The Thunderbirds ultimate goal this season, like all seasons, is always the same. It's the same goal shared by 21 other WHL teams every September. They want to be the last team standing. They want to be the team hoisting the Chynoweth Cup. Like the other teams in the league, they want to earn that shot at the Memorial Cup.
If, along the way, they make a little history, well that's just a little icing on the cake but it's not the pinnacle of their season. Still, a few new records for the history book looks nice on the old resume'. This season, the team is writing a few new chapters in the good book Thunderbirds.
With their two wins over Portland this past weekend, Seattle has now gone 17 consecutive games with a point earned (16-0-0-1). That beats the old mark set in the 1994-95 season by two games. The win down at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum Saturday was the team's 24th on the road this season. That too is a new club record, breaking the old mark that was set just last season.
Next up is a chance to eclipse the 52-win season set back in 1989-90 when the team finished 52-17-3. The T-birds tied the record Saturday and enter play this week at 52-9-1-2. What's remarkable about this year's team equalling the 1989-90 team in wins is how they accomplished it. In the 1989-90 season they were playing a 72-game schedule and earned their 52nd win in game #71. This year's team, playing just a 68-game season, earned win #52 in game 64.
Ironically, in both cases, the 52nd win came at the expense of the rival Winterhawks and in both instances the date of win #52 was March 18th. In the 89-90 season win 52 wa a 13-2 shellacking of Portland at home, while this time around it was 4-2 win in the Rose City. The 1989-90 team had one more chance to add to their win total that season, but lost the final game of the regular season, to Portland, 6-5. This time around the T-Birds have four chances to get win #53.
Seattle cannot set a new record for home ice wins. After viewing a page on the team website for team records, I found, with the help of James Prekeges, a glitch. It recorded the 29 wins in the 2015-16 season as the high water mark. But upon further research, the record is actually 33, set by that 1989-90 team that finished 33-2-1 at home. The closest this team can come to that is 30 wins, should they win their final two home games.
More importantly right now though, is sewing up the top seed for the Western Conference playoffs. The magic number after the weekend is one point. A win Tuesday over Kamloops will seal the deal. There is some poetry to that if it happens. Seattle would clinch the top seed by beating the only team that could catch them.
As for individual records, Jared Davidson still needs one goal to reach 100 as a Thunderbird. he would become the 12th player in franchise history to do it. The last to do it was Nolan Volcan who finished with exactly 100-goals over his five seasons and 321 games with the club (2013-2018). Becausse of Covid, Davidson is trying to accomplish it in 255 games or less. By comparison, Ryan Gropp scored 117 goals in 258 games.
With two more goals Davidson would join the 40-40 club. That's consecutive seasons with 40-goals scored. Davidson finished last season with 42. he currently sits at 38. The last time it was accomplished was the 1993-94/1994-95 seasons when Chris Herperger put up seasons of 44 and 49 goals.
There are only two other members of the 40-40 club, Victor Gervais and some guy named Glen Goodall. Goodall not only is the inaugural member of the 40-40 club, he's the only member of the 50-50 club. Well, actually the 50-50-50 club as he surpassed the 50-goal mark three consecutive seasons. Remember though, Davidson is doing it in 68-game seasons, while the other three accomplished it in 72-game seasons.
There is an outside chance the T-Birds could finish the season with five 30-goal scorers. Right now they have two, Davidson and Kyle Crnkovic. After his shorthanded goal Saturday, Nico Myatovic sits at 28. Lucas Ciona has 27 and Reid Schaefer has 26. So, there is work to do to match that 1989-90 team that finished with five 30-goal scorers (Goodall, Gervais, Nedved, Vallis and Kasowski).
The last time Seattle finished with three 30-goal scorers was still 20-years ago when Brooks Laich, Dustin Johner and Greg Black did it in the 2002-03 season.
Niether current Seattle goalie will come close to the season Bryan Bridges had in net for the Thunderbirds back in 2004-05. In 58 games that season Bridges went 36-18-2-2, finished with a franchise record 1.83 goals against average, with a save percentage of .926. Bridges still holds the WHL record for career shutouts with 21 and 13 of them came during the 04-05 campaign.
Thomas Milic is on pace to end the year with the second best GAA average in team history. He could still set the club record for best save percentage in a single season though. Right now he sits at .928 which would tie him with Taran Kozun who finished with a .928 SVPCT in 2013-14. I would imagine Milic is getting at least two more starts in the team's final four regular season games.
Again, all these records this team is piling up are nice accomplishments but in the end their is only one that counts and that's winning a championship.
My T-Birds three stars for the weekend sweep of Portland:
Third Star: G Thomas Milic. His second period down in Portland was a difference maker. he stopped a breakaway that would have tied the game at 1-1. Another spectacular two-save sequence started the rush up ice that led to the T-Birds second goal. Twelve shots faced, twelve saves made in the period, as Portland was awarded three power plays. He has now allowed just 12 goals in his last ten starts. He's 11-0-0-1 in his last twelve starts.
Second Star: W Dylan Guenther. Historic weekend for the Arizona Coyotes top prospect as he reached 200 points in his WHL career with a three point game (1g, 2a) Friday, then added a diving goal Saturday. He needs five goals in the final four games to hit the 100 goal mark for his WHL career.
First Star: C Brad Lambert. His speed, stick handling and skating ability are becoming a driving force for the Thunderbirds offense. earning a point or two each night is becoming the norm for the Winnipeg Jets 2022 first round pick. A three points weekend with a goal and two assists, Lambert has a point in all but two games since joining the T-birds and eight points (3g, 5a) in his last four games.
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