Reunited and it Feels so Good

The T-Birds got the gang back together Saturday night in Prince George and it led to a 4-3 win over the Cougars and, thus a split of their two road games at the CN Centre. With Braeden Cootes back from the NHL's Vancouver Canucks and Radim Mrtka's return from the Buffalo Sabres organization, Seattle is as whole as they have been since training camp.

Of course it is not the same lineup as the T-Birds had at the end of last season when they plowed through the second half and into the playoffs.  There is no Nathan Pilling or Scott Ratzlaff, no Brayden Schuurman and no Hayden Pakkala.  It's great to have Cootes and Mrtka back but it still means other players have to step up and support them.

That happened Saturday.  Late in the game the line of Sawyer Mayes, Brayden Holberton and Colton Gerrior willed that game winning goal into the back of the net.  I believe it was the defensive pairing of Vanek Popil and Tai Riley out on the ice as well on the winning goal. The T-Birds can produce when Cootes and Mrtka aren't on the ice.  They just need to do it more consistently because going forward opposing teams are going to  try and match up their top lines against Cootes and Mrtka whenever possible.

Friday night, just as they did on Saturday night, Seattle jumped out to a two-goal lead. Friday the T-Birds couldn't hold it.  Mistakes were made, leading to PG goals and the T-Birds didn't stay on their path, losing 6-3. Saturday night the 'Birds again lost their early lead. They made a few mistakes that cost them a couple of goals.  But unlike Friday, the team stayed on their path. They didn't panic and never fell behind.  They answered the Cougars pushback with pushback of their own and pulled out the win.

One difference from Friday to Saturday? In Friday's game Seattle surrendered 41 shots.  29 of those Prince George shots came over the last two periods, including 17 in the final period of play.  Saturday the T-Birds limited the Cougars to just 22 shots the entire game. Only five of those PG shots came in the third period.  Call it the Mrtka affect. With the big D-man logging a lot of minutes, Seattle was better at blocking shots and getting the puck out of the D-zone.  

Don't discount the play of goalie Grayson Malinoski who picked up his first win of the season.  He may have only been called upon to make 19 saves but he made key saves at big moments in the game.  He's faced a lot of rubber early on this season and suffered some tough luck losses.  It was nice to see him rewarded Saturday.

The Thunderbirds penalty kill is still a work in progress. They've surrendered at least one power play goal in all but one game so far this season. But maybe, just maybe, a bit of credit goes to the Prince George power play. They're red hot right now. They're just not doing this to Seattle.  That being said, the T-Birds know they are going to take penalties, so a strong PK is essential. Some of the penalties they are taking the coaches will accept. It's the avoidable ones that are hurting Seattle right now and they know they have to clean those up.

The T-Birds power play is starting to come to life.  Friday they were just off as they hit at least three posts with the man advantage. Saturday they misfired at an open cage early on a first period power play but came right back and scored moments later.  With Mrtka and Cootes back, the power play should improve.

If I had said back on September 29th that the T-Birds would be 5-7 through the first 12 games using a lineup in most of the those games that was missing two NHL first rounders would you accept that? Don't forget Simon Lovsin missed five of those games too.  I think Seatle is in a good place as we head toward November.  

Seattle needs consistency in effort. Saturday's strong showing has to carry over to this weekend's two games.  The T-Birds have yet to win back-to-back games.  Let's see if they can accomplish that at home Friday when they host the Saskatoon Blades.

My T-Birds Three Stars for the just concluded weekend:

Third Star: D Radim Mrtka. he played in just one of the two games but his presence in the lineup was felt.  He eats up big minutes and plays a complete 200 foot game. As mentioned above, his return will enhance the team's first power play unit, which in turn, should make the second power play unit more effective.  99-percent of the time, he's going to make the right play with the puck.

Second Star: C  Brock England.  A goal and an assist in the loss Friday.  He creates offense seemingly out of nothing with his speed.  He's not just a one way player though.  He's willing to go into board battles and win pucks and his 200 foot game is deceptively good.  He's only 16 and still maturing physically so he won't be perfect but his hockey IQ is tremendous.

