Cougin' it?

 I’ll be honest, I wasn’t disappointed when the Thunderbirds two road games in Prince George last season got cancelled due to the pandemic. I dread that bus ride.  Yep, even more then the bus rides out to Alberta and Saskatchewan. I’m just not a fan. I don’t know exactly what it is because at times the scenery is spectacular. I just dread it every season.  But here’s the funny thing, I actually like Prince George. 

It's a nice city and you run into the friendliest residents. But more importantly, the CN Centre has, in my humble opinion, the best pressbox in the WHL. Great sightlines, enough space in the booth, close to the action and easy access from there to the locker room. I rate it a 9.8 out of 10.  The only reason I don’t give it a 10 is because the stream out of the faucet in the pressbox men’s room comes out at a 45-degree angle and the water pressure is that of a firehose. I can’t believe that I’m the only one who has come out of that men’s room with water all over the front of his pants.

I don’t sleep through the night on the long ride home. It’s more like a series of naps.  There is no four-lane interstate on most of this trek. It is instead, a mostly winding two lane highway and you pass through a number of towns which necessitates the bus occasionally slowing down and, in some cases, stopping at a red light or a stop sign. It is these sudden changes in the speed of the bus, along with the curves in the road, that will usually jar me out of a light sleep. 

So, I get to see the bright lights of such British Columbia hamlets as Quesnel, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake and Cache Creek. Then there is the driver switch at Hope, with a Tim Horton’s stop for good measure. And once you get to that point the border is not that far away, so there’s no sense in trying to get in another forty winks.  

So by the time I get back to the rink in Kent, my brain is pretty much in a fog, or at least more of a fog than usual. 

I think I’ve sufficiently recovered from the bus ride back from Prince George though to coherently put down some thoughts on the two games this past weekend against the Cougars. 

The two games up at the CN Centre were a mixed bag.  Once Seattle got going Friday there were much the better team and the final score of 5-4 wasn’t indicative of the way the Thunderbirds controlled most of that contest.  The Cougars scored a couple of times in the final minute, including a 6-on-4 goal with one second left to make it look more respectable up on the scoreboard.

The narrative from a Prince George perspective after that game seemed to be that they gave the Thunderbirds, ranked number three in the CHL Top Ten Poll, too much respect.  I wonder if, after beating Prince George in Friday’s game, if Seattle didn’t give the Cougars enough respect in the Saturday rematch?

Seattle was flat all night in the second game.  As head coach Matt O’Dette said, they were out of sync and didn’t execute the game plan.  The Cougars were a determined team. They wanted to show they can hang with the Thunderbirds.  Still, it was a 1-1 game late in the second period and a very winnable game for Seattle.  The T-birds just didn’t elevate their game.  

They did have a better third period, when compared to the first two, outshooting Prince George 12-5.  Cougars’ goalie Ty Young denied Seattle on a number of grade A scoring chances.  And when Seattle couldn’t find the back of the net Prince George capitalized on their chances and Seattle miscues.

As O’Dette has said on a number of occasions this season, Seattle has a certain identity they want to play with. It’s what got them to the WHL Championship Series last spring.  Despite the 9-0 start, we haven’t seen that T-birds identity consistently through the first month of the season and it was definitely lacking in the loss.

But credit Prince George. They were focused on handing Seattle their first loss.  They played to their identity in earning the win.  They have a couple of high-end forwards who were their best players.  Their goaltending is top notch.  They are very much like Vancouver, a team that gave Seattle three tough games earlier this season. 

In the end the Thunderbirds are 9-1 to start the season despite not hitting their stride yet. The nine-game winning streak to start the campaign is already longer than any winning streak over the last decade.  They are going to get better as the season progresses.    But there will be bumps in the road. It is how they respond to those road bumps that will reveal this team’s true character.

My T-birds Three Stars for the Weekend:

Third Star: D Niko Tsakumis. He didn’t record a point in either game but he stood out for me both nights because he constantly made the right play with the puck.  Seattle has a very young group of defenseman and the more they play the better they get.  Tsakumis’ play this past weekend will earn him more ice time going forward.

Second Star: D Jeremy Hanzel. The elder statesman among Seattle’s defensemen.  In my estimation, the 19-year-old has been the T-birds most consistent blueliner through the first ten games. Like Tsakumis, he made the right play with the puck all weekend.  I can see a similar path for him as with former T-bird Brenden Dillon. Like Dillon, Hanzel wasn’t drafted into the WHL. So far, like Dillon, Hanzel hasn’t been drafted into the NHL, although that could change next summer. Like Dillon, I think some NHL team will give him a chance.

First Star: C Jared Davidson. It’s crazy to think, that on his way to a 42-goal season last year, Davidson didn’t score his first goal until game nine, meaning those 42 goals came in just 58 games (he missed one game due to injury). Through nine games this season, he already has scored seven times, including three over the weekend in Prince George. He is on pace for 52 goals.