A .500 record after the first two games of the season with a roster comprised of nearly a dozen new faces? I'll take it. Just not sure I like the way the team got there.
Just like not all wins are created equal, neither are all losses. Saturday's 6-1 home loss to Portland is something we haven't seen from this team in a while. Seattle was outplayed in all aspects of the game but the one area that stings the most is in the effort department.
Every loss is disappointing. You go out there for the puck drop and expect to win. We know that won't happen every night though. Even last year's team dropped a few along the way to their historic 54-win campaign. But one thing they did every game last season was put in the effort for sixty minutes, or more if needed.
Unfortunately last night was not the case. A good first half of the first perioed. It was a fairly evenly played game to that point. But a quick two goals by Portland and the T-Birds didn't handle the resulting adversity very well. Does a having a young roster play into that? It does to a point. But Seattle had enough returning players who've gone through the rigors of two championship type seasons to know how to handle that kind of adversity.
I think that was the second part of the frustation equation. Retuning players now in leadership roles learning how to lead. Returning players being put in position to do what they haven't done yet at this level, lead the younger players through the rough patches. That might have been the most disappointing aspect of the loss. It wasn't just the new faces, the young rookies, who didn't handle the adversity well. Neither did the ones entering their second or third year in the league.
So, growing pains all around. Of course part of the leadership group wasn't on the ice. Jordan Gustafson was named captain but he's out rehabbing an injury from last season and won't play until November at the earliest. But naming him captain, even though he is in that situation, tells you all you need to know about what the coaching staff thinks of his character.
Coaches can accept losses if a good effort was put forth. That didn't happen Saturday. There are still 66 games to go and that's plenty of time to respond to what was a hard lesson learned. Let's see how they bounce back beginning next Friday in Spokane.
How do you pick three T-Birds stars out of that game? Well, I'm just gonna repeat last week's trio. But first, I think the T-birds have found a player in Antonio Martorana. The 16-year old rookie forward has shown flashed through the first two games. He has good speed and can play physical even though he is listed at just 5'8". He's built a little like Nolan Volcan but maybe a bit thicker. He's someone who can be part of a core to build around.
Third Star: G Spencer Michnik. He came in to start the third period. The game was pretty much over by that point, so you could argue there's no pressure. But he faced some early high leverage shots and made some very athletic saves. It kept the game from getting uglier than it was. Through four periods of hockey this season he has stopped 35 of 37 shots, has a .946 SVPCT and a 1.50 GAA.
Second Star: D Bryce Pickford. A couple of bouncing pucks (there were a lot of them Saturday) prevented him from finishing what might have been some good scoring opportunities. He's going to produce some offense this season. He's still young and wasn't perfect Saturday (who was) but effort is not his issue. I saw a scouting report that says he needs to improve his skating and that well may be, but I'll bet money he's going to put in the time to do just that.
First Star: C Sam Popowich. Poppy came into the season having scored 18 career WHL goals in this first three seasons. He's on pace for 68 this season with two goals through the first two games. Now, we know that won't happend but I think he can hit the 20-goal plateau and the T-Birds will need that because they lost a lot of offense from last season's team.
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