First Star:  C Braeden Cootes.  He's a leader who wants to lead with his play on the ice.  He's never satisfied.  I'm guessing he was a little frustrated with the missed power play chances Friday but he kept with it and finally broke through Saturday.  His pass on the 2-on-1 with Brendan Rudolph in the first period of the second game was a thing of beauty. He put the puck through the eye of the needle right on to Rudy's stick. His goal late in the second period of the same game was an NHL caliber shot against arguably the best goalie  in the WHL.

We've Only Just Begun

 It's early. Very early. We're not yet ten games into the season. There's lots of hockey to be played still.  And through eight games I'm not sure what this version of the T-Birds is going to be.

We've seen stretches of good play but, we've also seen some hockey that's been, how will we say, not up to par.  The quest is to bring the level of good play up and bring the stretches of poor play down. Somewhere between that is T-Birds hockey.

Reality can be two things here. The Thunderbirds have been playing with less than a full deck. For much of the first eight games no Cootes, no Mrtka and no Cumby.  They've dealt with some self inflicted wounds with suspensions to Hartmann and Lovsin. The other reality is, that is life in the WHL.  Your stars may just not return. It's a possibility they stick at a higher level, afterall, that is what you are grooming them for. Maybe it's just for a few games as in the case of Cootes. Maybe it is for much longer as appears to be the case with Mrtka. Maybe they come back, maybe they don't. You have to play the hand your dealt. 

Matt O'Dette said since day one of the season that you can't wait for players to come back, because there is no quarentee they will. The players who are here have to step up. In that regard it has been an inconsistent performance by those players.

Now that Cootes and Cumby have returned, the T-Birds are fairly whole.  It's not out of the possibility that Mrtka stays the season in the AHL. If you're waiting for him to come walking through the door, you're  not focused on your job.  Now, I don't think that's the case. Rather, Seattle has some young defenseman seeing significant minutes in the WHL for the first time. It's an adjustment. It takes time.

Seattle has had a travel heavy first month of the season.  By the time we get to November, the T-Birds will be done with the vast majority of their road games in British Columbia. After two early games there, they don't return to Kamloops again until early March. By the end of next week, they'll have put Prince George in the rearview mirror.  By the end of November they'll be through with road trips to Penticton and Victoria.  What's left after that beside that March foray to Kamloops? Three games in February. One more in Kelowna and two short jaunts up I-5 to Langley to face the Vancouver Giants.

Yes, they have their yearly trip out to the east, a five game road trip to Alberta in early January,. But everything else is "local", that is, road trips within the U.S. Division.  In December, the fartherst they travel is one trip to Kennewick. Outside of the trip east, the longest road trip of January is Wenatchee. In February it's that last Kelowna road game while in March it's the aforemention drive up to Kamloops.  

So for Seattle, it's all about getting through this next month and a half. It should help that ten of the next 15 games are on home ice. They've just about survived this rough travel patch.  They have Cootes and Cumby back in the fold.  Now, it's time to got to work.

Watching Tai Riley play the point on the power play, and seeing him get a lot of his shot attempts blocked, was reminding me of something. I've seen that before.  Then it hit me.  That was Shea Theodore who as a 16 year old went through the same thing. But the coaches kept tossing Theo out there and eventually, the shots started getting through and he became a lethal power play weapon.  There was a little bit of that with Kevin Korchinski too. I'm not saying that is what Riley will become but the more opportunities he gets, the better he will become.  I really think at some point it will start clicking for him. The coaches wouldn't continue to put him in that spot if they didn't believe in him.

Too many avoidable penalties.  Under Matt O'Dette the Thunderbirds have always been a solid penalty killing team, but if you're shorthanded six times per game, eventually the opposition is likely to find the back of the net and the T-Birds have now allowed at least one power play goal against in every game this season. There are penalties the coaches are willing to accept but the avoidable stick infractions, the hooks, the slashes, the trips, are the ones hurting the T-Birds. Just an area that needs to be, and can be cleaned up. O'Dette said that was a point of emphasis at practice all week.

As always, defensive zone play isn't always about how your defensemen play inside your blueline or the saves your goalies make.  Defense is a team concept.  Forwards coming back on the back check is integral.  Better yet, spend less time in your own end.  That means winning races to the puck in the O zone. It's winning board battles and having clean offensive zone entries. All that should improve with the return of Cootes but it has to be more than one player committed to that concept.