Another weekend in which the Thunderbirds play just one game. It was a good one though, as they defeated the Wenatchee Wild for the second time this season, a 4-2 victory behind a three-point game (1g, 2a) from Jeremy Hanzel.
After just four games over the first three weeks of the season the schedule begins to pick up now. Seattle is set to play seven game between now and the end of October, or seven games in twelve days. It begins at home Tuesday against Brandon, then the team embarks for a six game road trip through the Central Division.
A few things stood out from last Friday's win over the Wild. First, Seattle played the game with just five healthy defensemen. Braeden Wynne and Sawyer Mynio are both on the shelf with injuries. The T-birds got big minutes from Hanzel, Owen Boucher, Bryce Pickord and Hyde Davidson but don't discount the play of rookie Kaleb Hartmann. I thought he played well in a pressure situation and provided some valuable shifts.
Secondly, the win was the 200th regular season win for Matt O'Dette as T-birds head coach. When the season began, he needed three wins to hit that milestone and with a team featuring a lot of new and young players, there was no telling if he'd hit the milestone early or later on. The fact he got to the 200th win in the first four games says a lot about how he prepares his team to play, no matter who is on the roster.
O'Dette has been with the organization since the 2013-14 season, when he came on board as an assistant to then head coach Steve Konowalchuk. In the ten plus seasons he's been on the bench with the franchise, the T-Birds have won 370 regular season games, two U.S. Division banners, four Western Conference Championships and two Ed Chynoweth Cups. I think it is safe to call his tenure with the team thus far a Decade of Excellence and the best ten year stretch in the 40-plus years the team has been around.
O'Dette said something post game that stuck out. He said when the team is playing the right way, when they are playing T-Birds hockey, they can sense it one the bench. Not just the coaches, but the players too. He said they got that feeling through most of the first two periods Friday and much of the third period as well. There was a bit of a lapse the final two minutes of the second period. But looking back on the game, it did remind me of the formula of so many T-Birds games from last season.
By the way, O'Dette needs three more wins to surpass Don Nachbaur for second all time in coaching wins in franchise history. Twnety more wins moves him past Konowalchuk. With 38 ore wins behind the bench, he be first in franchise history, surpassing Rob Sumner (237).
It's just four games but it has to be a good sign going forward that the third youngest team in the WHL (only Spokane and Calgary are younger) has done a very good job of staying out of the penalty box. Through four games Seattle has only been shorthanded eleven times. That's under three times per game, right around where the coaches would like it to be. Better yet, they've killed off 10 of the 11 penalties.
The power play was going to be an asset with Kevin Korchinski quarterbacking it. But I think it is safe to say that is not going to happen, at least not anytime soon as Korchinski is fitting in quite nicely with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks.
But even without him here, the man advantage has looked dangerous. Hanzel is showing he can handle the puck at the blue line. When healthy Sawyer Mynio will get considerable power play time, as will Jordan Gustafson, but with Sam Popowich, Nico Myatovic, Braeden Cootes, Coster Dunn and Gracyn Sawchyn it looks like the T-Birds power play is going to be okay. They are clicking at 23-percent (3/13) but with players back from NHL camps and getting more time together, they should only improve in that category.
Samuel Charko came oh-so-close to his first WHL goal Friday only to be robbed on the doorstep on a great save by the Wenatchee goalie. Kazden Mathies earned his first WHL point with a first period assist. So, that leaves only Charko, Hartmann and Nishaan Parmar as young T-Birds still in search of their first WHL point.
Owen Boucher goes into that special category of under the radar pick up by GM Bil LaForge. Obtained just before the start of the season from Price Albert, he seems to be finding his groove with the T-Birds. At 19 years old he was the second oldest of the five defenseman on the ice for Seattle Friday and his experience in the league was so valuable to getting that win. Outside of the the 20 year old Hanzel, the other d-men were two 17 year olds and a 16 year old rookie.
My T-Birds Three Stars for the Wild Win:
Third Star: LW Nico Myatovic. Picked up one assist but was so noticeable up and down the ice. A year older and a more physically mature player, he's using his size more now I think, than he did in the past. One of the best penalty killers in the league and that was on display against Wenatchee. I think as the season moves along he will start to drive more of the offense for Seattle.
Second Star: C Sam Popowich. A career best four game point streak and a career best four game goal scoring streak. Need a key faceoff win? Call Sam. Need a game winning goal? He's got two. Like Myatovic his penalty killing is top notch. Maybe Seattle's most versatile player.
First Star: D Jeremy Hanzel. He looked right at home on the first unit power play, quaterbacking it from the blue line. We know his one timer is deadly and he' still dialing that in early this season. His goal Friday was just a smart play, taking advantage of space and time to skate into the slot and snap one home. Very cerebral player in the d-zone as he rarely makes the wrong decision when moving the puck up ice. He knew he was going to play a lot of minutes but he seemed as fresh at the end as he did at the beginning.
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