Not that Seattle's schedule is any easier from this point on. Over their final ten games only a March 6th road game against Kelowna features a team currently at or below .500. And they could be above .500 by the time Seattle takes the ice against them. Otherwise it is multiple games against four teams who are a combined 32-6-1-1 over the past two weeks. Daunting, to say the least.

Of the seven goals Seattle scored in the just completed three games-in-three-nights weekend, six of them were scored by players age 17 or younger. Four of them were potted by rookies. Over the past four games, 20 of the last 32 points (goals and assists) awarded to Seattle have been to players in either their first or second year in the league. This actually comes with an asterisk since I have not included the seven points (4g,3a) from Andrej Kukuca in that total. While this is Kukuca's second season in the WHL, he is a 20 year old, so I eliminated him from the equation. Instead I focused solely on the players who began the season age 17 or younger. It's just a reminder that , yes, this is a very young team, but a very talented young team.

My T-birds three stars for the past week of hockey (four games):

Third Star: G Roddy Ross. Ross went 2-0-1-0 in three starts, stopping 79 of 85 shots in just over 124 minutes of action. That's a save percentage of .929 with a 1.95 GAA. He was at his best in the third period of his last two starts, Saturday versus Portland and Sunday against Prince George, denying a combined 24 of 24 shots.

Second Star: W/C Payton Mount. Mount's play over the past couple of weeks is really leaping out off the ice. You notice him every shift, especially his work along the boards. He's just consistently winning a good many puck battles. Playing center between Kukuca and Conner Roulette in the absence of the injured Henrik Rybinski, Mount helped those two register 10 points (6g, 4a) the past four games while earing three of his own (1g, 3a). he also helped revive the power play over the weekend (3-11) while helping kill off six of seven penalties.

First Star: A number of different ways to go here. Roulette had a nine game point streak going until it was snapped Sunday versus PG. He had three points (2g, 1a) in the four games and was a +3. He is tied for second on the team in scoring with 37 points (19g, 18a) in only 49 games and leads the team with a +14. Another rookie, Brendan Williamson, finally registered his first WHL goal and what a memorable goal it was, a game winner versus Portland. Williamson earned three points over the four games (1g, 2a) and was +2.

But my choice for first star is Andrej Kukuca. Kukuca had four goals and three assists and finished the week with a +3 rating. His hat trick led the T-birds from behind to victory Tuesday against Moose Jaw. It was his shot block and outlet pass that sprang Williamson on the winning goal late in the third period Saturday against Portland. His 54 points on the season (23g, 31a) are far and away the most on the team.