Seven nights, four games, three wins, wonderful to watch. The Seattle Thunderbirds are one quarter of the way through this abbreviated 24 game schedule and are on pace for 16 wins. In a season that has been turned over to developing the young talent on this roster, that would be an impressive accomplishment.
Win or lose this team competes for the "W'. There will be teachable moments along the way, hard lessons learned, but they will entertain. The only disappointment so far is that you, the fans, haven't been there to witness it in person. Three of their four win have come on home ice and each one has been a one-goal nail biter. From the opening night shootout victory over Spokane to Wednesday's come-from-behind win over Everett, you'd be getting your money's worth.
To a person, everyone in the organization wondered how raucous the ShoWare Center would have been when Jeremy Hanzel skated in, around and through the Silvertips defense in the third period Wednesday as he scored the game winner. These players, especially these young rookies, can't wait to be part of that full throated ShoWare experience for the first time. It can't come soon enough.
The tale of the tape is in and Seattle is the youngest team in the WHL for a second straight season. With ten rookies and only one 20 year old, the young guns are getting plenty of ice. But you need a rudder to steer the ship and Seattle's seasoned players are bringing the young pups along. No one epitomizes that more than 19 year old Florida Panthers prospect Henrik Rybinski.
Rybinski is off to a terrific start. It may not show loudly on the stat sheet where he sits seventh in team scoring with a goal and three assists, but he is leading by example with his all out effort on every shift. He is relentless and you can see that tenacity rub off on young players like Jordan Gustafson and Gabe Ludwig.
When the T-birds acquired Rybinski from Medicine Hat at the trade deadline two seasons ago, he was playing on the wing but wanted to play center fulltime. The T-birds weren't sure if he could do the job. But to their credit, they gave him the opportunity to prove himself and he has blossomed.
He's centering their top line, going toe-to-toe with the opponents top players and only getting better. He's winning fifty percent of his faceoffs. But it's not so much how many times he is successful on the draw as when he's successful such as the late defensive zone win against Everett in a game with Seattle nursing a one goal lead. He's their top penalty killer and instrumental on a power play that has tallied in all but one game so far this season.
The WHL has allowed teams to carry 2005 born players (15 year olds) on their rosters this season if they were first round Bantam picks in the 2020 draft. As a result the top six picks from last spring's draft have all either scored a goal or registered a point this season. The seventh pick from that draft is Seattle's Sam Oremba. He's yet to play a game, though he is with the team.
He's one of those ten rookies Seattle is carrying on their roster. Those other teams seem to need their 15 year olds to score to find some success. The T-birds having Oremba with them is a luxury, not a necessity. That's how deep their pool of rookie players is. Oremba is a really, talented player but Seattle doesn't need him in the lineup to win games. Mind you, he can help them win, they just don't need him to...yet.
Through six games, Seattle has registered 73 shots on goal in the first period. That's an average of just slightly over 12 shots on goal in the first period each game. The T-birds have scored just three first period goals and two of those came in one game. They are getting off to terrific starts minus that pesky ingredient, goals. Just wait until they start adding some scoring to those fast starts.
Congratulations to winger Conner Roulette and goalie Thomas Milic who were selected to be part of Canada's U-18 roster for the tournament that will take place later this month in Texas. Well earned.
My T-birds Three Stars for the last four games:
Third Star: D-man Jeremy Hanzel. Props to the T-birds scout who discovered this gem. Hanzel was not selected in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft, playing in, as he told me, a league that usually doesn't draw a lot of attention. But he got the attention of the T-birds who scouted, listed and signed him last spring. Now he has NHL scouts paying attention, probably even more so after that game winner against the 'Tips.
Second Star: C Henrik Rybinski. He's the tone setter for Seattle at both ends of the ice. A terrific defensive forward with the assignment of usually trying to slow down, if not shutdown, the opposing team's top playmakers. But he's more then that as he will chip in with timely offense. Even if he doesn't score he's probably the one creating the scoring chance for his teammate.
First Star: W Conner Roulette. Hard to think of going pointless in the first two games as a slow start, but that is how good Roulette is in that, if he doesn't record a point coming out of the gate we panic a little. Calm down, the wheel is spinning. He now has points in four straight games including four goals and is now leading the team in scoring with six points on four goals and two assists. His creativity in the offensive zone reminds me just a tad of Patrick Kane. He's just fun to watch on the ice.
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