I have no idea how long this first round series between the Thunderbird and Everett will go. Could it be over as soon as Game 5 next Saturday? Yes. Could it last until a Game 7 next Tuesday? Definitley. But based on the first two games, it is clear that whoever wins it, is going to have to earn it. And after two games, there is no clear cut favorite. It's now a best of five and it is going to be a dogfight to the end.
Should there be a clear frontrunner? Probably, just based on the regular season. The Silvertips were 18 wins and 39 points better in the standings during the regular season. The 'Tips won the eight game regular season series 6-2. Everett is the number one seed, not just in the Western Conference, but in the entire WHL. No one in the league had a better regular season record than they did. Of the sixteen teams that qualified for the 2025 WHL postseason, the Thunderbirds are 16th. The 'Tips finished with a plus 99 goal differential. Seattle? Minus 45.
On paper most prognosticators would look at that and predict a cakewalk to the second round for Everett, but as the saying goes, games aren't won on paper. Still, I was cautious heading into the weekend. Seattle certainly turned around their season with their terrific second half that saw them climb out of the Western Conference cellar into that final playoff spot. But would this young team understand the that the playoffs are a different animal conpared the regular season, and that, as well as they played over the last three months, they would need to bring their game to another level in the postseason?
After two games, that question has been answered with an emphatic yes. Win or lose, they are going to do it playing playoff level hockey.They're not going to be perfect and they'll make mistakes along the way but the entire roster has bought in to the postseaon mindset. It's 25 players with a singular focus. To a man, they understand the gravity of each game, each period, every shift. As a result they have put themselves in a position where they are a bounce, a deflection, a rebound away from being up 2-0. The lesson learned isn't how close they came to winning the first two games. The lesson learned, especially by the younger players, is they know they can win if they bring that level of compete from the first two games into the rest of the series.
And how did they get to that point? The simple answer, coaching. More specifically, Matt O'Dette. This isn't his first rodeo. He knows how to prepare a team for the playoffs. His track record speaks for itself, whether as a head coach or an assistant coach. He has a formula for postseason success. Even in past playoff series where his team has lost, they have always played at a higher level then the regular season. Whether his team is a one seed or an eight seed, this team is going to play the Matt O'Dette way. It's no surprise that in his twelve seasons with the organization, the T-Birds have enjoyed their best and longest sustained success. As an assistant he learned lessons from his predecessor, Steve Konowalchuk, and since taking over as head coach he has refined those lessons and added his own touch to the process. You may beat his team, but you're not going to outprepare him.
And part of that coaching success is choosing the right assistants, guys he can work with as a unified coaching group. He's had five different assistants in his tenure as head coach and the beat still goes on with his current assistants Carter Cochrane and Taylor Makin. He knows what he wants from his players and he knows how to get the most out of them, especially in the playoffs, and the same can be said of his assistant coaches. As I said above, I had trepitations heading into this series, wondering which T-Birds team was going to show up. That was my mistake. I should have known better with O'Dette at the helm.
A few thoughts before I sign off. I still marvel at that December 27th trade GM Bil LaForge made with Lethbridge, sending the rights to Jordan Gustafson to the Hurricanes. He got some draft capital (two 3rds, two 5ths) back but the most tangible return from that deal? The direct acquistion of Hayden Pakkala and the indirect acquistion of Brayen Schuurman (used one of those 3rd round picks to get Schuurman from Moose Jaw).
That one move played a big part in turning the T-Birds season around and put them in a position to compete in this first round series. We all think the trade of Sawyer Mynio to Calgary for a couple of firsts, two fourths and Sawyer Mayes, was the whopper trade LaForge made this winter, but the December 27th deal was sneaky good.
Brock England isn't going to be an impact player for T-Birds someday. He already is. The 15 year old (won't turn 16 until August 22nd) was inserted into the lineup at the start of these playoffs and he's leaving his mark. You notice him when he's on the ice because he plays the right way. For such a young player, he already has a high hockey IQ.
Through two playoff games he has one big assist, drew a penalty that led to a power play goal and is plus one. There are two 15 year olds playing in this series. One is Everett's exceptional status defenseman, Landon Dupont, the first overall selection in the 2024 WHL Draft. He's living up to the expectations put on him. The other is England, taken 10th overall in that draft by Seattle. He too is standing out for all the right reasons.
Yes, Scott Ratzlaff has been terrific in the first two games of this series, credited with 89 saves. The shot keepers have Everett with 94 shots in those two games. But I'd argue that those are more like shots at goal than shots on goal, so the number is probaly less than that. Not every puck a goalie stops is a shot on goal. Often a goaltender will stop a shot going wide, so it doesn't carom off the end board back out in front of the goal. They'll freeze pucks on the side of the net to alleviate pressure and slow the game down.
It's not the number of saves Ratzlaff is making that is significant. It is his ability to make saves on the high quality chances. It's him knowing when to freeze a puck that is in close proximity of the net and when to steer a puck to the corners. It's a little like a chess game and a good goalie knows when to make the right move. Ratzlaff, more often than not, is making the right moves.
Hyde Davidson was a member of the 2023 T-Birds championship. But at age 16 he was the team's seventh defenseman and only played in two playoff games, both in the first round that year agaisnt Kelowna. But I think it is clear he paid attention that spring to how those older d-men prepared and played in that postseason run because he has been a solid, if understated, presence on the back end for the T-Birds through the first two games against Everett.
